Sarawak has 600,000 new voters but political education needed, says minister

KUCHING: More than 600,000 new voters have been added to the Sarawak electoral roll after the implementation of Undi18 and automatic voter registration, says Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

The state Youth, Sport and Entrepreneur Development Minister said this meant the number of voters in every constituency had increased by at least a third.

"My area, Asajaya, has an increase of 5,700 voters while the Kota Samarahan parliamentary constituency has more than 31,000 new voters.

"Whether they will come out and vote is another question," he told reporters after chairing a state youth development steering committee meeting here on Wednesday (June 15).

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Abdul Karim said it was a matter of concern that many youths were not interested in politics and could be influenced by distorted views on social media.

He said the Election Commission and relevant agencies, including his ministry, should play a role in educating youths to be responsible citizens

"This is not about getting them to support our party but to educate them to vote based on who they believe should be the rightful candidate or party to lead the country," he said, adding that his ministry would carry out voter education programmes among rural youths.

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Abdul Karim believed that the constitutional amendment to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 years in 2019 had been done "in a bit of a rush".

He said there should have been efforts to increase political literacy among youths before the move.

"For example, we should introduce civic education in schools to teach students about nation building, how elections are conducted and the role of the government.

"Many youths don't know about this and suddenly they are (given the power) to vote.

"But since Undi18 has already become law, it's our role to educate them now and build up that knowledge and responsibility among them," he said.