Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): There is optimism that a larger voting base arising from the recently-approved motion to lower the voting age to 18 will eventually result in better Parliamentarians.

At the same time, young voters must prove that 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 today.

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.

“So 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 Universiti Malaya.

Another speaker, Universiti Malaya student leader Naznur Farahani, pointed that the youth must now properly exercise their responsibilities to elect the nation’s leaders.

“It is a wake-up call for the youth to grow up, and to prove that they are responsible enough and are aware that what they 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, be more 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 that 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 be to 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 that we need to look at,” he said.

G25 founding member Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim pointed out that young voters can now vote for younger candidates who are more in tune with issues close to them such as household debt, low wages and high youth unemployment rate of around 13% among those aged 18-24.

On increasing the awareness and understanding of youth on the matter, the former Khazanah managing director, who is a Universiti Malaya alumnus, recalled the practice during his student days in the 1950s and 1960s.

"At that time most of our teachers were British. We didn't learn about political systems in the class. They encouraged us to have debates among ourselves,” he said.

"Some students were very anti-British at that time, but the teachers were very tolerant... We had [former Singapore Prime Minister] Lee Kwan Yew to debate in this campus. And I think if our schools can do that, it will encourage our students to be more aware," said Mohd Sheriff.

On July 26, the 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 the Dewan Rakyat on July 16.

Pending the King’s approval, it will allow some 3.5 million more Malaysians aged 18-20 to vote in the next general 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.

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