By Ling Hui
KUCHING, March 26: Some youths start working at 18-years-old and are already taxpayers, so they have every right to be voters in elections to choose the government of the day.
This was what Tamin assemblyman Christopher Gira Sambang said, adding that these people, even at a young age, contribute to the nation’s wealth and are much more knowledgeable than youths decades ago.
“Those who pay taxes means that person is contributing to the nation’s wealth so these people have the right to choose the government of the day.
“As internet is accessible, these youths have greater knowledge on politics to give their judgement on the governments as compared to youths decades ago,” he told Dayakdaily reporters via Whatsapp yesterday (March 26).
Gira also pointed out that the bill on reducing the voting age from 21- to 18-years-old (Undi18) was tabled and approved in July 2019 with 211 out of 222 votes in Parliament.
In European countries, he added, such practices have already been implemented where 18 years old are already casting votes in elections.
Thus, he urged EC to expedite the process to allow those 18 to 20 years old to be able to participate as voters or candidates in elections.
On March 25, EC chairman Datuk Abdul Ghani Salleh said the automatic voter registration (AVR) and Undi18 can only be implemented after Sept 1, 2022, due to various constraints directly affected by the current Movement Control Order (MCO).
Following the announcement, many political leaders throughout Malaysia have voiced against the one-year postponement, when de facto Law Minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan in November 2020 said in Parliament that the systems would begin by July this year. —DayakDaily
