KUCHING: Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah welcomes the automatic registration of 18-year-olds as voters.
The Prime Minister revealed recently the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Presidential Council had agreed that Malaysians who reached the age of 18 would be registered as voters automatically.
Karim believed that the matter would receive positive feedback from all political parties such as Pakatan Harapan (PH), United Malays National Organisation (Umno), Sarawak Coalition Party (GPS) and others.
He was speaking to reporters yesterday after the Kuching Marathon 2019 press conference at Baitulmakmur Building, Petra Jaya here.
“This is what all of them (political parties) want,” he said, adding that with automatic registration, new voters would not have to go to the Election Commission of Malaysia (SPR or EC) offices to register themselves.
“On voting day, they only need to bring their Identity Cards to show that they are qualified to cast their votes,” he explained.
Karim pointed out that many countries in the world had allowed their citizens to vote at the age of 18 while in Malaysia, the voting age is still set at 21.
“If other matters like signing a contract, getting a driver’s licence and others can be done at the age of 18, what more to say about voting,” added Karim.
