KUALA LUMPUR – Over 200 people gathered outside Parliament today to protest delays in activating automatic voter registration and the implementation of the Undi18 bill to lower the age of voting from 21 to 18.
The rally was organised by an ad hoc committee called the Sekretariat Himpunan Tuntut Undi18, itself a loose coalition of over 20 youth NGOs and opposition Youth wings. Participants marched 3km from Padang Merbok to the gates of Parliament.
They observed an 18-minute silent protest, signifying the lowered voting age.
“Malaysian citizens, in particular the youth, strongly object to this decision,” the organisers said in a statement. “What is stopping the EC (Election Commission) from implementing Undi18? Where are our votes as youth that want to shape the nation’s future?”
The statement included two demands directed at EC and the federal government.
The first: for Undi18 to be implemented by July this year, as originally planned, along with an assurance that automatic voter registration is implemented with transparency.
The second called for an end to the state of emergency and the reconvening of Parliament.
“You can’t keep blaming all things on the MCO (movement control order),” said advocacy director of Young Voters Association, Tharma Pillai, in reference to EC’s claim that the MCO had affected EC’s efforts to implement Undi18.
Tharma, a prominent figure in the movement to pass the Undi18 bill, added that the statement given by EC is “unclear, unsatisfactory and illogical”.
Also present at the rally was former education minister Maszlee Malik, who expressed disappointment at the Perikatan Nasional government’s alleged refusal to implement the Undi18 bill.
However, the Simpang Renggam MP added that the rally “shows that our younger generation is still alive” and “I am happy today that they are fighting for their rights”.
On Thursday, EC chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh said that “automatic voter registration and Undi18 are expected to be implemented after September 1, 2022”. This move was lambasted by lawmakers from both sides of the divide, with Science and Technology Minister Khairy Jamaluddin calling the decision extremely regrettable and unacceptable. – The Vibes, March 27, 2021
