WITH the voting age lowered from 21 to 18 by Parliament in July last year, the Penang government wants to hear from youths in the state whether 18-year-olds can stand in state election to become assemblymen.
State Youth and Sports Committee chairman Soon Lip Chee said the government, through the Penang Youth Development Corporation (PYDC), is in the process of gathering feedback from youths on whether they are for or against 18-year-olds contesting in state election.
“We’ve been engaging with youth organisations on this matter and have also asked youths to fill in a simple questionnaire.
“We’ll give a further three-month period until Feb 28 next year to gauge the youths’ response and gather some data.
“The results of the questionnaire will be presented to the state legislative assembly in April next year, in the first session if possible and if not, the second session,” Soon told a press conference at Komtar today.
To date, 60 agencies and associations have assisted the state to distribute the questionnaire to those aged 15 to 35.
The questionnaire link can be found on Facebook page https://forms.gle/VwjquEQR9ZaWJUJy9.
Since the voting age from 21 to 18 was approved by Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives) on 16 July 2019 and Dewan Negara (Senate) on 25 July 2019, only five states have so far decided that 18-year-olds and above can stand for state election. They are Perak, Sabah, Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu.
Soon said PYDC, in collaboration with the Election Commission office in Penang, had also conducted briefing on Vote 18 campaign in north Seberang Perai on Aug 15 and in central Seberang Perai on Oct 3 involving 80 youths.
He said due to the conditional movement control order, briefing for other districts would be held via online on Dec 12, 10am.
Those interested are to register at https://forms.gle/3qZHU3fcLxXcp3td6 and would be given a zoom link through email.
Also present at the press conference were Pengkalan Kota assemblyman Daniel Gooi, PYDC general manager Dr Gwee Sai Ling, PYDC board members Lee Wei Seang and Fahmi Zainol, and representatives from several youth organisations.
Gooi said the change of voting age to 18 would empower the youths to have a say in federal and state matters, citing a case in Sabah where a student expressed her difficulty in getting Internet connection that later developed into a national issue.
Dr Gwee said through this campaign, PYDC is confident that the youths in Penang will better understand their responsibilities and role as new leaders.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Chan Kok Kuan