I refer to the announcement by the Election Commission chairperson regarding the parliamentary motion to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 years old. As a Pakatan Harapan (PH) member of parliament, I wholeheartedly welcome the announcement and look forward to the tabling of the motion in the upcoming parliament session.
The lowering of the voting age to 18 years old is expected to add 3.7 million youths as eligible voters. This is a significant amount considering that the amount of registered voters in the last general elections is 13.9 million voters.
The proposal to lower the voting age has been part of PH’s manifesto. The right to vote is a fundamental human right enshrined in our Federal Constitution. The move to lower the voting age is part of the new government’s commitment to empower the youth with the right to vote and thus allowing them to participate more directly in the democratic process.
Some stakeholders have expressed disagreement over this proposal as they are concerned over the capacity of these new voters to make informed decision on voting. However, I respectfully disagree with such arguments.
The legal age of majority in Malaysia is 18 years old. At this age, a person is deemed to be an adult with sufficient capacity and will to make important decisions. It is time for us to trust our youths and treat them as adults by empowering them with the right to vote.
In fact, Malaysia is among the few countries left in the world with such a high voting age. In the ASEAN region for example, only Malaysia and Singapore have a voting age of 21 years old. On the other hand, Indonesia and Timor Leste have the lowest voting age at 17 years old.
The parliamentary motion to lower the voting age would require a two third majority since it involves amending the constitution. I therefore call upon members of parliament from all political parties to support the motion.
There are very little reasons, if any, for UMNO, PAS, and GPS to not support the motion, unless they intend to sabotage PH’s reform agenda, politicise the issue, and supress the will of the people. The opposition have indeed done so in the past year, for example by rejecting the constitutional amendment to restore the powers of Sabah and Sarawak, and the abolition of the Anti-Fake News Act.
All political parties and members of parliament should therefore take a bi-partisan approach to this motion and vote overwhelmingly to empower our youth.