PETALING JAYA: Liu, a second year Chinese University of Hong Kong economics student has taken up the mission of bringing 527 ballot papers from Hong Kong to Kuala Lumpur via Singapore and Johor Bahru, before flying back to his hometown Kuching.

He said he only had an average of three hours of sleep a day these past few days.

The Malaysian Students Association of the Chinese University of Hong Kong ( MSACUHK) started preparing to get Malaysian students at the university to vote after the parliament was dissolved last month.

“After the election commission announced the polling date, I found that we only had 14 days of campaign period, giving us very little time to send back the ballot papers.

“So I started to look for an air ticket and contacted VoteMalaysia if there was anyone who could help bring back the ballots.”

Liu later decided to fly back to Malaysia, but as the air fare was too expensive, he had to first fly into Singapore and then travel overland to Johor Bahru and fly to KL from there.

This was to make sure that he could help bring the ballot papers back to Malaysia while going home personally to vote.

“As Undi18 had yet to find a volunteer to bring back the ballots from Hong Kong, I thought I could help, as I had already booked my flight.”

Liu and others were collecting the ballot papers at a McDonald’s restaurant in downtown Hong Kong and the response was surprisingly encouraging.

“I received dozens of messages each day inquiring about the collection of ballot papers. I even had to answer a message every few minutes as the deadline drew near.”

Meanwhile, other MSACUHK members liaised with Malaysian student associations from other universities, including the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University and the University of Science and Technology, to help collect the ballot papers.

Bersih Hong Kong also helped in making arrangements.

Ballots brought back from overseas by volunteers will be first handed over to Undi18 representatives who will bring them to the KL and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall for sorting.

The ballots will then be handed to representatives from various parts of the country to be delivered to the respective constituencies on the polling day.