KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 — The High Court here has fixed Oct 21 for a decision on the legal action by 18 Malaysian youths to challenge the government’s action in delaying the implementation of Undi 18, a move to lower the voting age to 18 and to enable automatic voter registration (AVR).
The youths had on behalf of the Undi 18 movement, filed a judicial review application and named former Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the government and the Election Commission (EC) as respondents.
Judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid set the date after hearing submissions via Zoom today from the 18 youths’ counsel, Datuk Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar and Datuk S. Ambiga while senior federal counsel, Shamsul Bolhassan, Azizan Md Arshad and Raja Shahril Anuar Raja Baniamin acted for the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) on behalf of all the respondents.
Earlier, Gurdial submitted that the Covid-19 pandemic could not be used as an excuse to delay the registration of the young voters because the AVR could be done by the EC and the National Registration Department with the aid of technology.
“On March 25, the EC in a press statement mentioned that AVR and Undi 18 would only be implemented after Sept 1, 2021. This is purportedly because of challenges faced by the EC pursuant to the movement control order (MCO).
“Giving Covid-19 as an excuse is unacceptable as the AVR should have been completed last month as the government made the announcement on October 10, 2019. In any event, there is no adequate explanation, as the law requires, on how and why Covid-19 has caused any obstacles to the implementation of Undi 18.”
The lawyer said this in his submission over a judicial review application by the Undi18 movement to challenge the government’s action in delaying the implementation of Undi 18.
Meanwhile, Ambiga said the delay in allowing Undi 18 to come into force to date would result in an unreasonable and irrational situation in the nation’s democracy system.
“An 18-year-old Malaysian citizen is able to stand as candidate in elections to the House of Representatives and the State Legislative Assembly but is unable to vote in such elections.
“He or she cannot even vote for himself/herself despite being able to contest in his or her constituency. The government must stop this nonsense and continue with the implementation,” she said.
However, Shamsul argued that the enforcement and implementation of the constitutional amendments could not be done in isolation and have to be done together as the enforcement and application of AVR is the reverse effect of application for registration by the qualified person.
“In an application for registration, every person who is qualified will make an application. However, before his or her name is registered in a roll, there is an objection period every quarter to ensure that all the names that are registered to vote are still eligible.
“However, in the AVR, his name will be automatically registered in the roll. Currently, there is no provision for objection. What if a person who is disqualified be an elector. For example, a person who is detained in a mental hospital or is in custody or not a resident in the constituency…his/her name will be in the roll due to the AVR,” he said.
Shamsul further submitted that the government never said it did not want to implement the constitutional amendments but things had become difficult due to the MCO and Covid-19 pandemic and his opinion was agreed upon by another SFC, Azizan who said that the EC could not reveal every move it made to the public.
Another SFC, Raja Shahril argued that not all of the EC’s work could be done via online and physical interaction is needed to carry out certain investigations to ensure the voters are actually there.
On June 17, the 18 Malaysian youths obtained leave from the High Court to challenge the government’s action in delaying the implementation of Undi 18.
On April 2, the youths, aged between 18 and 20, filed their legal action seeking several court orders arising from the respondents’ delay in the implementation of Undi 18.
In the application, the youths seek a declaration that delaying the enforcement of lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 is irrational, illegal, disproportionate and a form of voter suppression.
The applicants want a declaration that those aged 18 to 20 have a legitimate expectation that they will have the right to vote on or before July 2021.
— Bernama
