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Bar Council: No need to lower voting age PDF Print E-mail
Sunday, 06 April 2008 08:17am

Ballot box©New Sunday Times (Used by permission)

KUALA LUMPUR: Why lower the voting age when millions of of young voters haven't registered to vote?

That's the Bar Council's response to suggestions to bring the voting age down to 18.

"There are several other issues that should be resolved first," said Bar Council vice-president Ragunath Kesavan.

These, he said, included the large number of young people who were eligible to vote but hadn't registered despite the fact that registration was open all-year round.

Many voters also didn't register a change in address with the Election Commission, although they may have changed the address in their MyKad.

The way forward, he said, should be to make voter registration compulsory at 21.

This he said would require a more efficient link-up between the National Registration Department and the Election Commission.

But Ragunath also added that the voting age was being lowered all over the world.

Some US states, he said, had also considered lowering the voting age from 18 to 16.

There are many reasons for this.

For instance, people are maturing earlier, completing their studies and entering the job market at a younger age.

They were exposed to issues and they had more access to information, he said.

"If they are to amend the laws, it must be meaningful. They'll have to consider the benefits.

"With so many 21 year olds not registered as voters, what's the point in lowering the voting age?"

Comments (2)Add Comment
The Voting Age should be reduced to 18....
written by Charles Hector, Monday, April 07 2008 12:20 am

Many of us who went to colleges and universities forget that the majority of persons are already employed/working when they are 18....

Well, thanks to the UCCA (AUKU) and other acts University and College Students are still treated like "secondary school students" and are specifically prevented from being involved in 'political parties', trade unions, etc....We, lawyers, many of us come from this experience whereby we can rightly say that before we attain 21, we are not ready to vote in the general elections yet.....BUT alas we forget that only a small percentage of all Malaysians go through this experience..

Therefore, I say voting age should be reduced to 18....

Charles Hector

flawed reasoning
written by Alex Tan Ken Seng, Tuesday, April 08 2008 08:51 am

I disagree with the Bar Council, if it is saying we should not bother lowering the age for the rakyat to be able to register to vote during general elections.

By lowering the age to 18 (or whatever figure lower than 21), it sends a message that we recognise that our youths have a say in the future of this country. We recognise that there are equal to their parents and other elders.

The problem actually is that in Malaysia at least, teenagers are maturing slower, mentally and emotionally. Physically we have youngsters who are taller and bigger than their parents, but intellectually, those born after 1985 are "softies" and "manja" and naive, compared to those born before. I'm speaking generally of course, and just naming an approximate year.

Alex Tan Ken Seng (born in October 1971)


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