UNDI18 is using social media to reach out and educate about 70% of new voters who will be casting their ballots for the first time in the coming general election.

Its co-founder Tharma Pillai said it would be very difficult to use traditional methods, like going to meet them on the ground, to educate the new voters on the importance of voting.

He said Undi18 started various initiatives by using the power of social media to gauge the attention of youth for about a year now.

“We are using Tik Tok and other social media platforms to reach out to youths.”

“We need to go where there are many youths and that place is Tik Tok, Instagram and Twitter. We can share knowledge and information on voting (on these platforms),” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Tharma said they have been doing this for a year now to ensure the youth get the right information, and it has been very stimulating.

He said that they had received millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes for their videos on social media.

“We so far have done more than 50 videos about voting and its process, and we hope that more youths will tune in to learn more about democracy and the country.”

He said that they hit their target audience with videos on Tik Tok and Instagram, and graphics on Twitter.

“We are targeting to reach 70% of the 1.2 million voters aged between the ages of 18 and 20.”

“Since it’s difficult to go on the ground to reach the voters, we are fully utilising social media.”

He said that it was crucial to reach as many new voters to educate them on the importance of the democratic process.

“Our main strategy is to reach out to the youth as they are active on social media.”

“Many young people are also following the country’s development through social media.”

Tharma also said that they have done several workshops with the Youth and Sports Ministry and programmes at schools, especially for STPM students, to create political awareness for students.

He also said that they were concerned with the monsoon season which would result in many voters, including young voters, being unable to vote.

“If there are floods then it might disrupt the youths from going out to vote, or going back to their hometowns to vote, especially if they are studying and living outstation.

“So, if there are floods, how are they going to go back to vote?”

He said the Election Commission should explain its flood mitigation plans to ensure everyone can vote during floods.

“What we want to know is how the floods will impact the percentage of voters who are going out to cast their ballots.”

Undi18 successfully advocated for the amendment of the Federal Constitution to reduce the voting age in Malaysia from 21 to 18. The group started off as a student movement in 2016, under the umbrella of the Malaysian Students’ Global Alliance. – October 20, 2022.