DAP criticises the continued police investigations on the peaceful Undi18 gathering outside Parliament with the questioning of opposition Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh, Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah, Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik and veteran activist Ambiga Sreenevasan for being seen near the gathering.

All MPs who had previously voted in Parliament on July 16,2019, in favour of the Undi18 constitutional amendment lowering the voting age to 18, should oppose police investigations into the peaceful gathering outside Parliament by youths demanding that the Perikatan Nasional(PN) government keeps its promise. Youths are upset that the PN government is not delivering on its promise to implement Undi 18 by July 2021 but only after September 2022, as announced by the Election Commission.

Should the general election be held before September 2022, more than 1.2 million youths between ages of 18 to 20 will be disenfranchised. Amongst MPs who voted for Undi 18, is PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, who has now made a U-turn by not only failing to object to such police investigations, but also defended the delay of implementing UNDi 18 by reason that youths are not mature enough to vote.

Clearly Hadi was dishonest when he had voted in Parliament for Undi18 but has now made a U-turn and voted for political expediency to defend the  PN government. And yet, youths are mature enough to drive at 18 and even marry below the age of 18. PAS and Hadi has no objections to young girls and boys below 18 getting married, despite the perverted logic of mature enough to marry but not nature enough to vote.

Abdul Hadi Awang Considers 18 Year-Olds As Too Immature To Vote But 13 Year-Olds Mature Enough To Be PAS Members And Vote.

What is more hypocritical is that PAS accepts members as young as 13, who  can vote in PAS party meetings. Abdul Hadi’s U-turn displays not only his extremism but also his selfishness and double-standards, that it is ok for PAS but not for members of the public.

Even on Islamic grounds, there is nothing immature about lowering the voting age to 18.

As Malaysia’s special envoy with Ministerial status to the Middle East, Hadi’s ignorance is perhaps the reason why he failed to bring in significantly new Middle Eastern investments to Malaysia as compared to Indonesia’s success, or failed to courageously object to several Arab countries establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.

Lim Guan Eng

Secretary General of DAP