UNDI18

UNDI18 (literal translation: Vote18) is a Malaysian civil society organisation (CSO) focused on Malaysian youth political empowerment, voter education and electoral reform.

UNDI18
Persatuan Pengundi Muda (Malay)
FormationApril 2017 (2017-04)
PurposeAdvocacy
HeadquartersKuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Co-founders
  • Tharma Pillai
  • Qyira Yusri
Websiteundi18.org

UNDI18 is credited for successfully lobbying the Malaysian Parliament to amend the Federal Constitution of Malaysia and pass the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2019 which changed the minimum age for voting from 21 years old to 18 years old. This is notable for being the first Constitutional Amendment in Malaysian history to be supported unanimously in both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara.

In 2021, UNDI18 also spearheaded the move towards implementation of the lowered voting age after the passage of the constitutional amendment; via a series of protests and a lawsuit against the Federal Government. UNDI18 launched a judicial review application at the Kuching and Kuala Lumpur High Court which successfully mandated the enfranchisement of Malaysians aged from 18 years old to 20 years old after the passage of the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2019.

History

UNDI18 was founded by then-students Tharma Pillai and Qyira Yusri and began in 2016 under the auspices of the Malaysian Students Global Alliance as an initiative to reduce the minimum eligible age for voting in Malaysia from 21 years old to 18 years old. In April 2017, UNDI18 sent a memorandum to the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak advocating for an amendment to Article 119(1)(a) of the Malaysian Federal Constitution which governs the minimum eligible age for voting in Malaysia but was not successful in reforming the minimum voting age at the time.[1]

2019 Malaysian Federal Constitutional Amendment

After the 14th Malaysian General Election, the new Pakatan Harapan government led by Mahathir Mohamad started working towards implementing the new minimum voting age in line with the coalition's election manifesto.[2] UNDI18 were able to successfully obtain the endorsement of Minister of Youth and Sports Syed Saddiq[3] as well as bipartisan endorsements from members of Parliament in the opposition bloc to support the reform.[4]

The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019 was presented to the Dewan Rakyat and included provisions relating to automatic voter registration for all Malaysian citizens and amendments to the minimum age of candidacy for standing for elections to the Dewan Rakyat and state legislative assemblies in Malaysia.[5]

On 16 July 2019, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019 was passed unanimously by all present members of the Dewan Rakyat and is the first bill in Malaysia's history to have obtained unanimous support in the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara.[6]

2019—2022 State Constitution Amendments

Following the amendments to the Federal Constitution lowering the minimum voting age and minimum age of candidacy to stand for election to the Dewan Rakyat, similar amendments to the constitutions of all states in Malaysia were undertaken in order to allow Malaysians aged 18–20 years old to stand for elections to state legislative assemblies in Malaysia. As of December 2022, 12 out of 13 states in Malaysia have amended their state constitutions in order to allow youths aged 18 and above to stand for elections to their respective state legislative assemblies.

Implementation of State Constitutional Amendments Lowering Age of Candidacy
State Implementation of State Constitutional Amendment Note
JohorUnimplementedAmendment has been passed by the Johor State Legislative Assembly but has not yet received royal assent[7][8]
KedahImplementedAmendment passed by the Kedah State Legislative Assembly on 18 November 2021[9]
KelantanImplementedAmendment passed by the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly on 12 August 2020[10]
MelakaImplementedAmendment passed by the Melaka State Legislative Assembly on 2 March 2022[11]
Negeri SembilanImplementedAmendment passed by the Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly on 2 December 2021[12]
PahangImplementedAmendment passed by the Pahang State Legislative Assembly on 10 December 2021[13]
PerakImplementedAmendment passed by the Perak State Legislative Assembly on 27 October 2020[14]
PerlisImplementedAmendment passed by the Perlis State Legislative Assembly on 21 May 2020[15]
PenangImplementedAmendment passed by the Penang State Legislative Assembly on 1 September 2021[16]
SabahImplementedAmendment passed by the Sabah State Legislative Assembly on 21 November 2019[17]
SarawakImplementedAmendment passed by the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly on 12 November 2020[18]
SelangorImplementedAmendment passed by the Selangor State Legislative Assembly on 6 December 2021[19]
TerengganuImplementedAmendment passed by the Terengganu State Legislative Assembly on 12 August 2020[20]

2021 Mana Undi Kami Protests
Protestors during the Mana Undi Kami protest at Jalan Parlimen, Kuala Lumpur

The 2020 Sheraton Move in Malaysia led to the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government and the emergence of successive short-term governments. In March 2021, the Perikatan Nasional government announced the postponement of the implementation of the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2019 by the Election Commission and the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Law and Parliament. According to the statement by the Election Commission, the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2019 will be implemented in September 2022, instead of the originally set timeline, which was by July 2021.[21]

The first Mana Undi Kami (meaning Where Are Our Votes in Malay) protest took place on 27 March 2021 in response to the delays to the implementation of the constitutional amendment passed in 2019 as well as the suspension of Parliament by Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin. Protestors assembled at Jalan Parlimen with more than 200 people assembling, including representatives from Malaysian political parties and civil society.[22]

