IPOH, July 5 — PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang today proposed letting candidates qualify for election once they hit 18 years old instead of 21, after the government tabled a Bill to lower the voting age.
“If a person can vote at 18, then I don’t see any wrong why he can’t be a candidate at the same age,” he said in a video interview with the Terengganukini news portal aired on his Facebook page.
The Opposition federal lawmaker came up with the idea in response to the Bill tabled in Parliament yesterday by Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman at the Dewan Rakyat to lower the voting age to 18.
At the moment, election eligibility is open to Malaysian citizens aged 21 and above.
They must also be of sound mind, not a bankrupt, and not be a salaried employee nor hold citizenship elsewhere or have pledged allegiance to any other country.
The person also should not have been sentenced to jail for no less than one year or fined no less than RM2,000 without having obtained a pardon.
Hadi added that the Opposition bloc is in favour of automatic voter registration for Malaysians once they reach 18.
In the interview, he explained that automatic registration was necessary because young Malaysians are “careless” even if they are mentally mature.
“When we ask them to register to vote, they tend to be careless. So by doing this, the responsibility to vote can be strengthened,” he added.
The Marang MP said the Opposition will support the government’s Bill to lower the voting age if its suggestion for automatic voter registration is included.
The Bill requires amending the Federal Constitution, and that needs two-thirds votes from MPs — which the ruling Pakatan Harapan coalition does not currently have — in order to be passed.
Hadi acknowledged that many countries have enabled their 18-year-old citizens to vote on the belief that they are mature mentally.
“By right youngsters who reach 18 should be mature in this current generation, but if not, then I think the problem is with our education system,” he said, without elaborating.
Hadi said his Islamist party will submit its own Bill on dropping the age for election candidates and the automatic registration soon, but did not specify a time.
“We will wait for the result of the Bill to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 first,” he said.
“But at the same time, we are also willing to discuss if the government wants to make the amendments in the current Bill to include what we suggested. It can be done as the Bill tabled in Dewan Rakyat only went through the first reading,” he added.
