A CIVIL society group targeting youth voter registration has seen lukewarm response to its nationwide campaign, while an opposition MP admits to fears that today’s youth may no longer have the zeal to vote for change in the 14th general election.

Watan’s executive director Masjaliza Hamzah said the response to its voter registration campaign has been “so-so”, with only some 2,000 new voters registered each month, on average, at its booths in shopping malls, night markets and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2).

“Since August, we’ve only registered 2,000 a month. A majority are from our target audience, those aged 30 and below.

“It’s a drop in the ocean if you look at the number of those not registered to vote who are below 30,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

The under 30s form two-thirds of the 3.7 million who are not registered but eligible voters in the country. 

Of this, 2.43 million are aged between 21 and 30, according to pollster Merdeka Centre, which obtained the figures from the Election Commission’s statistics from its 2017 second quarter electoral roll.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said also recently said 1.97 million new voters were registered between 2013 and June this year, while Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has estimated that there would be six million young voters in GE14.

Watan has been encouraging youth to go to their nearest post offices and the EC offices to register as voters, she said.

“But there is no way to gauge how many of them did it because of our online campaign.

“We can only say our video featuring celebrities urging youth to register as voters recorded more than 19,000 views on our Facebook page. That is the only indicator we have,” she said.

For the videos, Watan engaged the help of social media influencers, including celebrities like Remy Ishak, Daphne Iking, Altimet, Sasha Saidin, Patrick Teoh and Fatiya Latiff, social activist Marina Mahathir; and video sensation Jinnyboy to encourage youth to register.

Youth does not equal change

The 21-30 age group were teenagers or young adults when the “political tsunami” of the 12th general election in 2008 took away Barisan Nasional’s two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat. The coalition has ruled Malaysia since independence.

Observers said this group of voters is large enough to influence the outcome of the general election if they choose to perform their duty as voters in the next polls.

There are concerns now whether this group is adopting a “lain kali lah” (next time) instead of “ini kali lah” (this is it) attitude while the opposition tries to wrest Putrajaya under new coalition Pakatan Harapan.

“Ini kali lah” became a popular slogan for opposition supporters in the 2013 polls but it turned into the former when BN retained the federal government, despite winning 47% of the popular vote to the opposition pact’s 52%.

The worry is that youth have grown apathetic, as they are not unaware about Malaysian politics and national issues like the high cost of living and corruption.

“I think young people are politically aware. A Merdeka Centre-Watan poll found that 70% of youths had no interest in politics, but the top two current issues for them are inflation and corruption.

“We found that 57% of them thought the country was heading in the wrong direction. 

“So yes, they have opinions about things that affect them, even if 75% feel politics is complicated and 71% agreed that they do not have any influence in what the government does.”

Masjaliza said young voters, however, were unpredictable, as it was hard to determine their political preferences.

“It would not be accurate to conclude that young voters would (necessarily) vote for change,” she said, citing the recent elections in Britain and France as examples.

“While the young progressive vote was a huge factor in the recent UK polls, in which the Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour Party narrowed the gap between his party and the Conservatives, you can’t say the same for France, where populist far-right candidate Marine Le Pen won 34% of the votes by youths aged between 18 and 24.”

A survey by Institut Darul Ehsan (IDE) released in August also found that two-thirds of voters aged between 21 and 30 have yet to decide which side to vote for in GE14.

No sense of history

Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong is among those who feel most youth these days cared less about politics.

He said even his party DAP, which was popular among Chinese voters, did not have much confidence in getting more support from the 21-30 age group.

The DAP political education director said the scenario has changed, as it used to be young voters who were the most eager to vote for change in general elections.

“In the past, it was the young voters who eagerly waited for the polls and reminded their parents to vote for change. Now, it is the other way round, with parents pushing their kids to register as voters.

“But the youth don’t care because they feel it is hopeless. They rather focus on earning money or working in Singapore. There are many cases like this in my constituency,” said the Johor lawmaker.

Liew also said DAP, despite being an opposition party in the Dewan Rakyat, was now seen by Chinese youth as an “establishment” party.

Voters in the 30 to 50 age bracket and above were well-informed on issues and would remember scandals during the 2008 and 2013 general elections, he said.

But those born in the 1990s would not have this benefit of history and the same insights, he said.

“This group of youth grew up when Lim Guan Eng had already become a prominent leader. They never saw him imprisoned,” he said, referring to the DAP secretary-general, who has been Penang chief minister since 2008.

“Some don’t realise that DAP is still an opposition party. They treat us like we are the establishment. This is challenging.”

For Malay youth, Liew said, their unhappiness was based on the rising cost of living and corruption problems.

He said this group had embraced Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad, formerly Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister, as their new idol. 

“Growing up, they saw Pak Lah (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the fifth prime minister) as the one who was always sleeping. They view current Prime Minister Najib Razak as the one who is allegedly corrupt.

“They have never seen Dr Mahathir in his worst era. To them, he is a statesman, a fatherly figure who criticises the government. Dr Mahathir’s anti-establishment image also appeals to them, gaining their support.”

Analyst Lim Hong Siang feared that youth, despite their frustration with Malaysian politics, might not turn up on polling day.

“For the past five to 10 years, all the political parties have been bombarding citizens with so much nonsense that the youth have become tired and disappointed. 

“They are venting their anger through other means. They don’t believe that voting can change things, and politics to them is about attacking each other and politicians talking nonsense,” he said. – December 15, 2017.