Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali said both sides of the political divide should unite on the matter in the interest of democracy, the people and the nation.
“On this matter, they should set aside their political differences and reach a common ground,” he said, adding that both government-linked and opposition parties had an equal chance of garnering votes from the youth if they were registered with the Election Commission (EC).
Rafique was responding to Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s announcement yesterday that the Cabinet had agreed to lower the voting age. This was one of Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) election pledges in the run-up to the May 9 polls.
Syed Saddiq said Putrajaya would now work towards amending the Federal Constitution to change the voting age.
For this to happen, Rafique said, Article 119 (1) of the constitution would need to be amended with the two-thirds majority support of the 222-member Dewan Rakyat.
PH has only 126 MPs and needs the support of at least 23 from the opposition for any amendment to go through.
Rafique also cautioned the opposition-led Dewan Negara against standing in the way of the amendment and frustrating the institutional reform attempted by the PH government.
Just two weeks ago, the Dewan Negara rejected the repeal of the Anti-Fake News Act by 28 votes to 21. Three senators abstained.
The Dewan Rakyat MPs had approved a bill to abolish the act, which was passed under the previous administration a month before PH swept to power.
But the law will be delayed for at least a year now as it must be tabled again in both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara for another round of debate.
Rafique also voiced support for Syed Saddiq’s efforts to gather public feedback about the voting age, especially from the youth.
He urged the government to consider the automatic registration of voters when those eligible to cast their ballots reach the minimum age.
“This will save a lot of time and resources to conduct campaigns and look for those who have yet to register with the EC,” he said.