UUM JOIN OTHER PU IN SIGNING MoU WITH EC

UUM ONLINE: Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) is among the 18 Public Higher Education Institutions that signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Public Universities (PU), Polytechnics, Community Colleges, and the Election Commission of Malaysia (EC) for the Student Voter Education Empowerment Programme (Vote 18) at the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) recently.

Through this MoU, MoHE will establish a Student Voter Empowerment Programme Committee as a platform to discuss the implementation of voter education programmes involving students.

The Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Seri Dr. Noraini Ahmad, in her speech, said that a committee will comprise of representatives of student and alumni affairs from 20 public universities, the Department of Polytechnic Education and Community College (DPCCE), the Election Academy (APR) and the Election Commission (SPR).  

While the Holistic Student Division of the Department of Higher Education (DHE) will act as secretariat.

"The primary function of this committee is as a platform for MoHE, PU and APR as well as the SPR to discuss the implementation of voter education programmes involving students.

They will be responsible for seeing the effectiveness of the programme’s implementation that has been planned and further propose appropriate mechanisms to improve its implementation.

"With the establishment of this clear governance, the target of implementing voter education programmes for students as well as the desire to produce holistic and balanced graduates can be achieved," she said. 

She added that the Student Voter Education Empowerment Program is also a manifestation of MoHE's support in the implementation of Vote 18.

She explained that the matter was translated through collaboration between PU, Polytechnic, Community College and SPR in implementing student voter education programmes.

"It is necessary to implement a more holistic, organized and coordinated program.

"There needs to be a structured collaboration between the PU and DPCCE as the implementer and the SPR through the APR as the expert," she added.

She also hopes that the implementation of voter education programmes will also be extended to Private Higher Education Institutions (PIHE).

Noraini believes that with the implementation of the programmes that are coordinated at the national level, it will help to achieve the government's aspirations in producing students as intelligent, mature and skilled voters.

Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Haim Hilman Abdullah, commented that UUM will support and ensure that all campus residents will fulfil their responsibilities as voters and citizens.

"We will ensure that this agenda achieves its goals and hope that this MoU will be a catalyst for UUM's cooperation with the SPR later," he said.

He said that with this collaboration, we would certainly be able to connect more towards the consolidation and strengthening of the education agenda, especially the aspect of awareness among young voters.

Previously, the Dewan Rakyat unanimously approved the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019, which lowers the voting age and automatic registration and lowers the age limit for candidates contesting elections to 18 years on 16 July 2021.