KUALA LUMPUR – The government has been urged to keep to its promise to register 18-year-olds as voters by July, and not use the current state of emergency as an excuse to delay this implementation.
Several youth leaders expressed grave concern that many of those aged from 18 to 20 years old may not be able to vote in the 15th general election, assuming it will be held this year, if the lowering of the voting age is not gazetted in time.
This follows the Election Commission’s (EC) recent admission that the nationwide emergency could be a stumbling block in registering this new group of voters, as necessary amendments to certain election laws cannot not be tabled due to the suspension of Parliament.
Its deputy chairman, Azmi Sharom, had told The Vibes on Thursday that one way to ensure the amendments are passed and the voting age formally reduced is to promulgate an emergency ordinance.
Amir Abdul Hadi, co-founder of youth party Muda, said it is extremely important that the government does what is needed to ensure the lowering of the voting age and automatic registration is done by the planned time frame of July this year.
He said not doing so would go against the spirit of Parliament, as the matter was passed in both the upper and lower houses in July 2019.
“There should be no excuse by the government to delay the implementation. Yes, certain processes must be done and ordinances may be required, but there should not be a problem implementing the changes,” he told The Vibes.
“The amendments to the constitution for lowering the voting age and allowing automatic registration have been passed in Parliament, supported by both sides of the bench, so they must be gazetted.”
Amir said regardless, it is also incumbent on the government and the EC to inform the public about developments on the matter.
“The EC, in particular, must make public the progress so far. The mandate has been given to it by Parliament; surely it must have done something. The rakyat need to know.”
Youth advocacy NGO Challenger Malaysia’s Jean Vaneisha, meanwhile, said that, as it stands, the emergency appears to be a tool for the government to drag its feet, risking an expected 7.8 million new voters not being able to cast their ballots in the next election.
Like Amir, she also urged the government not to renege on its promise to Malaysians to allow the new voters’ group to head to the polls.
“We demand full accountability and transparency for all the MPs who voted in favour of passing this bill (in 2019), the first unanimous decision in many years,” she said.
Vaneisha said it is surprising that the government has not taken measures to implement automatic registration, especially as the digital revolution has been accelerated due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
She warned that, if the democratic rights of the new voters are impeded, the rakyat will not take the matter lightly.
“As we saw from the national response in support of Malaysiakini’s defence fund, the people will find ways to show their protest, even if at great cost. We hope the best for the next parliamentary sitting but will keep careful watch.”
Vaneisha was referring to the RM500,000 collected by Malaysiakini via crowdsourcing after the Federal Court found the news portal in contempt over comments posted by readers deemed offensive to the judiciary, and ordered the fine. – The Vibes, February 21, 2021
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