KUALA LUMPUR: The Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) is studying a proposal on whether election campaigning would be allowed in secondary schools.
This is in light of a proposal to lower the voting age to 18, revealed the Youth and Sports Ministry.
Its Deputy Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong said this is among the matters being looked into by the committee, which is working with the ministry and the Election Commission (EC), in a bid to reform the country's electoral system.
"The EC with the collaboration of the Youth and Sports Ministry and Electoral Reforms Committee (ERC) is looking into the reform of the country's electoral system, including (issues related to) the lowering of voting age to 18, automatic voter registration and implementation of a (new) voting system," he said.
Sim was replying to a supplementary question from Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (Pas-Pasir Mas) during Question and Answer session at the Dewan Rakyat today.
Fadhli wanted to know whether the government was prepared to allow election campaigning on school grounds, as lowering of voting age to 18 would need to consider that voters of that age include high school students studying in Form 6.
In reply to another supplementary question from Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Umno-Rembau), Sim said the ERC is also looking into the feasibility of education and exposure of 18-year-olds to politics as part of the bigger proposal to lower the voting age to 18.
The Deputy Minister also noted that a special youth committee at the ministry level was established and had its first meeting on Nov 13 to further study the prospect of lowering the voting age to 18.
"This committee is comprised of leaders from youth wings of all political parties including the opposition like Umno Youth.
"(We) seek the cooperation from all lawmakers here and political parties out there for the success of (the lowering of the voting age to) 18.
"There is nothing to worry on the factor of maturity (of 18-year-old voters) as maturity is a dynamic (process) at every stage of age.
"There are those aged 18 and are mature, while there are 40-year-olds who are immature," Sim said to laughter from MPs present.
Earlier in response to the original question from Fadhli on the rationale behind the proposal to lower the voting age to 18, Sim said that the move is to make youths as strategic partners in forging the nation's future.
He said it would be unjust to deny young people the right to determine which political party to administer the country in general elections because statistics show that there are 1.56 million youths aged between 18 to 20 in Malaysia, which comprise 10 percent from the total number of voters who are ready and willing to be registered.
