THE narrative that the Undi18 voters will pick parties representing youths in the general election, even if they are in the opposition, had been shredded by the results of the Johor elections in March, analysts said.

“It’s best seen by what happened to Muda in that election,” Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) political scientist Lee Kuok Tiung said of the fledgling political party co-founded by Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

The 30-year-old was the minister of youth and sports in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“Before the elections, the impression they gave was that they would dominate the youth vote. The results showed otherwise,” Lee told The Malaysian Insight.

He said if Muda had not been given a “safe seat” by their coalition partner in PH, the party would have lost everything.

“Fortunately, there was help from PH and a safe seat helped them win (one),” Lee said, alluding to the victory in Puteri Wangsa for lawyer Amira Aisya.

“No one can claim that the new voters between the ages of 18 and 20 will automatically vote for them.

“It is true before that some PH leaders had claimed that most of the young voters belonged to Muda but in the end, they realised that this was not the case,” he said.

Undi18 and automatic voter registration (AVR) produced 5.6 million additional voters – comprising 4.4 million through AVR, age 21 and above, and another 1.2 million ages 18 to 21 (Undi18) – eligible to vote in the next general election.

An article by analyst Bridget Welsh on the Johor polls supported Lee’s claim.

Welsh said there was a strengthening of the ruling federal coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN) among the young and an erosion of support for PH from those who voted for the current opposition in the 2018 general election.

She also found there was less partisan loyalty among younger voters, coupled with dissatisfaction of the Anwar Ibrahim-led coalition.

Lee said there is a need to understand the aspirations of the 18–20 age group if political parties are to win their support.

He said a recent UMS study found that young voters of all races put education and the opportunity to continue studying at a higher level as their top priorities, and will likely support parties that meet their priorities.

He said the support from among the young Chinese and Indians are therefore up for grabs as “the opportunities for Chinese and Indian students to continue their studies after SPM are limited”.

Lee said despite the excellent result they had in the public examination, many were forced to go to private universities to continue their tertiary studies.

“Many of them want to study to become doctors. They want someone who can help them.”

Universiti Putra Malaysia political analyst Jayum Jawan agreed and said this is something the ruling PN coalition should fear.

“The ruling coalition have not done enough for non-bumiputeras and they sense that the punishment from this demographic is coming.”

He said the Undi18 voters, like voters of other age groups, have set their criteria that will influence how they vote.

“They’re generally the same. They want good people to run the government, caring people who look after their welfare, such as education, job opportunities, equal and fair treatment.”

Jawan said the reason parties might not get the support of these Undi18 voters is because they have not done enough to reach out to them and only treat them as important because “they now can vote”. – August 15, 2022.