Govt withdraws 'Vote at 18' Bill to tweak it (corrected)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Pakatan Harapan government has withdrawn the Bill to lower the age of voting to 18 to tweak it, and is also withdrawing the  National Security Council (Amendment) Bill 2019.

The Constitution (Amendment) 2019 Bill to amend Article 119 constitution to lower voting age was withdrawn by Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman under Standing Order 62 to allow for changes to be made.

The Bill was tabled by Syed Saddiq last Thursday (July 4) and was supposed to have been debated for the second reading on July 16.

The Bill, which requires a two-thirds majority vote of the 222 seat in Dewan Rakyat to amend the constitution, will be tweaked to accommodate lawmakers' demands.

This comes after opposition lawmakers said the lowering of voting age to 18 must be coupled with automatic registration.

The Opposition also wants the eligibility age of election candidates to be lowered to 18, while also calling on the Election Commission to register the estimated four million unregistered voters.

Also withdrawn was the Bill to amend the National Security Council Act, which was tabled in April 9. The Bill was withdrawn by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Hanipa Maidin.

The amendments, among other things, would see the power to declare security zones be transferred from the Prime Minister to the Agong on the advice of the NSC.

It was learned that the Bill was withdrawn to allow the courts to decide on an ongoing suit filed Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to challenge the law passed in 2015.

 

This story's headline has been amended for greater clarity.