THE perceived influence of the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) over young voters is causing unease among the youth wings of Pakatan Harapan parties which are targeting the same segment of people in the Johor elections, analysts said.

In the 2018 general election (GE14) young voters mostly voted for the PH bloc. 

Azizuddin Sani of Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) said it appears that Muda has usurped the positions of PH youth wings in the hearts of young voters, which has sparked envy and resentment. 

Muda is a multiracial and youth-centric political party led by former sports and youth minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

Azizuddin said the PKR youth wing, in particular, is competing with Muda for the same group of voters.

As such, Muda’s link-up with the opposition is not sitting well with the young members of the party led by Anwar Ibrahim, said the UUM professor.

Some PKR leaders have expressed their frustration and anger on social media over the seat negotiations between both parties.

“Before this, many young people supported PKR, supported PH. Many of the channels 4, 5, 6 voters supported PH (due to) its active campaign to win the support of young people,” said Azizuddin, referring to the Election Commission’s various categories of young voters.

“Muda is an outsider, there is definitely a feeling of jealousy. The target demographic of Muda is the same as PH’s – urban, semi-urban, multiracial.

“That’s why when (Muda) asked for a seat (from PKR) there were issues, and there were (youth leaders) who were not pleased,” Azizuddin said.

He said PKR leaders should take steps to defuse the situation or face protests from the grassroots. If left unresolved, the issue could lead to PH losing seats.

“Anwar has to do something as this is an internal concern. (An internal faction) does not agree, does not feel confident that Muda can (support PH).

“Despite Muda not belonging to the same coalition, it has had a good reception from other PH components, especially DAP and Amanah.

“The important thing is to manage (the resentment) so that it does not grow and which could lead to sabotage,” said Azizuddin.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) analyst Mazlan Ali said the opposition to Muda stemmed from a lack of trust in Syed Saddiq.

“We hear a lot of criticism from the PKR youth wing of Muda’s involvement with PH. This may be because they do not believe in Syed Saddiq who previously represented Bersatu, who is considered a traitor to Anwar.

“They may also be unhappy with the attitude of DAP and Amanah, who accepted Muda from the start,” Mazlan told The Malaysian Insight.

Mazlan said BN and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) are certain to take advantage of the situation.

“The dispute between the PKR Youth wing and Muda will be exploited by their opponents so that PH is not united and cannot be expected to establish a stable government in the state.

“The people will surely get tired of this dispute and will feel that they (PKR and Muda) are more concerned about power. This will definitely disrupt PH’s campaign,” he added.

In fact, Mazlan said current situation in PH is indicative of an internal discord.

DAP and Amanah appeared to have welcomed cooperation with Muda, compared to PKR, as could be seen in the two former parties’ swift handing over of seats to the fledgling party to contest in Johor.

The Puteri Wangsa state seat is controversial as PKR had handed over the seat to Amanah which subsequently gave it to Muda.

Muda has named its secretary-general Amira Aisya Abd Aziz, 27, as the candidate for the seat.

“PKR is seen to be a bit distant with Muda compared to Amanah and DAP. There may be some pressure within the party which has the idea of creating a ‘big tent’ for the opposition rally under,” said Mazlan.

Universiti Malaya’s Awang Azman Awang Pawi, meanwhile, said PH is experimentinh with Muda in the Johor polls.

“DAP and Amanah’s strategy is to focus on mixed constituencies. They will not contest in Malay-majority seats to avoid clashing with Umno, which has strong grassroots support. They will probably leave those seats to Muda, and if anything happens, they will blame Muda.

“If Muda cannot win even one seat after being given several to contest, it will not have much say in the next elections. This is a political experiment, if Muda loses, don’t expect it to get many seats in the future, “said Awang Azman.

Nevertheless, he said PKR Youth’s grouses are mainly due to Muda’s portrayal of itself as the sole youth representive.

In Johor, 700,000 people will be voting for the first time now that the voting age has been lowered from 21 to 18.

That number represents 30% of the 2.6 million voters in Johor.

“The party that is angriest is PKR because they’ve gone through so many trials and tribulations in the past, when they operated without any power and machinery. The role of PKR youth was very important to the PKR we see today.

“Muda is trying to show that it controls the young voters in Johor and the whole country, dismissing the other parties that have their youth wings,” Awang Azman said. – February 17, 2022.