_-_Copy.JPG "Malaysian youths who filed a lawsuit to push for their right to vote by July 2021 are seen with their lawyers at the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex April 19, 2021. — Picture by Firdaus Latif")
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KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 — The Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) is objecting to a lawsuit by 18 Malaysian youths aged 18 to 20 against the prime minister, the government of Malaysia and the Election Commission (EC) to push for their right to vote by July 2021, instead of only after September 2022 as stated by the EC.
Senior federal counsels Shamsul Bolhassan and Azizan Md Arshad, who represented the AGC today, confirmed to reporters that the AGC is raising a preliminary objection against the 18 youths’ application for their case to be heard by the High Court.
According to the AGC, this is based on the AGC’s arguments that the youths’ lawsuit is allegedly “premature”, and based on its arguments that the implementation of a constitutional amendment — that lowered the voting age in Malaysia from 21 to 18 — must be done together with the implementation of another constitutional amendment — to enable automatic voter registration to replace the current system of manual registration.
The AGC’s preliminary objection to the youths’ lawsuit will be heard before High Court judge Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid on May 6 at noon.
On April 2, the 18 youths — who are of various ethnic backgrounds and come from several states including Johor, Sarawak and Kelantan — filed their lawsuit via a judicial review application at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
MORE TO COME