NoRumah? No Rumah? More than 1/3 voters homeless?

One out of three voters in Malaysia are registered without a house number. Six states have more than 50% voters who are without any house number.

In the Malaysian electoral roll gazetted on 2008 Feb 5 and used in the Mar 8 GE:

• Sabah leads the pack, with 92% of voters in the state registered but without a house number ("NoRumah" in database). Sabah has several parliamentary seats with nearly 100% voters registered without a house number. (See Table C.)
  
• Kelantan is the runner-up, with 73% of voters without a house number. Kelantan has many parliamentary seats with 80% to nearly 90% voters who are registered without a house number.
• Expansive Sarawak in East Malaysia and small Perlis in West Malaysia have one thing in common: They all have over 60% of voters registered without a house number.
• Kedah and Labuan both have over 50% of voters without a house number.
• Only KL, Putrajaya, and Pulau Pinang have less than 10% of their voters without a house number.
• Overall in Malaysia, nearly 35% of registered voters, excluding postal voters, are without house number information. If we had counted postal voters, the percentages will be higher by 1%-5% per parliamentary seat.
  

Is this the kind of efficiency we can expect from the National Registration Department and the SPR? Another angle is this: Is there economic "development" when entire Sabah parliamentary constituencies live by big village addresses? For a temporary relief from this painful realization, please enjoy this MIDI file Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.

We do not count postal voters as blank-house-number voters: In Table A and Table C, we have excluded postal voters from the count of "voters without house numbers." Why? Postal voters have locality codes that end in 400s to 800s. Even though they usually have registered address in police quarters and army camps without a specific house number (NoRumah), we consider their exact address at an army camp or police quarters already known. Hence, they should not be counted as those with a "blank" house numbers. Had we included postal voters together with "non-postal voters without house numbers," the percentages in Table A and Table C would be higher by 1-5% per constituency.

Table A: Numbers and Percentages of Non-Postal Voters Without a House Number, Broken Down by State

Negeri	Non-Postal Voters with Blank or No NoRumah	Total Voters	Non-Postal Voters with Blank or No NoRumah / All Voters
	(Person)	(Person)	(%)
Sabah	743,157	807,862	92.0
Kelantan	548,084	751,682	72.9
Sarawak	571,086	912,454	62.6
Perlis	72,244	120,081	60.2
W.P Labuan	11,517	20,783	55.4
Kedah	438,178	873,674	50.2
Terengganu	183,641	521,597	35.2
Melaka	105,530	371,594	28.4
Pahang	149,232	603,242	24.7
Negeri Sembilan	114,020	462,015	24.7
Perak	277,413	1,196,160	23.2
Johor	301,148	1,312,120	23.0
Selangor	245,242	1,565,493	15.7
W.P Kuala Lumpur	22,979	687,451	3.3
W.P Putrajaya	158	6,608	2.4
Pulau Pinang	12,032	709,323	1.7
Malaysia Total	3,795,661	10,922,139	34.8

Source: SPR and MALVU analysis.

SPR's many variations for "blank" house number:

• SPR is not consistent when it marks voters who have no house number.
• In most instances, the data field for a voter without a house number is left blank.
• But there are many other nonsensical variations.
  
• In our search, we have found and counted the following as "no house numbers": "" (nothing), " " (single space), - (one hyphen), * (asterisk), ` (back quote), ' (single quote), 0 (zero), "tiada," "null," (null alone) and "'null'" (null in single quotes).
• With the above criteria, we found 3,795,661 non-postal voters "without" house number.


• SPR is even more "creative" than the above.
• Table B shows more types of data SPR has entered into the "NoRumah" data field for voters who are without house numbers (including both the postal and non-postal voters).

Table B: SPR Has Entered Many Non-Sensical Data to Signify Voters Without House Number (NoRumah)


Types of data that mean no or blank NoRumah	Cases found (incl. postal voters)	Comment
"" nothing or " " single space	3,947,566
-	41,576	1 hyphen
tiada	10,348
NULL	8,625
'NULL'	119	NULL in single quotes
0	677	Single zero
00	116	Double zero
*	225
--	22	2 hyphens
---	4	3 hyphens
----	4	4 hyphens
-----	6	5 hyphens
------	4	6 hyphens
-------	12	7 hyphens
--------	8	8 hyphens
---------	7	9 hyphens
----------	2	10 hyphens
-----------	0	11 hyphens
`	35	Back quote
.	539	Period
**	3	2 asterisks
***	4	3 asterisks
****	0	4 asterisks
_	4	Underscore
=	2
!	2
&	2
"	1
+	1
Total (Including postal voters)	4,009,914

You can only verify the above strange house numbers (NoRumah) using SPR's PDF-formatted electoral roll or the MS Access formatted soft copy. The SPR voter verification Web page will not show the voter's house number (which is a good policy to protect voter privacy).

