Propositions by MCA Youth to overcome legal inconsistencies accompanying Bill lowering voting age

MCA Youth hopes that the Pakatan Harapan government has thoroughly conducted their research, as well as collected inputs from all sides for improvements and fine-tuning, before tabling the Bill to amend the Federal Constitution to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, in order to live up to everyone’s expectations.

This being the case, we have a few propositions on the Bill to lower the voting age too, including:-

1) MCA Youth agrees with the Bill to lower the voting age to 18 on the condition that automatic registration of voters is implemented, and 18-year-olds to be allowed to contend in the General Election.

2) Civics education or political subjects should be integrated into the formal national education syllabus. It should be reminded that the History and Moral subjects taught in our primary and secondary schools only provide a minimal level of foundation of our political system.

3) The Universities and University Colleges (AUKU) Act 1971 must be repealed. As we all know, AUKU erodes the autonomy of universities, interferes with academic freedom and seriously suppresses the human rights of public university students by forbidding them from joining any political activities. Consequently, the Act which restricts the students’ involvement in politics will discourage and reduce their interest in discussing politics. As such, reducing the voting age but not repealing this oppressive Act will not solve the problem. In addition, we look for a future where political organisations can enter university grounds in a well-organised manner, to directly, openly, and fairly interact with students in discourse.

Therefore, prior to tabling and passing the Bill to lower the voting age, there is a need to standardise the definition of adults and related Acts. Currently, the legal ages are not as uniform as they should be. For example, under the Law Reform (Marriage & Divorce) Act 1976, any marriage solemnised involving a party between the age 16 to 18 requires the approval of the Chief Ministers, while those marrying under 21 requires parental consent as they somehow are still considered minors. These inconsistencies in our laws must be amended and rectified.

Nicole Wong Siaw Ting
MCA National Youth Chairperson

-MCA online-