ALL eyes will be on the opposition when Parliament decides whether to expand voting rights to 18-year-olds today.
After weeks of negotiations and backroom discussions, Barisan Nasional, PAS and Gabungan Parti Sarawak will have to decide if they want to support Pakatan Harapan to amend Articles 119(1)(a) and 47 of the federal constitution.
This is PH’s second attempt at amending the constitution although it does not have a two-thirds (148 MPs) majority in the Dewan Rakyat.
The ruling coalition’s last attempt to change the constitution was in April, when it wanted to amend Article 1.
The opposition decided not to support the bill and abstained from voting.
With only 139 MPs on its side, Pakatan will need another nine votes to pass the amendments today.
This time, however, the opposition appears onside with the amendments.
The clearest sign of that was when opposition leader Ismail Sabri held a press conference alongside Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad last Thursday, said Senator Khairul Azwan Harun.
“I think that’s a strong sign that the opposition is in favour of this constitutional amendment,” said Azwan.
Political science lecturer Dr Tunku Mohar Tunku Mohd Mohar said there is no reason for the opposition not to support the amendments after the government agreed to its conditions.
“The condition set by Umno MPs has been met by the government. The condition was made in public, and the people are aware of this.
“As such, if they don’t back it, their credibility will be affected,” said the International Islamic University of Malaysia lecturer.
![Political analyst Kamarul Zaman Yusoff cautions against reading too much into the opposition’s backing of the government’s measure to lower the voting age. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, July 16, 2019.](https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/resources/stories_images/44466/kamarul_zaman_yusoff_march_22__full.jpg)
PH initially wanted to amend only Article 119 (1) (a) to lower the minimum voting age to 18, but after requests by the opposition to also lower the minimum age for candidates, the government decided to withdraw its earlier bill and table a fresh one to include the Article 47 amendment.
The government also agreed to the opposition’s request to have automatic voter registration.
This, however, does not require any amendment as Section 15 of the Elections Act 1958 empowers the Election Commission to make regulations relating to the voter registration.
Universiti Malaya’s Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi believes that GPS will most likely back the amendments.
“There’s no reason why GPS won’t back this as the impact of an expanded vote is unclear at the moment.
“Both the government and opposition parties will have more opportunities to capture young voters,” said the Malay studies lecturer.
Universiti Utara Malaysia political science lecturer Dr Kamarul Zaman Yusoff said the opposition has to back the amendments as the government has fulfilled its requests.
“Of course they will. They have no reason not to as it was them who set the two conditions in the first place.
“In fact, they can claim victory for getting the government to agree to their demands,” he said, pointing to the amendments that Putrajaya agreed to make to its initial plan.
Political maturity?
If the amendments are passed, it will be a measure of political maturity in the country following GE14, said Tunku Mohar.
“It means that in some cases, legislators can vote based on their conscience and not merely on partisan interests. While this happens in developed democracies, it is something rare in the country.”
If the amendments are passed, this would be the first time a Malaysian government without a two-thirds majority has succeeded in changing the constitution.
There has been no super-majority government since 2008 and BN did not attempt to amend the constitution during its last two terms (2008-2018).
Azwan, an Umno politician, believes that bipartisanship is possible now because there is an opposition that is willing to concede for the sake of the country.
“Imagine if BN was still in power and it needed cooperation from the then opposition. Try to remember the sentiments and arguments and the attitude of opposing for the sake of opposing they had then.
“It was polarised in the past because the previous opposition was terrible and used emotion more than facts to come to the table,” said the former Umno Youth chief.
Kamarul Zaman, too, thinks it’s a sign of maturity on the part of the opposition, but caution against reading too much into it.
“On this issue there is that kind of agreement because it covers everyone, with no racial or religious implication or exception,” he said.
![Umno politician Senator Khairul Azwan Harun says Pakatan Harapan appears to have learnt from the failure to push through a constitutional amendment in April. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, July 16, 2019.](https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/resources/stories_images/56665/khairul_azwan_harun_wikipedia__full__full.jpg)
What if PH fails?
Success or failure aside, Azwan said the rollout of “Undi18”, the publicity campaign to promote the amendments, is much better than when PH tried to amend Article 1 to restore the status of Sabah and Sarawak.
“Then, they did not consult or even negotiate with the opposition. Here, they have learnt their lesson.”
Tunku Mohar said it would be disappointing if the amendments fail to pass today.
“This would suggest that our democracy is still a long way to go to be a mature democracy.
“It also means partisan politics is too dominant and people’s interests may take a back seat over strong politicking.
Kamarul Zaman said it would mean that the opposition is blocking any government initiative just to make it look bad.
He said it’s also bad for the nation as Malaysians have four more years to go before the next elections.
– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/
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