2021 Judicial Review Against the Federal Government

UNDI18 led two applications of judicial review by a group of 18 Malaysian youths in Kuala Lumpur and 5 youths in Kuching at the Kuala Lumpur and Kuching High Courts, respectively, to challenge the government's action in postponing the implementation of the constitutional amendment.[23][24]

On 3 September 2022, the Kuching High Court declared the delays in implementation of the constitutional amendments as "irrational and unreasonable" and issued a mandamus order compelling the Malaysian government to implement the constitutional amendments.[25]

The government of Malaysia successfully implemented the constitutional amendment to lower the minimum age of voting and standing for elections to the Dewan Rakyat as well as to implement automatic voter registration on 15 December 2021[26]

Achievements and Initiatives

Parlimen Digital
Execution of Parlimen Digital

The COVID-19 pandemic which affected Malaysia in early 2020 led to the suspension of Parliament due to fears of the spread of COVID-19. In response to repeated calls for the Parliament of Malaysia to assemble virtually, UNDI18, in collaboration with other Malaysian youth organisations organised Parlimen Digital, a virtual parliamentary simulation featuring 222 Malaysian youths representing federal parliamentary constituencies in Malaysia who took part in debates and proceedings.

Parlimen Digital took place on 4–5 July 2020 and acted as proof-of-concept for the political acumen of Malaysian youths as well as the feasibility of a virtual parliamentary sitting in lieu of a physical parliamentary sitting for the Malaysian Parliament during the COVID-19 pandemic.[27]

Vote Malaysia

In conjunction with the 15th Malaysian General Election, UNDI18 along with 13 other youth organisations initiated the Vote Malaysia, a postal voting initiative which was aimed at gathering postal votes from overseas Malaysian voters before sorting and distributing the votes for counting on polling day.

Vote Malaysia collected more than 35,000 postal votes from 25 countries which were counted as part of the 15th Malaysian General Election.[28]

References
  1. "About Us". UNDI18. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  2. Buku Harapan (Pakatan Harapan Manifesto for the 2018 General Election) (PDF). Pakatan Harapan. p. 47.
  3. "About Us". UNDI18. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  4. "History made as Undi 18 Bill passed with bipartisan support". The Malay Mail. 16 July 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  5. "Malaysia: Bill Reducing Voting Age to 18 Passed". Library of Congress. Library of Congress. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  6. "History made as Undi 18 Bill passed with bipartisan support". The Malay Mail. 16 July 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  7. "Johor approves amendment to state constitution to implement Undi18". New Straits Times. 6 January 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  8. "DAP warns of constitutional problem over Undi18 in Johor". Free Malaysia Today. 17 June 2022. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  9. "Kedah state assembly passes amendment to allow Undi-18". New Straits Times. 18 November 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  10. "Kelantan sedia laksana Undi 18". Berita Harian. 3 December 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  11. "Melaka lowers age for elected reps to 18". Free Malaysia Today. 2 March 2022. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  12. "DUN Negeri Sembilan lulus turun had umur calon ADUN". Utusan Malaysia. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  13. "Pahang lulus pindaan had umur ADUN kepada 18 tahun". Astro AWANI. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  14. "Perak lulus belia 18 tahun jadi calon ADUN". Berita Harian. 27 October 2021. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  15. "Perlis lulus had umur 18 tahun pengundi, calon pilihan raya". The Malaysian Insight. 10 December 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  16. "Pulau Pinang lulus usia 18 tahun calon kerusi DUN". Berita Harian. 1 September 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  17. "Had umur mengundi, jadi calon pilihan raya di Sabah diturunkan kepada usia 18 tahun". Astro AWANI. 21 November 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  18. "Sarawak DUN passes bill to lower age to become YBs, clearly defines state residents". Astro AWANI. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  19. "Selangor passes bill to lower eligible age for election candidate". MalaysiaKini. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  20. "T'ganu passes enactment to lower candidacy age". BERNAMA. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 3 December 2022.
  21. "EC delays Undi18 to next year, youths under 21 likely can't vote in GE15". MalaysiaKini. 25 March 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  22. "Undi 18: Lebih 200 peserta berhimpun aman, 'bersila' atas jalan selama 18 minit". Astro AWANI. 27 March 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  23. "Undi18: Youths win leave for judicial review of EC's decision to delay lowering voting age". The Malay Mail. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  24. "Undi18: Kuching High Court orders Federal Govt to implement lowering of voting age by Dec 31". The Star. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  25. "Undi18: Kuching High Court orders Federal Govt to implement lowering of voting age by Dec 31". The Star. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  26. "Undi18 gazetted, takes effect on Dec 15". Free Malaysia Today. 1 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  27. "Reflections on Parlimen Digital". The Star. 12 July 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
  28. "VoteMalaysia brings home 35,092 postal ballots, says effective system must be implemented by EC soon". The Malay Mail. 19 November 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
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