Undi18 will define the next election – Vasanthi Ramachandran

OUR nation’s future narrative may be rewritten by 18-21 year-old voters from their laptops, tablets, and smartphones in the next election. These youths are the ones who are beginning to redraft the constitution to possibly redefine “Malaysians with an equitable identity”.

In 2016, two students, Qyira Yusri and Tharma Pillai, started the Undi18 campaign to amend the federal constitution to allow those 18 to 21 years old to vote and run for public office.

“I started Undi18 when I was 20. I wanted to be able to vote then, but like millions of young Malaysians I too was locked out of elections at a time when democracy matters so much,” said Tharma.

This team will go down in history books, provided the story is told as it is.

Tharma and his team unabashedly championed constitutional reform to legitimise the youth as voters to address an imperfect nation where broad daylight corruption is a norm. With an anti-corruption tagline and a simple apolitical structured process, they promised the youth that a better world is possible if they vote too.

Undi18, or officially the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019, Article 119(1), will bring in a sizable 3.8 million voters into GE15. Undi18 is now listed in Forbes in its annual “30 under 30 Asia” list for promoting youth representation in politics.

In 2019, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Pakatan Harapan government, along with the opposition, unanimously voted to implement Undi18 with a block vote from 211 MPs in Parliament. The constitutional amendment was gazetted into law on September 10, 2019.

However, for almost three years thereafter, this enfranchisement of voting was delayed by the Election Commission and the government. 

In September this year, after protests and appeals by the youth, the Kuching High Court, via judicial review, ordered that Undi18 be implemented by December 31 this year.

To back this decision, the government started automatic voter registration for all eligible Malaysians. The present political leaders have almost zero preparedness or perspective in place to understand this dimension of the high court’s sudden decision.

As it is now, politicians are far-sighted enough to last to their end of term, and reprepare for the next election. In the interim, they will duck real issues.

As I write this, the ruling party leaders are tiptoeing around the Melaka state election and mumbling incoherently about their stand, while heartless local party leaders are trying to carve out a political majority from a devastated population yearning for humane normalcy.

The youth are watching the political theatrics in horror. They realise it is not the coronavirus that is the enemy. The real enemies are the unmasked politicians who are fighting today. The folly of it all is – they were all, once upon a time, from the same party and even the same government. They just did not have patience to see through a full term in office.

Undoubtedly, if the youth had any notion of being pro-establishment before, they would now reverse their decision and engrave in their idealist vows to not be part of this power play.

We have to link these youth to our founding fathers and their struggle to reinvoke the people’s love for their nation.

In 1955 in our elections before independence, the Alliance of Umno, MCA, and MIC with its leader Tunku Abdul Rahman played an important role in negotiating the transition from British rule to independence.

In gratitude, for many elections after, adults have stood in line obediently with compliance and had put their thumb print and faith in the government that freed them from the colonial yoke.

Along the way, social injustices, inequities, corruption, and inefficiencies became a political norm. In GE14, it built to a “tsunami” of a full awakening. While we yearned for change, we did not know enough of how to overthrow a 60-year-old incumbent political alliance.

One man made it possible and we need to pause and give credit where it is due – Dr Mahathir, a prime minister who had ruthlessly ruled the nation for 23 years. No one in the history of Malaysia could have done what he did. 

The master of the creator of this mess was the only one who knew how to undo the mess. 

The veteran and shrewd political strategist had done his homework. For years he had worked diligently, gathering facts, evidence, data, and enough information with a single-minded focus to remove then prime minister Najib Razak.

In the coming election, we have the challenge of unfinished business from 2018. The same issues are still on the table to be reused during campaigns, as well as new issues in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The good news is mainstream media has day after day begun to enthusiastically carry editorials, opinions and columns of the present day unpopular politics.

There are Instagram influencers with personally gratifying postings that may lead young innocent voters to follow them in a daze, like the Pied Piper of Hamlyn. 

Sadly, our youth are victims of a weak education system where the main requirement is passing exams.

Malaysian historical facts have been manipulated in our children’s early education, creating a form of fake news in their minds. Present young voters have no connection to the real heroes in history, which has erased the contributions by non-Malays. Even world history was deleted from their curriculum.

They have not been educated in critical thinking and evaluating and making informed choices. They are not taught about world political democracies, separation of powers, and even the differences between MPs and assemblymen.

The young voters should find out more about their candidates’ efficacy, credibility, calibre, and the issues that they stand for. And if they want to be future leaders, they should be exposed to the nuances in the real world and stay headstrong in advocating the changes.

The internet provides numerous opportunities for direct engagement between legislators and online citizens. Through this avenue, the citizens should make it clear that they do not tolerate unfulfilled promises from leaders.

With this empowerment of information and training they will not be pushed into the polling booths by power brokers who have promised their overlords some votes.

Alone, no youth movement will be able to wrestle power from the incumbent and take over with no realistic actual promise of a better future. At the same time, all seasoned political parties are power brokers who will be on the lookout for any youth-centric vehicle to use for their own survival.

The next election is not any election. It is the Election. It is a formidable victory – enabled by voters across the board to bring in good leadership regardless of party, race, or age.

Railing over the past will not empower us. We can learn lessons from recent times and reinvent a better world. As for Tharma and the team, if you can help amend the federal constitution you can do anything you set your minds on.

For the rest of Undi18, please vote wisely. – The Vibes, October 29, 2021