YOUNG, articulate and friendly, Mahirah Marzuki, Fiqah Roslan and Ariff Adi Putera are like most of their peers in Sabah.

But unlike most youth, the three have a common mission: to inspire other young Sabahans about the importance of elections, their rights and to realise their potential.

“We formed UndiSabah with Undi18 although the former was not up and running yet,” said Mahirah, at the Kopi Ping outlet in Riverson, a new condominium building in Kota Kinabalu.

Undi18 was a campaign started by Tharma Pillai and Qyira Yusri, two activists, to lower the voting age and candidates to 18 from 21 last year.

The 25-year-old lawyer, who founded UndiSabah along with Fiqah, Ariff, volunteers from civil society groups, such as Borneo Speaks and the Parliament Digital MPs recently, said their objectives are simple.

“We just want to send a message that politicians cannot act against their voters’ mandate and shift according to their own whims and fancies.

“And we want to help younger Sabahans realise their potential and the power they have at the ballot box.”

She said a majority of youth are disappointed with what happened in July when the state assembly was dissolved.

Don’t give up

Sabah is holding its 16th state elections after just 26 months from the 14th general election held in May 2018.

The assembly was dissolved after Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional’s plan to wrest the state from Warisan failed.

This was seen as a continuation of PN’s attempt to take over the Pakatan Harapan states after it came to power at the federal level in February. Since then, four states – Kedah, Perak, Malacca and Johor – have fallen after defections by assemblymen.

At the federal level, PN was formed after the defection of 10 MPs led by Senior Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali and the withdrawal of Bersatu from PH by its president Muhyiddin Yassin, who is now the prime minister.

“It’s disappointing to see the people you voted for in GE14 jump over to another side. This has to stop and we thought one way UndiSabah could do was to rally, educate and inspire young Sabahans who will be voting on September 26,” said Mahirah.

Although disheartened by what has happened, UndiSabah hopes that it can raise awareness that the youth can still “do something” at the ballot box to change the situation.

“We hope the youth won’t give up so easily.”

Sabah politics has in recent months become somewhat synonymous with “frogs” (party-hoppers).

At a recent forum in Universiti Malaya, Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said: “There are many things we are not sure of about the Sabah state elections, but one thing we know is that the party-hopping culture is stable in the state.”

According to pollster Ilham Centre, youth voters, defined as those between the ages of 21 and 40, account for 40.9% of the 1.12 million voters in the upcoming Sabah elections. The next group (41-60 years old) account for 39.1% with the above 60 making up the remaining 20%.

Economic challenges

Fiqah rents a house with two others in Penampang for RM1,500 per month. Earning less than RM2,000, she drives to work in Kota Kinabalu some 30km every day.

“It’s barely enough,” said Fiqah who works in the media industry.

“I don’t mind taking public transportation but service is bad. Added to the poor quality of roads, most of us have no choice but to drive,” said the 25-year-old.

The minimum wage she earns is just enough to cover her expenses.

“This is a common problem for youth in Sabah,” she said.

According to Ilham Centre director Hisomuddin Bakar, many youth face a similar problem in Sabah, which is almost the same size as Peninsular Malaysia.

“There are too few manufacturing jobs here and many have had to move to the peninsula to find jobs. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, many have lost some of the better-paying jobs related to tourism,” said Hisomuddin, who was conducting Ilham’s survey of Sabah.

“These youth, who have lost their jobs, are slowly coming back to their hometowns and villages but there are not many jobs there either.”

Many could not further their studies beyond form five as most of the universities and colleges are centred around Kota Kinabalu, Labuan and the peninsula, he said.

This has added to the social mobility issues, where youth find it doubly hard to move up.

Though rich in natural resources, remains the poorest state in Malaysia with 50% of the population in that category.

In 2018, Sabah’s GDP per capita was RM25,861, half of neighbouring Sarawak’s (RM52,301) and four times lower than Kuala Lumpur’s (RM121,993).

Unemployment in Sabah is also high, averaging 5.4% in 2016 to 5.8% in 2018 among the 3.8 million population when the national average was around 3.4% for the same period.

On the “frog” issue, Hisomuddin said many youth Ilham surveyed in the past week said they are disappointed.

“They feel that Warisan was unfairly robbed of the chance to govern for a full five years. At the moment, most said they were willing to give Warisan another chance,” said the pollster.

Limited time

Back on the ground, Mahirah said they are fighting against time to reach out to all of Sabah’s young voters.

“We are getting people from the various regions, such as Sandakan, Tawau, Semporna and Kudat to get involved through social media.

“We have already started organising webinars and will hold a summit in Kota Kinabalu on September 19-20. We are also publishing information about the election on all out social media platforms and collecting a list of demands or hot issues on our Facebook page.

“We want young Sabahans to shift from voting based on personalities and tribal connections that are passed on from their parents. We hope they will vote based on issues and candidates, and not parties anymore,” said Mahirah.

“UndiSabah is not about leading youth but it’s a movement for them.” – September 16, 2020.