About Table C: Table C provides the detailed, parliamentary seat by seat, breakdown of voters (non-postal) who have no house numbers. Note that:

• Sabah, Kelantan, and Sarawak have many parliamentary constituencies with over 90% voters without house numbers
• There are wide variation within some states, such as Selangor and Johor, which have very high as well as very low percentages of voters without house number.
• Often, urbanized areas, such as Kelantan's Kota Baru, are the only constituencies with low percentages within that state.

Table C: Non-Postal Voters Without House Numbers Broken Down By Parliamentary Constituencies

Negeri	Code	NamaParlimen	Non-Postal Voters without NoRumah	Total Voters	Non-Postal Voters without NoRumah / all voters
			(Person)	(Person)	(%)
Perlis	001	Padang Besar	22,546	36,613	61.6
Perlis	002	Kangar	21,171	43,591	48.6
Perlis	003	Arau	28,527	39,877	71.5
Perlis Total			72,244	120,081	60.2
Kedah	004	Langkawi	20,992	29,567	71.0
Kedah	005	Jerlun	39,399	45,513	86.6
Kedah	006	Kubang Pasu	29,379	53,323	55.1
Kedah	007	Padang Terap	27,727	35,403	78.3
Kedah	008	Pokok Sena	33,314	69,631	47.8
Kedah	009	Alor Star	13,809	58,957	23.4
Kedah	010	Kuala Kedah	39,696	83,132	47.8
Kedah	011	Pendang	51,732	61,346	84.3
Kedah	012	Jerai	35,093	65,739	53.4
Kedah	013	Sik	31,567	40,339	78.3
Kedah	014	Merbok	13,992	64,443	21.7
Kedah	015	Sungai Petani	11,597	76,284	15.2
Kedah	016	Baling	58,602	78,784	74.4
Kedah	017	Padang Serai	11,468	59,218	19.4
Kedah	018	Kulim-Bandar Baharu	19,811	51,995	38.1
Kedah Total			438,178	873,674	50.2
Kelantan	019	Tumpat	59,659	80,072	74.5
Kelantan	020	Pengkalan Chepa	33,536	52,350	64.1
Kelantan	021	Kota Bharu	18,601	68,261	27.2
Kelantan	022	Pasir Mas	46,453	59,640	77.9
Kelantan	023	Rantau Panjang	38,780	45,384	85.4
Kelantan	024	Kubang Kerian	39,311	53,496	73.5
Kelantan	025	Bachok	58,236	64,808	89.9
Kelantan	026	Ketereh	40,140	52,240	76.8
Kelantan	027	Tanah Merah	31,569	44,347	71.2
Kelantan	028	Pasir Puteh	55,388	64,393	86.0
Kelantan	029	Machang	41,488	49,157	84.4
Kelantan	030	Jeli	27,920	36,298	76.9
Kelantan	031	Kuala Krai	39,078	52,250	74.8
Kelantan	032	Gua Musang	17,925	28,986	61.8
Kelantan Total			548,084	751,682	72.9
Terengganu	033	Besut	27,154	58,353	46.5
Terengganu	034	Setiu	33,505	54,520	61.5
Terengganu	035	Kuala Nerus	18,748	61,214	30.6
Terengganu	036	Kuala Terengganu	8,546	80,325	10.6
Terengganu	037	Marang	40,291	74,813	53.9
Terengganu	038	Hulu Terengganu	21,722	52,515	41.4
Terengganu	039	Dungun	13,309	64,851	20.5
Terengganu	040	Kemaman	20,366	75,006	27.2
Terengganu Total			183,641	521,597	35.2
Pulau Pinang	041	Kepala Batas	3,084	43,019	7.2
Pulau Pinang	042	Tasek Gelugor	2,039	44,466	4.6
Pulau Pinang	043	Bagan	357	59,385	0.6
Pulau Pinang	044	Permatang Pauh	1,054	58,449	1.8
Pulau Pinang	045	Bukit Mertajam	602	64,080	0.9
