Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said several issues, including voter registration had to be looked into, to ensure smooth implementation of the amendments.
“When the Constitution was amended in 2019, the time frame given (for the Undi18 Bill) was until 2023. If we look at the timeline set by the Election Commission (EC), the processes will be completed by September 2022 for the system to run smoothly.
“Several things need to be done first. This includes having the electoral roll updated to remove those who have died, fallen sick, gone insane or imprisoned.
“Similarly, for voters over the age of 90, the number of which has exceeded 7,000 people, some of them may need to be removed from the electoral roll,” he said during the oral question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat.
He was responding to a supplementary question from Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PH-Setiawangsa) who wanted to know why the government needs to wait for the court’s decision to implement Undi18 when the matter was a constitutional amendment that had been agreed by all parties during the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration.
In addition, Wan Junaidi said, the Covid-19 pandemic had prevented the government and the EC from taking action sooner to implement the constitutional amendment.
To a question from Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman (PAS-Kuala Krai) on the steps taken by the EC to ensure that voters aged 18 would go to the polls in the next general election, Wan Junaidi said the EC through the Election Academy had implemented the voter education programme to reach out to citizens, especially youths, and this was ongoing until today.
As at Sept 30, he said, the voter education programme had been implemented with the collaboration of several institutions of higher learning, and 2,740 students had taken part in face-to-face sessions, and 50,858 in 152 virtual sessions.
“The programme provides an understanding of the election process conducted in Malaysia as well as addresses issues often raised during elections.
“With greater awareness and understanding of the democratic and electoral process, it is hoped that they will fulfil their responsibility to cast their votes during the election,” he said.