Undi18 and AVR: Long and difficult journey, votes should not be wasted

SHAH ALAM - It was a long and difficult journey to get Undi18 and the Automatic Voting Registration (AVR) implemented thus voters should not take it for granted, says political activist Roshinee Mookaiah.

As the former advocacy and communications manager for the organisation, she said they faced lots of challenges in getting the the buy-in from the public and lawmakers alike.

"We had to organise so many different protests and issued two different lawsuits to force the government's hands to implement it.

"If not, it was going to be postponed for another couple of years, which was not initially promised.

"Its really unbelievable that a group of young people were able to make such a significant thing for the country's democratic process now," she told Sinar Daily during Politically Frank's episode aired on Feb 9.

Roshinee encouraged those who will be voting for the first to go and vote.

"It was not an easy fight to earn this right," she added.

When asked about her stand for those who refused to vote in the upcoming 15th General Election, she said it was understandable as many had trust issues with the Malaysian politicians.

Roshinee said there has been too many political conflicts and changes in the government over the past few years that it had basically repelled people away from participating in the political arena.

She said every vote matters and every single persons should go out and vote as it was the way to exercise your democratic rights.

She questioned as to how the government and Election Commission will restore the trust of the people in a bid to uphold the country's democratic process especially when the GE15 is inching closer.