Why Can't Malaysians Abroad Vote?

I may be on a business trip on March 8, the date of the Malaysian general elections. I had plans to inquire with the Malaysian embassy in Holland on how I can cast my vote on that day if I was in fact out of the country at the time. This article in The Star today reports that the Election Commission secretary says that only Malaysian civil servants abroad are eligible for postal votes and that all other Malaysians living overseas have to come back to vote!!

WTF!

It's completely ridiculous to expect Malaysians abroad to fly back home on short notice to vote. Why can't Malaysians abroad also be eligible to the postal vote like civil servants?  Is the Malaysian government afraid that these group of Malaysians, who could be made up of a large number of disgruntled people who have left the country, would not vote for the Barisan Nasional? Are we saying that the votes of Malaysians abroad don't count? Americans abroad can cast postal votes, so can the British, so why not Malaysians? Don't they count? Obviously not. It's time to change the law to facilitate the ability of Malaysians abroad to participate in the democratic process.