IT is shallow-minded to decide not to vote or to spoil one’s vote, Dr Mahathir Mohamad today told youth who are considering boycotting the 14th general election.

By spoiling votes, said the former prime minister, Malaysians risked the country slipping back into its pre-Merdeka days, when it was poor.

“So, to say ‘What’s the difference?’ is wrong. This is the way some shallow-minded people see things.

“We need to change this country. If we didn’t need to, I wouldn’t bother getting into this because I’m 92, and I’m going to turn 93,” he told reporters after a Pakatan Harapan meeting.

The PH chairman, in addressing the matter of eligible voters who said they might boycott GE14 out of frustration with both the ruling Barisan Nasional and opposition coalition, said there was a difference between the two.

“Some young people were born when this country was already partially developed. Of course, they may think this is the normal situation.

“But, this country was not developed before. Before we became independent, this was a poor country, and we have changed prime ministers who were appointed.

“However, these prime ministers did not steal money. (But) this prime minister (Najib Razak) is known throughout the world for stealing money. So, this prime minister has to go. 

“Some people say, ‘Oh, this country is going to the dogs’. They say, ‘If things come to that, I will migrate to Australia’. This is wrong.”

Dr Mahathir claimed that moves to discourage voters from casting their ballots were backed by BN.

“Most of these people come from Umno. They say, ‘There’s no difference between Najib and PH. Don’t vote. Destroy your voting slip’, and so on.

“They know very well that if many people don’t turn out to vote, BN will win.

“Umno is looking for victory by misleading the people. By taking away their right to vote in the election. By saying there’s no difference (between the two).”

Those who boycott GE14 “will become supporters of BN indirectly”, said the former prime minister.

He said PH would address potential boycotters, who tended to be young voters.

PH chief secretary Saifuddin Abdullah said fence-sitters would inevitably benefit the ruling government.

“In Malaysia’s history, when there’s a high turnout, BN does very badly or wins with a very slim majority. That’s exactly what BN is trying to do, which is encourage people not to come out and vote.”

Meanwhile, Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman told reporters that the Youth wings of PH parties would hold “as many dialogue sessions as possible with young voters”.

“Even if the figures are small, every vote counts in our march to Putrajaya,” he said, adding that there were a number of constituencies, such as Tebrau, Pasir Gudang, Titiwangsa and Muar, which were won with a difference of less than 1% between the leading candidates.

“Those who are idealistic, I plead with them to see PH as a whole, and compare it with BN. We are the ones that called for the portfolios of the prime minister and finance minister to be separated. We are the ones who are seeking to curb the powers of the executive.

“There are many reforms that we seek to bring about. The question is, what have Umno and BN offered instead? Ask yourselves this.”

Some 2.43 million people aged between 21 and 30 are eligible to vote, but have not registered as voters. Malaysia has 14.31 million registered voters.

Seven out of 10 young Malaysians polled said they found politicians to be untrustworthy and the main cause of Malaysia’s problems, according to the results of a survey released in September last year.

More than half believe that politicians do not care about the people.

Of the 604 young people polled recently by the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research, 70% said they did not care for politics.

The same number felt that they had no influence over government policymaking. – January 23, 2018.