THE comparison is natural, given the fact that both represent the future of Malaysia and have the task of snaring the youth vote for their political parties in the coming polls.

And if this was a contest based on visibility, social media profiles and Facebook likes, it would be a walkover for Khairy Jamaluddin, the Umno Youth chief and youth and sports minister.  Hardly a day goes by without him being featured in the media or officiating at some official function.

But PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad is not fazed. 

The Selangor executive councillor in charge of education, human capital development, science, technology and innovation

believes that he and his colleagues in the other Pakatan Harapan youth movements can win over young adults with an attractive policy slate targeted at them.

They are betting that their policy offerings, such as free tertiary education and housing reform, will be more effective than promoting individual politicians.

“I don’t believe in the politics of personalities. It’s about ideas. I am not interested in the battle of personalities but the battle of ideas,” Nik Nazmi told The Malaysian Insight in an interview.

“So, with me it’s not about selling Nik Nazmi, but about selling Keadilan and Pakatan Harapan.”

Whether that works remains to be seen as Khairy is one the country’s most popular leaders. In a survey by one of PKR’s own allies, Bersatu,

Khairy even beats his own boss Najib Razak as a choice for prime minister.

The collective over the individual

Ever since he wrote an eye-opening book about dismantling the New Economic Policy at the age of 28, high hopes were placed on Nik Nazmi to be the face of PKR’s young, progressive Malay Muslim leadership.

These days, he is tied down in Selangor where he oversees education initiatives, such as expanding the state’s “tuisyen rakyat” programme, and increasing funding for vernacular and religious schools.

He is hopeful that handling the nuts and bolts of policies will persuade Malaysians to support PH.

“I accept that I don’t have as many social media likes compared with Khairy. He may have more followers but people should look at the collective.

“As a collective were are doing fine. We have a good multiracial team in PKR Youth with many Chinese, Indian and non-Malay bumi leaders in central committee roles.

“We have a lot young leaders like (PKR vice-presidents) Nurul Izzah Anwar, Rafizi Ramli and Shamsul Iskandar Mat Akin, and even (Selangor Menteri Besar) Azmin Ali is only in his 50s.

“And in terms of that, we are doing way better than Umno or Umno Youth.”

Pushing the team ahead of individual icons squares with the PH Youth wings’ strategy of putting forth a slate of policies called Tawaran Anak Muda (An Offer for Youth) to capture the hearts and minds of youths.

Nik Nazmi said that this approach – the collective over individuals, policies over popularity – were what made certain campaigns in the US and UK elections resonate with the youth.

He cites the example of US presidential contender Bernie Sanders and UK Labour Party chief Jeremy Corbyn as examples of how older, less charismatic leaders were able to win over the youth in these countries with their radical ideas.

But will it work in Malaysia?

“In 2013, one big reason we did so well was because of the common manifesto and our policies.

“Anwar was a factor but so were the radical ideas we pushed such as free tertiary education, cheaper cars, cheaper broadband. We captured the urban vote. Our policies were a key component to our success.” – June 4, 2017.