THE Johor legislative assembly will hold a special one-day meeting on January 6 to amend its constitution to allow 18-year-olds to stand in elections.

The notice for the meeting was sent out by the Johor state assembly secretary Zainal Eran yesterday.

“The 3rd Meeting of the 4th Session for the 14th Johor State Assembly will be held from 9.30am until the meeting is adjourned,” said Zainal in the two-page notice.

“(In this meeting), there will be no question-and-answer sessions.”

The notice did not state the agenda but several assemblymen told The Malaysian Insight that the special meeting was being held to amend the state’s constitution to lower the age requirement for state assemblymen. The current minimum age to be an election candidate is 21.

According to one state leader, the amendment involves Clause 16 Section 2 of the Undang-Undang Tubuh Kerajaan Negeri Johor 1895 to let 18-year-olds contest for seats in the state assembly.

“Most of the states have already amended their constitutions but Johor has not. As such, it is holding a special meeting to do this,” the assemblyman said.

The Dewan Rakyat had unanimously voted to amend the Federal Constitution to lower voters’ and candidates’ age to 18 on July 16, 2019.

The new minimum voting age has been gazetted and is in force from December 15.

Although states do not have to amend their constitutions to allow for 18-year-old voters as it is federal law, they are, however, required to amend state laws to let 18-year-olds contest to be assemblymen.

So, far 10 out of 13 states have already amended their state enactments in line with the constitutional amendments in 2019.

Sabah was the first state to do so on November 21, 2019, followed by Terengganu (August 12, 2020) Perak (October 27, 2020), Sarawak (November 12, 2020), Kedah (November 18), Kelantan (November 27), Penang (September 1), Negeri Sembilan (December 2), Selangor (December 6) and Pahang (December 10).

On November 24, at the 137th menteri besar and chief ministers meeting, all heads of state governments agreed to amend their respective constitutions to allow individuals aged 18 to contest in general election, state elections and by-elections.

The Johor assembly has 16 assemblymen from Barisan Nasional, 13 from Perikatan Nasional, and 27 from Pakatan Harapan. The state government is currently led by Benut assemblyman Hasni Mohamed (BN).

Malacca will hold its first state assembly from December 27-30 while there is no news when Perlis will amend its constitution. – December 16, 2021.