I read a very enlightening article on this news platform recently, which highlighted a writer’s take on a bombshell statement by her 18-year-old niece, who stated that she was inclined to vote for whichever candidate she found to be more physically attractive. As a person in my mid-20’s who falls into the “youth bracket” myself, I can confidently say that the article does indeed invoke a lot of food for thought.
Recently, I met up with a few friends of mine for some casual natter. Most of them are educated young professionals, holding jobs at accounting firms and engineering companies while others are prospective junior doctors. Quite naturally, considering that the elections are already on the horizon, the subject of the conversation spiraled towards the domains of GE-15.
“Who are you inclined to vote for in the coming election?”, one of my friends asked me.
I gave him my answer and then reflected the question back at him.
“I don’t know lah”, he remarked. “All parties, same only. Might as well just go in and decide based on my mood on election day”, he continued.
Impressed with this answer, another friend uttered in riposte: “Truelah. I don’t even know if I want to vote. But I think my decision is between the DAP(Democratic Action Party) and Pakatan Harapan. Still undecided about which of these two to vote for."
“You know that DAP is part of Pakatan Harapan, right?” I responded. “They’re pretty much the same thing. DAP, PKR, MUDA and Amanah are all constituent parties of PH.”
With a puzzled look on his face, my friend responded: “Oh really? No wonder lah. Now it makes sense. I’ve always found it so confusing. PH, DAP, BN, PN, GTA. They think this election is like the game, Grand Theft Auto (GTA), is it? he remarked before bursting into a fit of laughter.
Interested in getting into the mix of things, a third friend then remarked: Who even are the candidates for Rasah(the parliamentary constituency that we will all be voting for)?
I responded, saying that there’s the incumbent Cha Kee Chin from Pakatan Harapan(PH), Ng Kian Nam from Barisan Nasional(BN) and David Choong from Perikatan Nasional(PN).
“Who are all these people? Never heard of them before. Leave aside the others, I’m not even familiar with the name of the incumbent”, he remarked. “This time around, I don't think I want to vote in Rasah. Boring already. Might as well vote somewhere new, like Kuala Pilah”.
“Haiya, this is not a food hunt lah to choose which restaurant you want to eat in. This is an election”, I retorted.
In just a short excerpt of our conversations above, you can already see a glaring problem that is shrouding our Malaysian youth, just like the haze that befalls us every now and then. As stated earlier, these are educated youth, who have a stellar academic record, raking in A after A in SPM and honors in their degrees. So, it’s not a question of their capacity to comprehend the convoluted landscape of Malaysian politics, rather it is a question of willingness. As a medical doctor, the most appropriate medical term I can use to describe the situation that many Malaysian youth are in, when it comes to politics, is "Malaise", a term used in the medical setting to describe a generalized sense of being unwell and lethargic, or lacking energy.
A sizable number of youth are apathetic towards the election, considering it to be a subject matter that is boring, irrelevant and unimportant in comparison to more “pressing matters”, such as focusing on their studies, finding an ideal life partner, getting a job, a car or even a house. In such a scenario, politics and the country play second fiddle to personal goals and ambitions. It is simple to point an accusing finger at the youth, but we must realize that the whole system has programmed them as such. From their days in primary school all the way up to university, the education system has ingrained the youth with the notion to always think within the box and to stay away from politics. The mantra that is pretty much indoctrinated into youthful minds is somewhere along the line of: “Politics is nasty and dirty, so be good boys and girls and just focus on your studies and job. Speaking about or indulging in politics will immerse you in countless problems. No need for all that. Just be indifferent and neutral. Leave the country in the hands of others. They’ll do the job. You just focus on yourselves. No need to get involved.”
This mantra, when continuously recited, results in the apathetic attitude towards politics that we see in many of our Malaysian youth today. Recently, an ebullient Syed Saddiq declared that Malaysia’s youth are the kingmakers in GE-15. After all, Malaysian youth aged between 18-39 make up a hefty 50.3% of the voter population. Anyone with good mathematical literacy will tell you that 50.3% is a large number, and that’s why the youth in Malaysia are touted as being agents of change, just like in the Mission Impossible movies.
However, from the Mission Impossible franchise, you’ll note that the prerequisite of being an agent is that you should be well-versed with the mission and have a solid grasp of even the trivial details. It is therefore difficult to label the youth as agents of change in Malaysia when a sizable number of “agents” are completely oblivious to the mission, and unaware of its goals and ideals.
As the BBC very accurately reported in 2018 prior to the previous General Election, the Malaysian youth possess a lot of power to bring about change, but unfortunately, many are unwilling to wield it. It is time that the youth jarringly woke up to the realization that they are indeed kingmakers and “agents of change”. Change may sound like a big responsibility to shoulder, but if done collectively, change is a very possible prospect.
I think the biggest take home message for the youth is that: “Change does not start with action, rather, it first starts with taking interest.” When the youth genuinely take interest in Malaysia’s political scene, no matter how rugged and disorderly it may be, change will automatically follow. And when change comes, we still may not see a completely ideal Malaysia, but we will definitely see a better one.
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Thillak Sekaran is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav.
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