#Undi18NOW: Youths gather at Parliament to protest delay of voting bill

Last Thursday (March 25), the Election Commission (EC) announced that automatic voter registration (AVR) and the lowering of the voting age to 18 (Undi 18) will be implemented after September 2022, citing COVID-19 as the main cause.

The announcement has sparked outrage among supporters of the bill, where 23 youth groups issued a public statement condemning its delay.

“The various Movement Control Orders (MCOs) and the pandemic cannot be used as excuses to halt the effort in processing the automatic registration of voters, considering that almost all restrictions imposed by the MCOs have been lifted,” the statement said.

The statement also claimed that the move to defer Undi18 until the 15th General Election would be the largest electoral exclusion of a demographic group from the pool of eligible voters in Malaysia’s history.

Today, a sit-in protest was organised in front of Parliament to voice their dissatisfaction and pressure the government into rescinding the bill’s delay.

Although the event was announced 24 hours prior, an estimated 500 people attended the protest in a display of solidarity.

The protest, “Himpunan Tuntut Undi18″, was backed by several NGOs and youth groups who want Undi18 to be implemented immediately.

It has also gained huge traction on Twitter, with 5,291 tweets bearing the #Undi18NOW hashtag. Those who were present at the rally shared live footage and pictures, while those who couldn’t be there physically showed their support by retweeting the said hashtag.

Live footages and pictures from the rally:

Netizens tweeting the poster along with the hashtag to show support:

Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin stood with protesters, saying that that EC’s decision to delay Undi18 and AVR was unacceptable.

“The excuse that the MCO has affected the plans and preparations of the Election Commission (EC) is something that does not make sense considering that the MCO has been implemented since more than a year ago,” he said in a statement on Friday (March 26).

“The EC should give a further explanation about this engagement session as this process is no longer an issue because Undi18 has been agreed upon by the highest level of the lawmaking process in the country, which is the Parliament.”

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin however, defended the EC and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, claiming that they have little control over the decision and that the government was more than willing to accept younger voters.

“Some say PN is afraid. We’re not afraid. In fact, I’m confident that a large portion of youngsters supports the government,” he said at a press conference today.

Sources: (NewStraitTime, The Star, FreeMalaysiaToday)

Editor: Raymond Chen
Proofreader: Sarah Yeoh