KUALA LUMPUR: The Bill to amend the Federal Constitution to lower the voting age has been withdrawn by the government. A fresh Bill is to be tabled tomorrow.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the new Bill will include the opposition’s proposals for automatic voter registration and the lowering of the age for electoral candidates to 18.
“The opposition has given its commitment to support the constitutional amendment with the two proposals included.
“I am confident of a two-third majority. The Bill will be re-tabled tomorrow,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.
Opposition leader Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who was also present at the press conference, said the opposition would cooperate since the government has agreed to the proposals.
The Bill was tabled by Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq last Thursday and was supposed to have been debated for the second reading on July 16.
Also withdrawn was the Bill to amend the National Security Council Act, which was tabled on April 9. The bill was withdrawn by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Hanipa Maidin.
The amendments, among other things, would see the power to declare security zones be transferred from the prime minister to the Agong on the advice of the NSC.
It was learned that the Bill was withdrawn to allow the courts to decide on an ongoing suit filed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to challenge the law passed in 2015.
