THE 820,000 Sarawakian youth who became eligible voters following yesterday’s passing of a bill to lower the voting age to 18 may not be able to cast their ballots in the next state elections.

State Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Abdul Karim Hamzah said they can only vote if the passage into law, including getting royal assent and works to verify the new electoral roll, is completed in the next two months.

“If the law is not gazetted by then, they won’t be able to vote,” he told a press conference at his office in Petra Jaya today.

This concern is shared by civil society group Rise of Sarawak Empowerment (Rose).

Rose coordinator Anne Teo called on “experts” in agencies like the Election Commission and National Registration Department, as well as police and the armed forces, to “sort out the technicalities and implement the changes in the law” as quickly as possible, to ensure automatic voter registration and other amendments are implemented in time for the 2021 Sarawak polls.

The constitutional amendments will see about 7.8 million voters added to the electoral roll, with Sarawak to see an increase to 2.04 million from the 1.22 million recorded in the 14th general election.

Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) chief whip and Petra Jaya MP Fadillah Yusof suggested that the passage into law be sped up by doing away with some “formalities”, like Clause 1 of the amendments.

Clause 1 states that the law comes into effect on the date set by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Fadillah proposed that the date be set after the Agong has been advised by either the minister who tabled the bill or Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The Agong can make the announcement after he has been advised that all technical matters have been resolved, he said.

He said government agencies will assist the EC in preparing the new electoral roll.

GPS lawmakers supported the bill to empower youth and encourage them to be involved in the policymaking process, he added.

“At the same time, the democratic process needs to be instituted in schools by providing a curriculum to get our students to be involved in and understand good democratic processes and practices.”

Fadillah suggested that the EC provide a guideline to the Education Ministry towards this end.

Deputy Chief Minister James Masing said the new law could give a big advantage to Bumiputeras.

“In the peninsula, for instance, Malays would have a big influence in deciding the government.”

However, said the Parti Rakyat Sarawak president, this might not necessarily be the case because Bumiputeras, over the years, have not used “their numerical superiority to determine the government”.

“Why? Because they weren’t keen (to register as voters). Now, they have no excuse if Malays fail to administer the nation.”

Karim, meanwhile, said he has yet to see signs that lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 is advantageous to certain political parties. – July 17, 2019.