Several youth personalities and politicians vented their frustration after the Election Commission (EC) announced it will postpone Undi18 and automatic voter registration to September next year.
Youth movement Undi 18 co-founder Qyira Yusri said her team was infuriated after hearing the news despite an earlier affirmation by de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan that Undi18 was on track to be implemented by July.
"It makes no sense that the EC is only coming forward to mention the delay and challenge (it is facing) after almost a year and a half into the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We feel very angry and we opine that the excuse given by the EC is unacceptable and ridiculous," Qyira told Malaysiakini.
She said her team is planning to mount a court challenge against the government over the matter.
The EC today said in a statement that the implementation of Undi18 was still ongoing but the movement control order (MCO) had affected its planning and preparations.
It estimated around 1.2 million youths in the age group will be affected.
The Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) vice-president Lim Wei Jiet said it would bring the Undi18 postponement matter to court as soon as possible.
Lim said excuses given by the EC regarding MCO as the obstacle in preparing Undi18 did not make sense and it is as if the EC was fooling the public.
"When the MCO and emergency were announced, students still had to study from home, the public had to continue working to pay loans, but the government agency is giving petty excuses on bureaucracy issues.
"Do they need more than two years to manage the registration process?" he added.
Lim said Muda viewed the postponement as breaching democratic rights and went against the Constitution.
"More than two-thirds of MPs support the (Undi18) motion. So it's true that the government of the day is afraid of the youth," he added.
In Sarawak, Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said the Perikatan Nasional government has robbed the rights of millions of youths to vote in the next polls.
"I am extremely angered by the EC announcement postponing the implementation of Undi18, including automatic voter registration to Sept 1 next year, contrary to the initial promise to have it implemented in July this year.
"This has effectively robbed the voting rights of up to 3.8 million youths between the ages of 18 and 20 that are eligible to vote in the upcoming general election especially if it is held at the end of the year or early next year," said the 34-year-old DAP lawmaker.
Yii urged the Youth and Sports Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican and his deputy Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal to resign after failing to protect the rights and voices of the youth.
Sabah DAP Youth chief Phoong Jin Zhe claimed that the EC's decision to postpone Undi18 was politically motivated.
"Apart from this showing that the EC is incapable and inefficient, this is clearly a politically motivated decision as the EC had sufficient time, which was more than a year, to prepare for the implementation after the Senate passed the bill on July 25, 2019," he said.
Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman also expressed his frustration on the matter.
"MCO cannot be an excuse... in fact, the EC has to be transparent and inform the public what's stopping it from implementing Undi18.
"Respect the Dewan Rakyat. Respect the right of the people to vote and choose for the future of the country.
"The government has to voice out its commitment to implement Undi18 the latest by July," the Muda co-founder said in a statement.
Harapan Youth chief Shazni Munir Mohd Ithnin questioned the EC's excuses on being realistic in preparing Undi18 due to the MCO.
"Please don't say it's about being realistic because the duration of a year that passed by was realistic enough to automatically implement Undi18.
"The logic is, it's easier to register (the voters) automatically as compared to the manual registration.
"The digital technology in the country's registration system is more than capable of immediately implementing it," Shazni tweeted. - Mkini
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