RECENTLY, I received an invitation to speak about politics at a private secondary school, which I accepted with little hesitation.

This was second time I was invited by a school to talk about politics, mainly because of the recent constitutional amendment to lower the voting age of 18.

I was invited to explain to 16 – 18-year-old students how our political system works and how they could participate.

I was also curious about what they thought and whether they believe participation is worth the hassle queuing up to vote.

Generally, the students that I spoke to did possess some understanding of politics even though they might struggle to express their opinions.

I would dare say these students are far more knowledgeable about our democratic process than I was at their age.

This should not be a surprise when we take into account the rise of social media and smartphones which has made news and information easily accessible.

Also, I suspect the pandemic has in some ways also rendered students much more socially and politically attuned while my schooling years were relatively peaceful and uninterrupted bygovernment policies.

However, the major surprise came in the question-and-answer session where I was asked about how voting could reverse the dire situation in Malaysia and even challenged about our democracy and election process worked.

It was then that I realised that political fatigue and apathy in Malaysia had even infected people who had yet to vote.

Or it could be that the youth were not yet interested in politics because politics would only affect them when they started working life and had to pay tax and take out loans to buy a car or a home.

This was certainly the argument advanced by Subang’s MP Wong Chen when he talked about not fixating on attracting new voters aged 18-21.

The argument also supports the one about the Undi18 law being a game-changer for politician, yet the Johor election showed a low turnout of first-time voters.

Young people are also assumed to be more progressively inclined and thus their participation is expected to boost the left.

However, a recent survey by Architects of Diversity (AOD) on youth aspirations obscures how young people might stand on some of the major issues.

For starters, the majority of Malaysian youth still agrees with the principles of the New Economic Policy (NEP) that give preferential treatment to Bumiputera.

The youth are split on the issue of the death penalty and the majority of them believe speech online should be governed and that Malaysia’s harsh drug policies should be maintained despite the government’s attempt to decriminalise the use of marijuana for medical use.

Therefore, the view that young people in Malaysia are more liberal and progressives should not be taken as a given and it is entirely possible that the political beliefs of young people are much more complex and diverse and deserving of more study.

However, at the same time, young people do have the luxury of time to receive and digest new information and the realities of life could also change their opinions on various issues.  

Coming back to Wong Chen’s argument, I am inclined to agree with him, especially after taking into account the findings of the AOD survey.

Rather than chase the votes of young first-time voters, it is perhaps more strategic for politicians to campaign on issues that align with their own political beliefs rather than try to appease young voters whose politics remains very much malleable. 

Having said that, potentially low voter turnout and the political apathy that I encountered during my talk at the schools should serve as another warning for our democracy.

This is it is so much more important for young people to choose the right political leaders, simply because they have many more years to live.

Malaysia’s democracy certainly cannot not be deemed healthy if it allows 18-year-olds to vote but fails to galvanise them to do so, with the result that they are electorally outumbered by older voters.

The country has successfully enfranchised the 18-year-old. The million-dollar question now is, how can we ensure they will exercise their hard-earned rights? – May 29, 2022.

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.