Young Malaysians are likely to get more power after backing 93-year-old Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to topple a regime that ruled the Southeast Asian nation for six decades.
Malaysia is “very serious” about reducing the voting age to 18 before the next elections due by 2023, Malaysian Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, 25, told Bloomberg in an interview in Kuala Lumpur.
The two-month-old Cabinet plans to ask the Malaysian Attorney-General’s office to look into what laws need to be amended, he said.
Photo: Bloomberg
Lowering the voting age to 18 from 21 would add an additional 3.7 million voters, Saddiq said, increasing the number of registered voters by about 25 percent from the election in May.
Voters aged 21 to 39 make up about 40 percent of the Malaysian electorate, twice the number of voters over 60, according to Election Commission of Malaysia data.
“That means the youth voter block becomes bigger and stronger, and therefore, they cannot be sidelined in the Malaysian political scene anymore,” said Saddiq, a member of Mahathir’s political party and Malaysia’s youngest-ever Cabinet minister.
High youth unemployment proved to be a critical factor in the vote that ousted former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, who championed economic policies favoring the Malay majority and now finds himself facing charges in a corruption probe at state fund 1 Malaysia Development Bhd.
Najib, who denies wrongdoing, had made a last-ditch effort to woo younger voters on the eve of the election, pledging income tax exemptions for those aged 26 years and below.
Unemployment among Malaysians aged 15 to 24 stood at 10.8 percent last year, World Bank data show.
That is more than three times the national rate of 3.3 percent.
Joblessness among local graduates increased more sharply than non-graduates since 2011, according to data from the Malaysian central bank.
“The youth care about two primary issues,” Saddiq said. “One is about bread and butter issues, which is cost of living, affordable housing, good employment opportunities and quality of life.”
The second is getting their voice heard in the nation-building process, Saddiq said.
“Power should be returned back to the people,” he said. “That means opening up more democratic spaces, which means more young people can join and speak up.”
About 75 percent of younger voters backed the opposition, said Ibrahim Suffian, the executive director of pollster Merdeka Center, which tracks voter sentiments.
The Merdeka Center estimated a voter turnout of about 81 percent for young people, with urban areas of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor seeing more young people outpacing their elders in casting ballots.
“Young voters are the true kingmakers in the elections — they were the ones who brought us into government,” Saddiq said. “But also a word of caution, they could also be the ones who take us out from government, because they are not loyal to any political party.”
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