Pulau Pinang	046	Batu Kawan	822	47,378	1.7
Pulau Pinang	047	Nibong Tebal	1,927	47,540	4.1
Pulau Pinang	048	Bukit Bendera	758	64,545	1.2
Pulau Pinang	049	Tanjong	262	53,188	0.5
Pulau Pinang	050	Jelutong	240	61,181	0.4
Pulau Pinang	051	Bukit Gelugor	215	65,614	0.3
Pulau Pinang	052	Bayan Baru	296	60,713	0.5
Pulau Pinang	053	Balik Pulau	376	39,765	0.9
Pulau Pinang Total			12,032	709,323	1.7
Perak	054	Gerik	7,463	26,229	28.5
Perak	055	Lenggong	10,991	23,223	47.3
Perak	056	Larut	24,993	39,697	63.0
Perak	057	Parit Buntar	12,004	45,219	26.5
Perak	058	Bagan Serai	18,047	47,111	38.3
Perak	059	Bukit Gantang	14,835	55,471	26.7
Perak	060	Taiping	2,439	65,889	3.7
Perak	061	Padang Rengas	13,468	24,397	55.2
Perak	062	Sungai Siput	10,335	47,424	21.8
Perak	063	Tambun	5,730	68,966	8.3
Perak	064	Ipoh Timor	1,403	76,647	1.8
Perak	065	Ipoh Barat	1,489	69,773	2.1
Perak	066	Batu Gajah	3,035	77,313	3.9
Perak	067	Kuala Kangsar	11,590	28,325	40.9
Perak	068	Beruas	12,737	43,273	29.4
Perak	069	Parit	19,656	28,859	68.1
Perak	070	Kampar	9,449	59,784	15.8
Perak	071	Gopeng	7,866	74,344	10.6
Perak	072	Tapah	11,533	38,236	30.2
Perak	073	Pasir Salak	25,286	42,712	59.2
Perak	074	Lumut	10,732	72,763	14.7
Perak	075	Bagan Datok	21,627	34,670	62.4
Perak	076	Telok Intan	10,658	52,354	20.4
Perak	077	Tanjong Malim	10,047	53,481	18.8
Perak Total			277,413	1,196,160	23.2
Pahang	078	Cameron Highlands	9,105	23,461	38.8
Pahang	079	Lipis	14,362	28,425	50.5
Pahang	080	Raub	13,330	46,454	28.7
Pahang	081	Jerantut	17,221	48,812	35.3
Pahang	082	Indera Mahkota	6,123	51,235	12.0
Pahang	083	Kuantan	3,915	47,745	8.2
Pahang	084	Paya Besar	5,075	39,882	12.7
Pahang	085	Pekan	16,781	58,217	28.8
Pahang	086	Maran	11,483	32,517	35.3
Pahang	087	Kuala Krau	8,656	34,139	25.4
Pahang	088	Temerloh	16,586	54,010	30.7
Pahang	089	Bentong	7,379	53,651	13.8
Pahang	090	Bera	7,551	42,993	17.6
Pahang	091	Rompin	11,665	41,701	28.0
Pahang Total			149,232	603,242	24.7
Selangor	092	Sabak Bernam	20,404	31,381	65.0
Selangor	093	Sungai Besar	17,677	34,073	51.9
Selangor	094	Hulu Selangor	10,313	63,593	16.2
Selangor	095	Tanjong Karang	23,184	36,391	63.7
Selangor	096	Kuala Selangor	21,642	47,203	45.8
Selangor	097	Selayang	5,474	79,557	6.9
Selangor	098	Gombak	6,628	99,153	6.7
Selangor	099	Ampang	1,852	69,132	2.7
Selangor	100	Pandan	1,757	64,497	2.7
Selangor	101	Hulu Langat	16,247	90,319	18.0
Selangor	102	Serdang	4,872	94,877	5.1
Selangor	103	Puchong	4,577	75,625	6.1
Selangor	104	Kelana Jaya	4,211	79,648	5.3
Selangor	105	Petaling Jaya Selatan	3,918	73,192	5.4
Selangor	106	Petaling Jaya Utara	1,403	76,618	1.8
Selangor	107	Subang	6,775	84,414	8.0
Selangor	108	Shah Alam	5,111	75,334	6.8
Selangor	109	Kapar	18,673	112,224	16.6
Selangor	110	Klang	6,602	77,816	8.5
Selangor	111	Kota Raja	7,948	71,887	11.1
Selangor	112	Kuala Langat	25,470	66,515	38.3
