The youth wing hoped that state opposition leader Liew Chin Tong would raise the matter at the state assembly sitting, following reports that the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, felt the lower age was not appropriate.

Amendments to the Federal Constitution were approved in 2019, lowering the voting age and the age of eligibility to contest an election. The Johor state assembly also approved a similar amendment to the state’s constitution.

However, it was reported yesterday that Sultan Ibrahim had not assented to the amendment, saying it was not apt to reduce the minimum age of election candidates for state seats to 18.

Sultan Ibrahim said the proposal to reduce the minimum age “was not in line with the direction of the government that wants knowledgeable and high quality leaders”.

Johor DAP Youth said in a statement today: “We hope this matter can be looked into as there are concerns it has caused conflict between Article 16 of the Johor State Constitution and amendments to the Federal Constitution.”

They said that under the Federal Constitution, federal laws take precedence over state laws when there are inconsistencies.