In an interview with vernacular newspaper, Oriental Daily, the civil servant, who commenced service 42 years ago in 1973, said that he had no regrets, and thanked electoral reform group Bersih, and the opposition pact for their feedback and opinions, remarking that it had been a good learning curve for him.
Abdul Aziz vacates his post on January 24 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 66.
He cited what he deemed were the 18 reform milestones achieved during his time at the helm of the EC, of which indelible ink and overseas postal voting were among the most impactful:
- Use of indelible ink during elections.
- Early voting for police and armed forces instead of previous use of postal voting.
- Postal voting for Malaysian voters living abroad.
- Verification of voters’ identity with the National Registration Department after being registered as voters.
- Allowing opposition parties to debate on television and radio channels during the campaign period.
- Extension of campaign period from seven to 11 days.
- Approval of domestic and international election observers.
- Display of electoral rolls extended from seven to 14 days.
- Prohibiting objections against candidates on nomination day.
- Prohibiting the withdrawal of candidacies after nomination day.
- Allowing the disabled to vote if accompanied by a trusted person, instead of only family members under previous rules.
- Change in polling station’s seating arrangements where the candidates’ representative may face the door to see the entry and exit of voters.
- Postal votes for media personnel.
- Early appointment of election officers to enable the casting of votes in advance.
- Replacing pencils with pens to mark ballot papers.
- Simplifying nomination by simplifying multiple forms into a single form.
- Disallowing opposition political parties from setting-up tents outside polling stations.
- Setting-up a special website for the Election Commission.
He also touched on the hurdles faced to make postal voting operational, and the decision to proceed with indelible ink over biometric identification in lieu of concerns over data manipulation.
Having spent a large portion of his life in service, he said that with retirement, he looked forward to a more leisurely life with family while indulging in his favourite sport of golfing, and fulfilling his religious obligations.