Selangor	113	Sepang	30,504	62,044	49.2
Selangor Total			245,242	1,565,493	15.7
W.P Kuala Lumpur	114	Kepong	1,009	60,775	1.7
W.P Kuala Lumpur	115	Batu	2,245	70,544	3.2
W.P Kuala Lumpur	116	Wangsa Maju	2,331	54,509	4.3
W.P Kuala Lumpur	117	Segambut	2,917	59,690	4.9
W.P Kuala Lumpur	118	Setiawangsa	1,608	57,161	2.8
W.P Kuala Lumpur	119	Titiwangsa	1,563	49,892	3.1
W.P Kuala Lumpur	120	Bukit Bintang	1,213	59,986	2.0
W.P Kuala Lumpur	121	Lembah Pantai	4,138	56,650	7.3
W.P Kuala Lumpur	122	Seputeh	1,258	76,891	1.6
W.P Kuala Lumpur	123	Cheras	1,202	68,725	1.7
W.P Kuala Lumpur	124	Bandar Tun Razak	3,495	72,628	4.8
W.P Kuala Lumpur Total			22,979	687,451	3.3
W.P Putrajaya	125	Putrajaya	158	6,608	2.4
W.P Putrajaya Total			158	6,608	2.4
Negeri Sembilan	126	Jelebu	10,191	38,682	26.3
Negeri Sembilan	127	Jempol	8,655	53,478	16.2
Negeri Sembilan	128	Seremban	12,141	84,675	14.3
Negeri Sembilan	129	Kuala Pilah	17,631	42,328	41.7
Negeri Sembilan	130	Rasah	8,571	72,115	11.9
Negeri Sembilan	131	Rembau	26,149	62,896	41.6
Negeri Sembilan	132	Telok Kemang	22,310	60,186	37.1
Negeri Sembilan	133	Tampin	8,372	47,655	17.6
Negeri Sembilan Total			114,020	462,015	24.7
Melaka	134	Masjid Tanah	20,500	40,606	50.5
Melaka	135	Alor Gajah	20,165	54,097	37.3
Melaka	136	Tangga Batu	15,774	60,188	26.2
Melaka	137	Bukit Katil	13,502	75,777	17.8
Melaka	138	Kota Melaka	10,029	84,805	11.8
Melaka	139	Jasin	25,560	56,121	45.5
Melaka Total			105,530	371,594	28.4
Johor	140	Segamat	9,468	40,708	23.3
Johor	141	Sekijang	5,249	35,138	14.9
Johor	142	Labis	6,272	33,468	18.7
Johor	143	Pagoh	17,115	40,042	42.7
Johor	144	Ledang	24,350	58,501	41.6
Johor	145	Bakri	11,771	56,372	20.9
Johor	146	Muar	15,783	41,019	38.5
Johor	147	Parit Sulong	28,042	50,233	55.8
Johor	148	Ayer Hitam	16,068	34,805	46.2
Johor	149	Sri Gading	19,698	36,845	53.5
Johor	150	Batu Pahat	30,199	70,069	43.1
Johor	151	Simpang Renggam	10,964	34,859	31.5
Johor	152	Kluang	5,193	71,233	7.3
Johor	153	Sembrong	7,305	33,181	22.0
Johor	154	Mersing	7,718	36,445	21.2
Johor	155	Tenggara	4,756	32,297	14.7
Johor	156	Kota Tinggi	5,833	34,190	17.1
Johor	157	Pengerang	4,301	33,002	13.0
Johor	158	Tebrau	7,876	62,505	12.6
Johor	159	Pasir Gudang	4,203	72,862	5.8
Johor	160	Johor Bahru	2,264	89,725	2.5
Johor	161	Pulai	3,462	79,622	4.3
Johor	162	Gelang Patah	6,729	78,676	8.6
Johor	163	Kulai	5,301	67,358	7.9
Johor	164	Pontian	22,984	43,264	53.1
Johor	165	Tanjong Piai	18,244	45,701	39.9
Johor Total			301,148	1,312,120	23.0
W.P Labuan	166	Labuan	11,517	20,783	55.4
W.P Labuan Total			11,517	20,783	55.4
Sabah	167	Kudat	38,728	39,643	97.7
Sabah	168	Kota Marudu	31,772	31,938	99.5
Sabah	169	Kota Belud	42,784	43,071	99.3
Sabah	170	Tuaran	40,454	40,761	99.2
Sabah	171	Sepanggar	35,063	39,251	89.3
Sabah	172	Kota Kinabalu	29,383	43,714	67.2
Sabah	173	Putatan	26,212	34,935	75.0
