Wan Junaidi: Govt to comply with court's deadline for Undi18, no directive to appeal
De facto Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said to date, there is no directive yet on whether to appeal the Kuching High Court's decision compelling Putrajaya to implement Undi18 by Dec 31.
As such, he said the government will comply with the court order to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 by the deadline.
"We will implement it according to the court ruling...
De facto Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said to date, there is no directive yet on whether to appeal the Kuching High Court's decision compelling Putrajaya to implement Undi18 by Dec 31.
As such, he said the government will comply with the court order to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 by the deadline.
"We will implement it according to the court ruling.
"Will we appeal or not? As of now, there is no directive from the government to appeal so effectively what is decided by the court is the law that needs to be abided by," he told a press conference at the Election Commission (EC) headquarters in Putrajaya today.
The Santubong MP added that he will need to wait for the cabinet's decision on whether to file an appeal.
In the meantime, he said the EC needs to adhere to the court's verdict which has become law.
"In fact, the government did not lose the case, as we (initially) planned to implement Undi18 by September 2022, but the court wanted it to be done before Dec 31," he added.
The new voting age was approved by Parliament in 2019 but has yet to be implemented.
During his visit to the EC, Wan Junaidi said he instructed the commission to comply with the court's verdict as much as possible.
The EC will have hurdles to overcome on the Undi18 policy, he said, including troubles in removing dead voters, bankrupt voters and prisoners from the electoral rolls.
He noted that five states have yet to allow 18-year-olds to participate in state polls in their state constitution.
The implementation of Undi18 will see a total of 1.9 million individuals aged between 18 and 21 be registered as new voters beside 4.4 million eligible individuals above 21 yet to be registered, Wan Junaidi added.
The minister lamented that the EC needed extra manpower in handling future elections.
Citing the Sarawak election as an example, he said the upcoming state polls may require 16,000 workers and volunteers if Undi18 is implemented.
On Sept 3, the Kuching High Court ordered the government to implement the lowering of the voting age to 18 nationwide by Dec 31.
The court allowed a judicial review application by five Sarawakian youths to compel the federal government to implement Undi18.
On March 25, the EC announced the postponement of the implementation of Undi18, including automatic voter registration, to Sept 1 next year.
The decision meant that youths aged 18 to 20 will likely not be able to vote in the next general election.
Subsequently, a group of 18 Malaysian youths, representing the Undi18 movement, filed a judicial review on April 2, against the premier, the government, and the EC. This legal action is before the Kuala Lumpur High Court and will come up for decision on Oct 21.
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