SARAWAK Youth and Sports Minister Abdul Karim Hamzah has joined the growing criticism against lowering the voting age to 18, saying it was “done in a bit of a rush”. 

Karim said from reports filtering in to him, studies he has read and the low turnout among young voters in the March Johor elections, it shows that “youth are just not interested in politics”.

He added that in all probability, “these 18-year-olds might not even know they are voters or are eligible to vote”.

The constitution was amended in July 2019 to allow for those aged 18 and above to vote.

“They have not gone through the physical registration process. All is automatic,” he said this could happen if the youth have not kept abreast with current news.

“(It’s all) a bit of a rush. We should have (studied) more ways to address this problem,” he told reporters after attending the Sarawak youth development committee briefing.

For one, he said, there should be some syllabus in schools to educate students on how elections are conducted, the distinct roles of the state and federal governments, and the functions of the cabinet.

“Most of our youth do not know about these. They are (just) thrown in and asked to vote,” he said.

Karim suggested reinstatement of the civic knowledge syllabus and teaching nation building, politics, and functions of the government and cabinet to students from Form 3.

He said what he feared most was “unscrupulous parties” taking advantage of the young voters’ absence of political maturity by offering inducements to vote.

“They (should not cast their vote) because of money or other inducements.” 

Just before Gawai Dayak, Selangor’s Bandar Utama assemblyman Jamaliah Jamaludin said in a political discussion in Twitter Spaces that the younger voters lack the ability to employ “critical thinking” when deciding which candidate they should vote for or which party to back.

The 33-year-old DAP Selangor vice-chief said “it’s not our culture to have critical thinking” and warned that these young voters could fall prey to vote-buying, by accepting easy money for their votes. 

Nonetheless, Karim said all is not lost. 

He said it is now the responsibility of all political parties, the Election Commission and the government “to guide these young voters to be responsible voters”.

Sarawak would have over 600,000 new voters – after Undi18 and those registered under the automatic voter registration – at its next election. 

Karim said each of Sarawak’s 82 constituencies have had a 30% increase in the number of new voters.

He said his constituency of Asajaya, which had 6,380 voters on the electoral roll for the December state election, has now swelled to more than 12,000 voters with 5,700 new ones.

“Whether they go out and vote, that is another question.” – June 15, 2022.