This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on August 16, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: There is optimism that a larger voting base arising from the recently approved motion to lower the voting age to 18 years will eventually result in better parliamentarians.

At the same time, young voters must prove they understand the responsibility which comes with the power to vote and equip themselves with the knowledge to choose the right leaders, panellists of a dialogue on the voting age said yesterday.

Likening the larger voting base to a bigger market, entrepreneur George Ang was of the view that an enlarged voting pool will result in better handling of issues by the people’s representatives.

“By enlarging the voting base, our politicians’ quality will eventually have to improve,” he said, noting that the increase will come not only with the lowering of the minimum age for voting but also with automatic voter registration.

A bigger section of the population gets to vote, not just the 15 million that voted in the last election.

“That means the market is much, much bigger ... in the business, it is about the mass market,” he said.

“The politicians have to be smarter. They will have to come up with better policies and products when the market is so huge. If they do anything wrong, a certain market may not vote for them,” said Ang.

He was speaking at the dialogue entitled “#Undi18 and its impact on the future of Malaysia” at the University of Malaya.

Another speaker, University of Malaya student leader Naznur Farahani, pointed out that the youths must now exercise properly their responsibility to elect the nation’s leaders.

“It is a wake-up call for the youths to grow up, and to prove you are responsible enough and are aware that what you do now will affect the country,” said Naznur.

“We have been given the perfect opportunity to shine ... the next step is to improve ourselves to be more rational [and] patient. When you are aware, you can tell right from wrong,” she added.

Election Commission deputy chairman Dr Azmi Sharom concurred and brushed off the notion among certain quarters that 18-year-olds are not ready to choose their leaders.

“It is a human right. Does it mean they are mature enough to join the army and die for the country, but not to choose their leaders?” asked Azmi.

To prepare young people to choose wisely, a good initiative would expose students to the electoral process, such as through classroom elections, to help them understand the power that comes with voting rights.

“It’s okay if they get it wrong the first time,” he pointed out. “Our young people do not yet see democracy in action in their everyday lives. That is something we need to look at,” he said.

On July 26, Dewan Negara voted in favour to amending the Federal Constitution to lower the minimum age of voters and election candidates to 18 from 21 following the passing of the bill by Dewan Rakyat on July 16.

Pending the King’s approval, it will allow some 3.5 million more Malaysians, aged 18 to 20, to vote in the next election. A motion to enable automatic voter registration was also passed, which Azmi said could take at least two and a half years to be implemented.