THERE is still a long way to go before the opposition can break Barisan Nasional’s grip on the Felda vote bank, a study has shown.

The study by Ilham Centre, covering seven Felda areas in Pahang and Johor in April, showed that the opposition’s overtures to the settlers did not meet the mark.

Ilham Centre executive director Hisomuddin Bakar said what settlers wanted were solutions to their debt problems with Felda, and issues relating to land titles and the future of their children.

“But what Bersatu has offered are solutions to national issues,” said Hisomuddin.

“The government’s cash incentives (RM475 million) that were announced last month are more practical and closer to what the Felda settlers are looking for.”

He said the 2013 general election showed that 60% of rural Malay youths still supported BN.

“From our study of the polling station results, BN won all the Felda stations.

“The anomaly was Temerloh, which was won by PAS’ Nasrudin Hassan.

“But even then, the Felda polling station results all went to BN. He (Nasrudin) won most of the urban votes,” said Hisomuddin at the sidelines of a forum to discuss the issue of whether young voters will boycott the next general election.

Earlier, PKR’s Syukri Razab said while it was the right of voters to boycott elections, they must have the right reasons for doing so.

“Before they start a boycott campaign, they should exhaust all other avenues to tell the parties about their frustrations and demands.

“Without a well thought-out plan and clear objectives, they won’t achieve much by just boycotting elections.

“If they really want to let the opposition know they are unhappy with them, they should organise a ‘Vote BN’ campaign instead.

“That will definitely send a clear signal to opposition parties.”

Kesatuan Mahasiswa Malaysia activist Anis Syafiqah agreed, saying some youths were turned off by the internal squabbling in political parties and frustrated by the lack of solutions to their problems.

“We have been hearing about free education for all. But till this day, there’s still no solution to this problem.”

Hisomuddin said the trend among young people not wanting to vote was not new.

“It’s a worldwide trend, first noticed in the US around 2007, when younger voters did not want to associate with any particular party. They preferred to be ‘indie’.

“That’s why when Barack Obama planned his campaign in 2008, he used volunteers instead of party workers.

“Indonesian President Joko Widodo did the same. They called it political marketing. Invoke Malaysia is like that.”

Hisomuddin said a similar trend began in Malaysia in 2013, whereby children no longer followed their family’s political affiliations.

“These ‘floating voters’ do not want to identify with a particular party.

“In the past, families could force their children to vote for a certain party, but we saw a rebellion among the children in the previous general election.

“Coupled with two additional splinter parties – Amanah and Bersatu – these young voters are now confused as their parents who used to be PAS or Umno (supporters) are now (supporting) a different party.”

Gerakan’s Andy Yong said many youths today were not bothered to register as new voters as they were too busy earning money.

The forum was moderated by Ainina Sofia. – August 16, 2017.