PETALING JAYA: Several first-time voters in the 18 to 23 year-old age group theSun spoke to said they were not keen to vote in the 15th general election (GE15).
Their disinterest stems mainly from not getting a clear picture of the country’s political situation, due to too much confusing information and the political scenario they have been exposed to.
Fast food restaurant worker Fairuz Arshad, 21, said he would only make his assessment of selected GE15 candidates “when the time comes”.
“I don’t know about these political people, but what I do know is that they are (always) arguing and I am not happy,” he said.
Ayesha Irfan, 23, said while she does not want to forego her role in GE15, the current political developments do not give a good impression to young people like her.
The final-year university student in Shah Alam said she is not even sure what her area wakil rakyat’s name is.
“I actually don’t know much (about political developments),” she said, adding that she would put a lot of thought into who she would vote for.
Meanwhile, the never-ending bickering among politicians gives student Lim Yee Wai the impression that the political field comprises “not-so-good characters”.
“I want to exercise my right, but voting in GE15 is not a priority right now,” said the 21-year-old.
“I hope the candidate I vote for will be able to help me and provide real benefits to the people, instead of peddling political rhetorics and making empty promises.”
Evelyn Sim, 20, said she does not know who to vote for.
“They all seem the same to me. I am new with this political situation, I never thought I would have to think about it so soon,” said the convenience shop cashier, who plans to go back to her hometown in Tawau, Sabah, to cast her ballot.
Arvin Kumar, 19, from Sungai Buloh said he has no plans on polling day.
“I might just sleep through it. I might change my mind closer to the date but for now, I am indifferent. It doesn’t matter to me who wins, they are all the same.”
Arvin, who works part-time at a local plant nursery, said his life would not change much regardless of who wins the elections.
Election Commission statistics show there are currently more than 21 million voters, including 1.4 million aged 18 to 20.
Selangor has the highest number of such voters with 274,000, while Johor has 169,919. Sarawak is third with 129,034, followed by Sabah with 127,582 and the lowest in the country is Labuan, with only 3,225.
Professor of Asian Studies at University of Tasmania, political analyst James Chin said while most young voters may know the value of their votes, they are experiencing a lot of confusion.
He said this was primarily due to their main source of information, social media, being overloaded by all sides in the political arena.
On whether young voters would make an impact in GE15, Chin said that could happen if they all came out to vote.
“A high voter turnout will make an impact. The problem is we don’t have any solid data as they are completely new voters,” he said.
Chin said in the Johor state elections in March, about 50% of young voters came out to vote.
“But if we look at the trend in other countries, turnout of young voters has been lower than the overall turnout rate.”
Chin added that he expects the same turnout trend among local young voters.