Malaysia Cabinet decides to lower voting age from 21 to 18, Latest World News - The New Paper
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Malaysia Cabinet decides to lower voting age from 21 to 18

This article is more than 12 months old

The Malaysian Cabinet has decided to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.

The decision was made at its weekly meeting yesterday and work on amending the Federal Constitution will begin soon, said Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

"One of the things to be done is to work closely with the youth wings of opposition parties as a two-thirds majority is needed for laws to be amended," he told reporters.

"By the next general election, 18-year-olds can cast their votes, that is for certain," he added.

Mr Syed Saddiq, 25, was confident about getting cooperation from political parties, saying that he already had initiated informal discussion with several youth leaders.

"I can say that they too are keen on this issue," he said.

Voters aged 21 to 39 make up around 40 per cent of the Malaysian electorate, twice the number of voters over 60, according to Election Commission data.

"That means the youth voter block becomes bigger and stronger, and therefore, they cannot be sidelined in the Malaysian political scene any more," said Mr Syed Saddiq, a member of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's political party and Malaysia's youngest-ever Cabinet minister, said in an interview in July.

High youth unemployment proved to be a critical factor in ousting former prime minister Najib Razak, who had championed economic policies favouring the Malay majority and now finds himself facing charges in a massive corruption investigation of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

In comparison, the voting age in Singapore is21. - THE STAR, THE STRAITS TIMES

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