LANGKAWI – Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has slammed the Election Commission for delays to lowering the voting age to 18 (Undi18).
He said he was puzzled why one of the first moves he did when he was prime minister under the Pakatan Harapan government has caused the EC such difficulty, especially in an era of big data.
“These days it’s so easy to collect data. We already have big data. We know how many are eligible to vote, their age, their location. These data are all recorded.
“So I don’t know what the (EC’s) problem is to enable those aged 18 to vote,” he said today during a session with the media at an outlet of The Loaf here.
The Dewan Rakyat in 2019 unanimously voted to implement Undi18, and the constitution was amended the same year. According to the EC, there are about 1.2 million youth aged 18 to 20.
In November 2020, following the collapse of PH and Dr Mahathir’s ouster, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan promised that Undi18 would be implemented by July this year.
But the EC, in a recent announcement, said it would be pushed back to September 1, 2022, citing the movement control order as the reason for the delay.
Dr Mahathir also trained his gun towards the Perikatan Nasional government, saying that Malaysia would be further embroiled in a political crisis should a general election be called anytime soon.
“There would not be a dominant party. We must have a coalition. No party can win more than 50% votes.”
The situation is fluid because the ruling government is weak, with not more than two seats majority, said Dr Mahathir, who added that it can fall at any given time despite assurances from Muhyiddin.
Dr Mahathir, who is the Langkawi MP, is on a three-day working visit to his constituency, and is scheduled to go to the troubled Bukit Malut settlement which is marked for relocation.
The area consists of the descendants of Malays who were forcibly brought to Myanmar to build the “death railway” during WWII by the Japanese and later returned to Malaysia in the 1970s.
Rohingya asylum seekers and pockets of original residents also live in the colony.
Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has announced that the area would be redeveloped into a high-speed motorcycle racetrack as part of efforts to boost tourism. – The Vibes, March 30, 2021
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