Sabah	174	Penampang	30,039	35,821	83.9
Sabah	175	Papar	31,494	32,279	97.6
Sabah	176	Kimanis	22,048	22,239	99.1
Sabah	177	Beaufort	26,464	26,788	98.8
Sabah	178	Sipitang	23,877	24,145	98.9
Sabah	179	Ranau	30,475	30,810	98.9
Sabah	180	Keningau	34,989	35,578	98.3
Sabah	181	Tenom	20,693	20,874	99.1
Sabah	182	Pensiangan	19,627	19,712	99.6
Sabah	183	Beluran	19,050	19,181	99.3
Sabah	184	Libaran	28,759	31,435	91.5
Sabah	185	Batu Sapi	22,369	26,004	86.0
Sabah	186	Sandakan	27,083	32,847	82.5
Sabah	187	Kinabatangan	19,406	19,554	99.2
Sabah	188	Silam	40,784	43,488	93.8
Sabah	189	Semporna	34,433	35,216	97.8
Sabah	190	Tawau	35,939	42,560	84.4
Sabah	191	Kalabakan	31,232	36,018	86.7
Sabah Total			743,157	807,862	92.0
Sarawak	192	Mas Gading	18,918	21,968	86.1
Sarawak	193	Santubong	12,801	30,836	41.5
Sarawak	194	Petra Jaya	9,413	40,533	23.2
Sarawak	195	Bandar Kuching	9,090	53,216	17.1
Sarawak	196	Stampin	12,892	67,257	19.2
Sarawak	197	Kota Samarahan	14,174	28,517	49.7
Sarawak	198	Mambong	22,029	36,147	60.9
Sarawak	199	Serian	24,561	27,901	88.0
Sarawak	200	Batang Sadong	14,892	16,794	88.7
Sarawak	201	Batang Lupar	19,655	22,417	87.7
Sarawak	202	Sri Aman	21,668	25,724	84.2
Sarawak	203	Lubok Antu	16,388	17,190	95.3
Sarawak	204	Betong	18,835	22,088	85.3
Sarawak	205	Saratok	22,610	23,982	94.3
Sarawak	206	Tanjong Manis	15,245	17,052	89.4
Sarawak	207	Igan	14,768	15,735	93.9
Sarawak	208	Sarikei	25,271	31,675	79.8
Sarawak	209	Julau	20,030	20,306	98.6
Sarawak	210	Kanowit	16,715	17,613	94.9
Sarawak	211	Lanang	16,559	49,530	33.4
Sarawak	212	Sibu	20,478	53,679	38.1
Sarawak	213	Mukah	19,654	22,851	86.0
Sarawak	214	Selangau	19,386	20,057	96.7
Sarawak	215	Kapit	21,314	22,723	93.8
Sarawak	216	Hulu Rajang	17,155	17,696	96.9
Sarawak	217	Bintulu	32,455	50,404	64.4
Sarawak	218	Sibuti	16,489	22,143	74.5
Sarawak	219	Miri	20,461	55,963	36.6
Sarawak	220	Baram	23,219	24,425	95.1
Sarawak	221	Limbang	18,627	20,315	91.7
Sarawak	222	Lawas	15,334	15,717	97.6
Sarawak Total			571,086	912,454	62.6
Malaysia Total			3,795,661	10,922,139	34.8

Source: SPR and MALVU analysis.

Further reading and quote from "Sarawak Election Monitoring 2006":

`When asked about SPR’s misleading method of not giving the voters’ street address (currently only voting areas are given –which may not coincide with street names) SPR could only blame it on the past practice of registering voters according to any address given. Only after July 16th 2002 that the law had been changed to register voters according to their IC address. However for the thousands of voters at Rajang Park whose address are untraceable according to the Sibu Municipal Council Valuation Chief the problem arise from the SPR’s inexplicable method of leaving out the street name in the voters’ roll, rather than due to the voters not registering with addresses not found in their IC.’