My short answer to the question that is the title of this article is…I seriously doubt it.

Yes, Undi18 can make a difference in Johor and in GE15 but there are serious issues that have never been debated in order to ensure Undi18 be the savior of Malaysia or at least tip the balance for a different future.

There are three major reasons why I do not think that Undi18 will not make much difference in national politics as well as state political outcome.

These three issues need to be addressed before the young can be said to be ‘untainted’ with old politics or that the young will be more liberal and future or global oriented rather than focused on the same tired race and religious rhetoric of the past and the present.

Firstly, with the passing of the law on voting rights for 18 year old, what is the implication on secondary school education? Will there be an added syllabus on the ideology and experiences of different political parties for SPM examination? Will the various political parties be able to send their representatives to lecture and answer questions in a Q&A forums with form five school leavers?

I don’t think anyone has raised this issue at all.

Will there be summer camps of our nation’s possible futures for them to imagine a different Malaysia?

Will Undi18 come to vote in Johor? I seriously doubt it.

Secondly, most of the school leavers will either fill in the job market or attend colleges and universities mostly outside their states.

My first question is the same as the ones I had asked for the secondary school SPM candidates.

Will there be a special subject in the MPU or Matapelajaran Universiti that will see the students learning about the different political ideologies of parties and will these parties be allowed to visit the colleges to explain their stands on the issues of the country?

We all still remember how Universiti Malaya shut its gate and killed off the electricity so that Anwar Ibrahim could not come inside the campus, and if he did he would not have an air-conditioned hall to speak in.

The same thing happened with some student activists at International Islamic University.

Furthermore, will the colleges allow assignments, examinations and projects to be differed if there is a state or federal election being called suddenly for the 18, 19 and 20 year old college students to return home to vote?

Will the colleges and universities set up buses for the students to return and claim the expenses from the government?

I think this is fair. The EC must make the ability to have postal votes for students who have to cross the ocean to Sabah and Sarawak and vice versa.

This can easily be managed with the help of the university or college personnel.

What’s the policy here from the Ministry of Education?

Thirdly, for the job holders, the Undi18 must be allowed unrecorded and paid leave a day before the polling day.

Just having a Saturday to cast the vote is not enough to ensure the rights of the citizens to choose their future through the selected representatives.

Having polling day on Sunday is not an option as this would interrupt the Christian’s day of worship.

As it is, all three questions were probably never asked and this is why I predict that barely 20% of Undi18 will turn up for the Johor election as well as GE15.

Most parties which have a strong vote bank among the elderly and retirees would love this situation as the demography still has not changed.

That is why the present government is silent on this matter and the non-creative EC does not have the soul nor the mind to think outside the box.

Sadly, Malaysian politics will still be same old way. Lebih kurang sama sajalah!

(Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor of Architecture at a local university and his writing reflects his own personal opinion entirely.)