DEWAN Negara President Rais Yatim’s statement about the impracticality of lowering the voting age to 18 for now due to time and resource constraints is nothing short of unreasonable.
After all, Undi 18 is about empowering young people and they should be given the trust to make decisions in all fields and at all levels including in Parliament. And for some reason, Putrajaya is dragging its feet on this matter, and the big question here is why.
Youths are the future of democracy, and enfranchising the youths would encourage a richer and more diverse political dialogue that would no doubt be beneficial to all.
If anything, the PN Government’s actions to deprive them of their constitutional rights to elect and choose their government is one huge step backwards for the democratic system in Malaysia.
Having made history as the first successful constitutional amendment to receive support from both sides of the political divide, Undi 18 could have unleashed 7.8 million new voters in Malaysia.
According to many political analysts, this could result in vastly different voting patterns in the next general elections (GE15).
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan previously said that lowering the voting age to 18 and automatic voter registration are expected to be implemented, at the latest, by July 2021.
Thus, this will give voters of 18 years of age the ability to vote if GE15 is held on or after July 2021.
Equally as puzzling in this matter is the fact that the Election Commission (EC) and National Registration Department (NRD) have set up a special task force on the implementation of the 18-year-old voting age and automatic voter registration in October 2019.
What happened to the task force, and what has it been doing for the past seventeen months or so?
More importantly, why are they dragging their feet on a matter that is of great importance to the future of the country?
Of late, there have been increasing calls for the EC to clarify the status of Undi 18 without the interference from any political leaders. As of the time of writing, there is yet to be a response. – March 17, 2021
