It all began with the remarks made by the Senate Speaker who is also the Senate President, Tan Sri Rais Yatim, who said that the decision to lower the voting age to 18-years-old starting this July was one made hastily and teenagers are still not ready to commit to the democratic process.

Just recently, deputy youth and sports minister Wan Ahmad Fayhsal who was once a special officer to the minister Syed Saddiq who said that Malaysians are not ready to vote at 18 years old.

I speak to Tharma Pillai, the co-founder of Undi18, a youth-led movement dedicated to democratic reform whom he co-founded with his lifelong partner, Qyira Yusri. Both of them were pivotal in lobbying the then PH government to lower the age of voting to 18.