POLLS WATCHDOGS MULL LEGAL ACTION OVER DELAY
Detractors, including Khairy, say using MCO as excuse to defer allowing 18- to 20-year-olds to vote is unreasonable
PERSATUAN Pengundi Muda Malaysia (Undi18) is looking to initiate legal action against the government to compel the Election Commission (EC) to reduce the minimum voting age to 18.
It is expected to file the suit on April 2.
“We are facilitating a legal action against the government to compel the EC to allow 18- to 20year-olds to register as voters on April 2, 2021. This legal action is expected to be filed on April 2, 2021,” it said in a statement yesterday.
The non-governmental organisation said it was taking the stand as it believed that youths should not be denied their constitutional right to vote.
It said the amendment to Article 119 (1)(a) of the Constitution ought to be implemented first to enable the group to vote.
It was commenting on the EC’s announcement that the automatic voter registration (AVR) system and Undi18, the move to lower the voting age to 18, would come into effect after Sept 1 next year.
The commission said the delay was caused by constraints related to the Movement Control Order (MCO).
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the EC’s excuse that the MCO had derailed its planning was unreasonable as the restrictions had been enforced for over a year.
“The EC’s recent statement contradicts the previous EC chairman’s statement, who, on June 7 last year, said that plans to implement Undi18 and AVR, which include amending existing laws and election regulations as well as preparing infrastructure and systems, will be completed latest by July 2021.”
He said the EC’s statement last year was also a reiteration of former minister in Prime Minister's Department Datuk Liew Vui Kong’s statement on Oct 2019, which set a similar target to commence the implementation of Undi18 and AVR in July.
Khairy also referred to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan’s statement to the Dewan Rakyat in November last year, where Takiyuddin said the latest date that the EC was expected to wrap up amendments to the minimum voting age was by July this year.
The Rembau member of parliament, however, said five months after the reply in Dewan Rakyat was issued, the EC had deferred the implementation by over a year to September next year.
He also urged to EC clarify as to why more discussions between political parties and non-governmental organisations were needed when Parliament had approved the move.
He said the engagement sessions could consistently continue without having to disrupt the previous deadline.
Khairy said Undi18 was not merely an aspiration of the previous government, but had secured the approval of all political parties and a two-third majority from lawmakers in Parliament.
The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0), meanwhile, said it would not hesitate to take “bolder action” if the EC did not expedite the implementation of Undi18. It also called for the immediate resignation of EC chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh over the delay.
“The EC’s decision has robbed four million Malaysians aged 18 to 20 of their right to shape the direction of the country when the next federal and state election, or by-election is called.
“Riding on the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse is absurd because it has nothing to do with the implementation of Undi18, as the necessary information already exists in the database of the National Registration Department,” it said.
Ghani, in a statement on Thursday, said the EC was committed to implementing the new system and Undi18 for the 15th General Election in 2023 as approved in Parliament.
However, he said the commission had to be realistic as the country was facing movement restrictions that hindered its planning and preparation.
He also clarified that preparations on the implementation of the amendments to the national polling system were still ongoing.
“This includes workflow, such as the development of systems, checks and streamlining of data and engagement programmes with government agencies, political parties and NGOs and related preparations,” he said.