The Malaysian Insight

ABOUT 300 youths gathered outside Parliament today and held a symbolic 18 minutes of silence to protest the recent announcement that the implementation of Undi18 and automatic voter registration will be postponed until September 1 next year.

Protest leader Amri Abdul Hadi said it is sad that they have had to hold the protest even after the bill was approved in Parliament.

“18 minutes of silence is symbolic to Undi18,” said Amri, the secretary of Muda.

“The reason why we are protesting outside Parliament is because Parliament is the voice of our country, not the Election Commission’s office.”

Amri said what youths want is for the government to allow 18-year-olds to be able to vote in the next general election.

“Undi18 was approved in Parliament in 2019 and they have promised that it will be implemented in July this year, but now they are saying it can only be done in September 2022.

An 18-year-old protestor, Nurul Ifayah, said the 15-month delay is unacceptable.

“How can the government say that the youth is the future of the country when the right to vote is not given to us?

“We urge the government to implement Undi 18 latest by July this year and to also open up Parliament as soon as possible,” she said.

Some opposition politicians were also present at the protest, including former education minister Maszlee Malik, PKR lawmakers Maria Chin Abdullah and Tian Chua, along with other civil society groups such as Bersih 2.0 and Demokrat Nasional.

While the bill to amend the constitution to lower the voting age had been passed by both Houses of Parliament, other election-related laws have not been amended to enable automatic voter registration of 18 year-olds, as Parliament has been suspended due to the state of emergency announced to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. – March 27, 2021.