PUTRAJAYA: The Election Commission (EC) will proceed with implementing the lowering of voting age from 21 to 18 as ordered by a High Court, without having to wait for the government to decide if it will appeal against the decision, says Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

       The new Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Parliament and law said that with the court having made its decision, the EC is duty-bound to comply with it, adding that he has asked the commission to carry it out “within its parameters”, although there are several laws that still need to be passed by Parliament.

       “The government will comply with the Kuching High Court order to lower the voting age to 18.

       “On whether the government will appeal, this has not been decided. We will have to discuss with the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) and I need to get a directive from the Cabinet on this matter.

       “While we look into this (appeal), the EC has been asked to proceed with measures to comply with the court order,” he said after visiting the EC headquarters here yesterday.

       On Sept 3, the Kuching High Court ordered the Federal Government to implement the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 by Dec 31 at the latest.

       Judicial Commissioner Alexander Siew made the order when allowing a judicial review by five Sarawakian youths seeking to compel the implementation of the move generally known as Undi18.

       The youth representing the Undi Sarawak movement named the Prime Minister, Malaysian government and EC as respondents in their May 3 application.

       Siew had ruled that the delay in the implementation from the initial schedule of July this year to September next year was unexplained, irrational and unreasonable, and as such, he granted an order to quash the respondents’ decision to delay the implementation of Undi18 beyond July.

       In March, the EC had announced that the implementation could only be done by Sept 1, 2022, when it was initially set to be enforced in July this year.

       The EC set the new date to implement the automatic registration and Undi18 policies after reviewing constraints and issues that had affected its plans and efforts, including the movement control order imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19.

       According to records, there are currently 5.6 million unregistered voters, of whom 1.19 million are aged between 18 and 20 years old.

       Those aged 21 and above who have not registered stand at 4.41 million people.

       Wan Junaidi said he had informed the EC that he would personally carry out engagements with five states which had yet to amend their constitution to allow those aged 18 and above to be candidates for state seats in the next polls.

       “I will also be holding discussions with the EC and AGC on the next course of action in the event the states do not agree to this,” he said.

       On July 16, 2019, Parliament had unanimously passed the constitutional amendment to lower the voting age to 18, to implement automatic voter registration, and to make 18 the minimum age for a Malaysian to run for public office.

       Former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman had tabled the Undi18 Bill in 2019 and pushed for it to be passed.