Voting age must be in tandem with voting right

THE federal government’s intention of amending the Federal Constitution in order to allow any Malaysian upon reaching the age of 18 to register as a voter is noble – its translation into concrete ground action by automatic voter’s registration would be in the right direction.

The Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, in tabling the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019, expressed the wish to see more Malaysians vote and elect ‘a government in accordance with a democratic and progressive system’.

The current system is democratic, yes; progressive, not quite. That constitutional amendment needs to be complemented by something else in order for it to be considered progressive.

Just before the 14th General Election (GE14) in May 2018, the number of unregistered voters, mostly young Malaysians, stood at 3.8 million.

Got it? Three million eight hundred thousand!

By now this figure has increased, and will increase by leaps and bounds by the time the next general election comes around. The lowering of age of registration alone will not automatically reduce the number of eligible voters.

The existing system of voluntary registration will not reduce the number of non-voters – unless and until all Malaysians are on the electoral rolls upon reaching age 18.

And they will not be on the rolls under the present method.

For the right to register as a voter is one thing, taking the trouble to use that right is quite another. The two must marry for the entire electoral system to be productive.

I have been writing about this subject ad nauseam. I had almost given up hope to hearing anyone in authority talking about a better method than the present system, until I read The Borneo Post of July 5, 2019. The Chief Minister of Sarawak, Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg, was referring to the same thing.

Apparently, this was said within the context of the proposal to amend the Constitution to provide for the lowering of voting age from 21 years to 18 years.

Significantly, he was quoted as saying: “The country must also have automatic voter registration. We prefer automatic registration.”

The Sarawak Minister of Youth and Sports, Datuk Abdul Karim Hamzah followed suit, supporting and reinforcing the view. Several other politicians have also expressed their support.

Good. The more support the CM gets from his colleagues and supporters in this matter, the better it is for the improvement of state-federal relations.

This comparatively simple move deserves full endorsement by the advocates for improvement to the current election machinery.

The CM’s statement is music to many ears, mine included.

I was wishing that the Chief Minister would whisper in the ears of the Sarawakians in the Election Commission (EC) to initiate legislation for consideration by the federal government to legitimise automatic voter’s registration.

Sarawak first with a good idea!

Happily, something good happened in the meantime – the federal cabinet had also decided to introduce a Bill in Parliament to authorise automatic voter’s registration. This has been endorsed by the Presidential Council of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.

Just for once, all are on board.

This synergy looks like some conspiracy between the state government and the federal government, but this is the sort of conspiracy that I like. It is more benevolent and beneficial to the good governance of Malaysia. I prefer this type of cooperation to a confrontation that can undermine each government’s power and authority; the main losers would be the ordinary ‘rakyat’.

Now that the tune is set, what remains is how the lyrics will look like at the stage of fine-tuning.

Hopefully, the meeting on Wednesday of young politicians of all political parties was positive, reflecting and endorsing their elders’ decision: add automatic voter’s registration to the lowering of voting age.

Before the next state election, the advocates of the automatic voter registration are looking forward to the day when all the 18-year-old Malaysian citizens in, AND OUTSIDE, the country will be automatically registered as voters. As to whom they will vote is another matter altogether.

All the 3.8 million Malaysians, not on the rolls at the moment, will be deemed to have been duly registered by then, once legislation is in place to legitimise automatic registration. If none exists, then it’s for the government to initiate one; after all, legislating is the job of a parliamentary democracy. That’s what the August House is good for.

If all this talk about substituting the present system for a better method of getting the disenfranchised Malaysians on the electoral rolls goes according to plan, many millions more Malaysians would be able to choose the lawmakers of their choice. Then we can talk about electing ‘a government in accordance with a democracy and progressive system’.

Just in case, there are queries why the present system of registration is outdated, the partial failure of an experiment by the EC may be quoted. Experience has shown that generally Malaysians do not rush, elbowing each other and trampling on one another, to register as voters. They are waiting for time to do so, but the time never comes.

In an effort to increase the size of electorate in all polling districts, the EC appointed activists from political parties and certain non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to assist the EC-registered voters. While many new voters got registered, these were mostly supporters of the party that helped register them.

They skipped the registration of the supporters of their rivals.

Anyway, the number of newly-registered voters is easily offset by the number of Malaysians reaching the age of 18 every day. Back to square one.

Under the voluntary system of registration, the fault lies with the eligible Malaysian who does not bother to register as a voter; not on the EC, though one would expect the EC to be proactive in terms of improving the system by initiating a move for automatic registration.

Did they ever try?

With the present show of political will, however, there is a silver lining in the clouds.

Let’s cross our fingers for real translation into action of all the plans – lowering of voting age, plus the automatic registration of voters.

The lawmakers will not fail us, I’m sure.

Only a new system – repeat, automatic voter’s registration – will make the difference; this method will be politically neutral.

Perhaps, it is time for me to stop squawking about this topic. My apologies to my readers if they too are getting sick of hearing the same thing every few months – but now, we hope there would be results!

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