Dewan Negara urged to follow Dewan Rakyat in bipartisan support for Undi 18

PARLIAMENT | De facto Law Minister Liew Vui Keong (above) urged the Dewan Negara to follow in the footsteps of bipartisan Dewan Rakyat MPs' support when senators are set to vote tomorrow on the bill to amend the Federal Constitution to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said this would be history in the making as it was the first time ever when on July 16, MPs across the political divide gave support to the bill in the Dewan Rakyat.

He noted that last week’s Dewan Rakyat saw 211 MPs out of a total 222 backing the bill, which is 90 percent of the total number of lawmakers in Malaysia.

“This is the first time the country has seen opposition MPs voting together with government MPs, in light of the fact that we, the government, at present do not have a two-thirds majority (in the Dewan Rakyat).

“We only needed 148, and we had 211.

“Therefore, I urge the Dewan Negara to give unified and full backing in order to ensure that we create history. Now we have 68 (senators) in the Dewan Negara out of 70.

“If we obtain 68 (senators’ vote in passing the bill), it would be history to the nation and Dewan Negara,” Liew said during a brief press conference at the sidelines of the Dewan Negara sitting this afternoon.

On July 16, the Dewan Rakyat had passed a bill to amend the Federal Constitution to lower the voting age to 18.

The bill was passed by a vote of 211. There were no abstentions or nays.

This is the first time the Federal Constitution has been amended since the Abdullah Ahmad Badawi administration. 

When asked what would happen if the Dewan Negara tomorrow voted to reject the bill, Liew said that this would still make history in a sense.

This is because it would mean the Dewan Negara's voting will not be in line with the sentiment seen in the Dewan Rakyat last week, he added. - Mkini