BERA: Lowering of the minimum voting age from 21 to 18, an endeavour dubbed Undi18, is about empowering young people to have a say in the decision-making process to elect a government.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said besides displaying the government's confidence in youths, it will chart the political direction when they are allowed to cast their votes in the next general election.
"However, there are some quarters who fear the youths and proposed the 15th General Election (GE15) be held as soon as possible. If we decide to dissolve parliament before Dec 31, then it will be seen as a bad intention with the attempt to prevent the young people from voting.
"It is as though we are not confident with the ability of the young voters, with their decision making and we seem to be restricting them from exercising their rights. If we go ahead, then we will certainly be punished by them....although those aged between 18 and 20 cannot vote, those aged 21 and above will punish us (during the election)," he said in his speech when opening the Bera Umno's Women, Youth and Puteri delegates' meeting at the Bera convention hall here today.
The Umno vice-president and Bera division chief also said since the implementation of automatic registration for Undi18 will begin on Jan 16 next year, young voters will get the opportunity to cast their votes when GE15 is held in 2022 or 2023.
"Times are different now compared to how it used to be in the past. Unlike when I was 18 years old, now information is made available to youths at their fingertips.
"Young people read about what is happening around the world and know about political developments......there is no need to fear them, instead it should be seen as a challenge for the Umno Youth and Puteri to step up their efforts to engage this young group of voters and secure their support," he said.
On a separate matter, Ismail Sabri said Umno's defeat in the 14th General Election should serve as a wake-up call to party members on the importance of unity.
"Crisis among us along with the leadership issues led to cracks within the party. Even Umno's 'white voters' did not choose us, resulting in us losing and the party becoming weaker.
"We managed to slowly get back on our feet to form the government today and this not only involved Umno but the cooperation with other parties. We cannot afford to be complacent by being part of the ruling government as we have yet to be tested in a general election," he said.