If identity continues to be mobilised as a shortcut to electoral support, Malaysian youths will inherit a.........

Opinion
27 May 2026 • 12:00 PM MYT
FLK
FLK

Used to do a bit of work in corporate restructuring, corporate `undertaker.

Image from: If identity continues to be mobilised as a shortcut to electoral support, Malaysian youths will inherit a.........
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……………a political system where division is not an unfortunate by-product, but an INTENTIONAL governing strategy.

Young Malaysians, do not say you have not been forewarned.

Dear Malaysians, show the politicians that all of you ARE TRUE constituents and NOT temporary "voting banks" in the next GE, the 16th GE scheduled to be held on later than Feb 2028 or earlier or maybe this year as widely speculated.

Politicians from all and every political party in this country are increasingly using and relying on race and religion as shortcuts to electoral support.

Nothing on economy and its growth, welfare of the people, continued rise in living costs.

The politicians in Malaysia are so busy focusing on dividing the people with race and religious issues that none of them focus on vital, foundational policy issues like youth democratic participation, livelihood and the economy for the last 2 decades.

Politicians narrow the space for civic-based engagement and normalize ethnic framing.

Instead of addressing the actual needs of constituents, they always and never failed to leverage identity for them to ascend up their political parties.

Vital democratic reforms were stalled in the last decade and and public trust is now down to almost ground zero.

Malaysians, the right thinking ones, needs to gather together and collectively put a stop to this trajectory, which threatens to institutionalize identity discourses into the fabric of Malaysian governance from galloping away.

Malaysians, be it the young voters and civil society need to actively push and shift the political narrative away from identity politics toward substantive issues like livelihood, the economy, and democratic representation.

Malaysia must foster the unity of its rich multicultural society and Malaysians must and decisively at the next General election ie the 16th GE to REJECT and kick out all those politicians who regularly used divisive rhetoric for political gain.

The lack of trust between different communities needs to be addressed through open and frank discussions in order to get to the root cause of the problems.

If not, these issues will only recur in the future.

Do not expect politicians and NGOs and community leaders to do it.

They will never do it.

We, Malaysians, the ordinary rakyat, have to do it ourselves for the sake of the future generations.

We, Malaysians, the ordinary rakyat, must play a pivotal role in promoting responsible speech and curtailing inflammatory remarks at any and at all times.

We, Malaysians, the ordinary rakyat, must, collectively, speak out firmly and promptly against intolerance, discriminatory stereotyping, and instances of hate speech.

There is more that unites Malaysians than divides them.

The challenges that Malaysia faces in the next 5 to 10 years, such as climate change, food security, technological advances, are ones that must be faced together, regardless of race and religion.


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