PAS at present is getting lots of brickbats and is subjected to much ridicule from a substantial number of Malay Muslims, the very same people the party has always counted on for votes.

What triggered the criticism is PAS’ (read its president’s) support for the Election Commission in delaying the Undi 18 implementation, which we know is an initiative to allow youths aged 18 to 20 to vote and automatic voter registration.

The current minimum voting age is 21 and the new initiative was earlier said to be implemented in July this year. Now the EC has given a new date, i.e. September 2022.

The delay, according to EC, is because of the COVID-19 pandemic which has not given it much time to do the necessary.

Anyway, I don’t blame the people for hurling criticism (hard as well as sarcastic) at PAS. The party ought to shoulder the blame for the mess it is in now. In fact, PAS and in particular Hadi had it coming, so to speak.

Let’s rewind what Hadi had said in agreeing that Undi 18 be delayed. According to him, voting needs maturity and voters who are not mature will pick an immature government.

“Maturity can come at 16, 18, and can happen at 25. Some people are 40 but are not mature. Unfortunately, we follow the Western democracy (where voting rights are) based on age, not maturity,” he was quoted saying.

I, for one, can’t help but ask: if maturity can happen at 18 as Hadi said, then why support the delay? Is he in agreement with the EC in blaming the pandemic? But he was talking about maturity, not Covid.

So, If like he said, some people even at 40 are not mature, then must we wait for them to be mature to allow them to vote? And when will that be?

Now, let’s rewind further. Back to 2019 and take a relook at what he and his party had said.

When the then Pakatan Harapan government proposed to table the Undi 18 bill, Hadi was quoted by the media in July 2019 as saying PAS would support the bill if amendments were made, including automatic voter registration and that 18-year-olds would not only be allowed to vote but qualify as election candidates too.

The government obliged. Tun Mahathir Mohamad, as the prime minister then, tabled the motion.

What did PAS and Hadi do? They voted in support of the Undi 18 bill.

In fact, Hadi and co joined all MPs to vote in support. The bill was passed unanimously.

History was made. All 222 MPs – government, backbenchers and opposition bloc) voted in support.

But now, Hadi is saying or implying that our 18-year-olds are not matured? Was 18 the right mature age when PAS supported the bill two years ago but somehow 18 is now not the mature age?

Hence, the brickbats and ridicule. And many detractors., presumably Malay-Muslims are taking pot shots at PAS.

Some say sarcastically one cannot vote at 18 but can stand for election – reminding it was Hadi who wanted under-18 to be allowed to contest elections.

What appears to be two caricatures of Hadi have gone viral on social media. One has Hadi saying at 18 not matured to vote, and on the other Hadi is saying under-18 is matured enough to get married.

This is an obvious dig at PAS’s stand on under age marriage and its reluctance to support effort to push up the minimum age for one to get married.

And then we are reminded of a media statement by one of the president’s men – Datuk Takiyuddin Hasan talking about an elaborate program launched by PAS (also in 2019) aimed at recruiting party members as young as 13 years old.

So, critics are now gleefully telling all and sundry PAS which allows 13-year-olds to be members (probably see them as matured) but feel 18-year-olds are not matured enough to vote. That’s the perception anyway. 

To be fair, Hadi did not say that his party does not want 18-year-olds to be prevented from voting indefinitely when he expressed support for Undi 18 to be delayed.

However he said, what he said has opened to interpretations.

Also, many see his remarks too irresistible to let it pass.

Furthermore, many see Hadi and PAS as trying to justify the delay to “save” Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional government, which they say is “afraid” of young new voters who they, rightly or wrongly, believe would not vote for the government.

Whatever it may be, the “attacks” on PAS for what its president had said are continuing.

The party, I would say, has its hands full in carrying out damage control. But then most time the party simply could not be bothered. I don’t know if it would be different this time. After all, the party has its ties with Umno to think about.

(Mohsin Abdullah is a veteran journalist and now a freelancer who writes about this, that and everything else.)