POLITICAL parties must be driven in getting their message out to the youth ahead of the state elections, Undi18 said.  

Its co-founder Tharma Pillai said while all political parties have their own strategies, what is important is having policies that tend to the needs of the young.

“Youth want to see candidates who champion their issues in terms of jobs, education and economic standing.

“Contesting candidates should be credible leaders who are attractive to young voters. They should also have policies that cater to the youth and are able to sell them effectively,” Tharma told The Malaysian Insight.

Tharma estimated there are about 1.7 million young voters.

Penang, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Terengganu, Kelantan and Kedah have dissolved their respective state assemblies. They are expected to go to the polls soon.

He said according to political scientist Bridget Welsh, first-time voters had the second-highest turnout rate in the 2022 general election at 79% after those above the age of 50, which was at 80%.  

Tharma also said political parties should utilise social media as the reality for most young Malaysians was that everything was online.

“This means political parties will have to shift their strategies. Most parties could improve on this to reach out to young voters.

“Based on the last elections, Perikatan Nasional and Muda were quite aggressive in their digital marketing.”

Tharma, however, said while social media is a crucial platform to gauge the sentiments of youth, it will be different in the state polls.

“Parties should be highlighting more local issues… not only getting the narrative right on social media but also working the grassroots.”

Postal votes crucial

Tharma said there are about 1.5 to 1.8 million overseas voters in Singapore, Australia, United Kingdom, United States and other countries.

As for young voters, it is hard to estimate how many are postal voters because during the state polls, it will be the summer break, so they might return to Malaysia.

“We roughly estimate there are up to 250,000 students and youth populations overseas. So, we don’t have the exact number of overseas young voters.”

He said Undi18 will continue what it did in the November polls to help bring home the overseas ballots.

“We will be repeating what we did in GE15 to get sponsorship to bring back the ballots on various airlines.

“The challenge this time is to send the ballots to more returning officers compared with GE15.

“This time there are 245 areas where we have to send the ballots too. So, logistics-wise it’s more complicated this time around.”

He added that they have an excess of RM30,000 from a crowdfunding exercise last year, which they will use for the state polls.

“If we need more funds then we will do crowdfunding again.

“We are also engaging with student bodies overseas to assist us in getting the ballots organised and ready for delivery.” – July 4, 2023.