Acting Gerakan Youth chief Wong Chia Zhen said this included the provision to allow automatic voter registration.

“Hopefully it can happen. I have been informed that some states have not yet passed a state bill that allows youths to participate in the democratic (voting) process,” he said when addressing the 33rd Gerakan national youth delegates’ conference tonight.

He said the party, which is now part of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, was committed to building a stable political environment in the country, adding that it could only exist through a continued commitment to parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy.

Law minister Takiyuddin Hassan had previously said that legislation allowing voting at age 18 and automatic voter registration was expected to be implemented by July this year.

The Undi 18 bill, officially known as Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019, was passed by the Dewan Negara in July 2019 and gazetted two months later. The amendment lowers the voting age from 21 to 18.

Meanwhile, Gerakan Wanita chief Janice Wong Oi Foon in her speech at the wing’s conference said it would work with other women’s organisations to empower women to face the challenges of the new normal following the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The people are feeling the pinch, especially those who have lost their jobs and sources of income due to the Covid-19 outbreak. We will set up a new working team to face the challenges of the new normal.

“We will work together by holding online business courses, helping and ensuring that women master new technologies, and further improve women’s skills in the new technology era, so they have high competitiveness to succeed,” she said.

She also hoped that the government could provide more allocations to the special fund for women entrepreneurs besides proposing a full subsidy for women to participate in skills programmes.

The two conferences, held virtually, were officiated by Gerakan deputy president Oh Tong Keong.