PONTIAN: The Johor government will hold a special one-day state assembly meeting on Jan 6 to amend the state constitution to be in line with Undi18, lowering the voting age and implementing automatic voter registration.

       Mentri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad said he has already informed the Prime Minister about plans for the special meeting to amend Undang-Undang Tubuh Kerajaan Negeri Johor 1895 in line with the amendment made to the Federal Constitution.

       "We are unable to have the session earlier as some assemblymen are on leave and also (there may be) floods during this time," he said at the opening of the Pontian Umno division meeting here on Saturday (Dec 18).

       The implementation of Undi18 and automatic voter registration was gazetted at Federal level on Dec 1 and will take effect on Dec 15.

       Most states have already amended their respective constitutions to accommodate the new ruling.

       Hasni said the amendments were necessary to avoid the issue of youths bringing the matter to court which might result in by-elections following GE15.

       He added that the state government was not afraid to allow youths to vote or become candidates in GE15.

       "People say youths are always anti-establishment but the state government and Umno have always been engaging with them.

       "We have the Datuk Onn Institute to engage with youths and organise programmes for them," he said, adding that there is also a Johor Youth Assembly similar to the state assembly to discuss and debate current issues in the state.

       On GE15, he reminded all Umno members in Johor to be prepared to go in solo in the next election.

       "We (Umno) offered PAS four winnable seats in GE15 but they are more comfortable with Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) as they are offering as many as 15 seats," he said in touching on Umno's Muafakat Nasional collaboration with PAS.

       Johor has 56 state assembly seats, one of which is held by PAS.

       Hasni described the 2,316 Umno branches statewide as vital to the party and asked members to close ranks to strengthen the party.

       "Let us learn from the mistakes we made in GE14 and get ready for GE15," he said, reiterating Johor Umno's support for Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.