KUALA LUMPUR: The opinion that youths aged between 18 to 20 are immature and are not able to make an informed decision while voting is unfair.
In a statement, Undi18 condemned the speech made by Wanita Umno Jerlun division chief, Datuk Norma Awang who had attributed the party's loss in the general election to the immaturity of youth voters.
"For the record 5.8 youth voters were automatically registered when the voting age had been lowered from 21 to 18 and from that number only 3.2 percent of voters from this age group had voted in the recent general election " However the statement saying that the youth voters were immature in choosing their preferred candidates and party during the elections are baseless.
"Just because the results of the election were unfavourable for them, they blame the youth voters, they should look inward and find out what they can do to rectify their weaknesses and work on how to court young voters," the statement read.
Undi18 said every political party in the spirit of democracy needs to celebrate that more youths are now a part of the country's democratic processes and should not demean any group.
Undi18 is a Malaysian youth movement that successfully advocated for the amendment of Article 119(1) of the Federal Constitution to reduce the minimum voting age in Malaysia from 21 to 18 years old.