PKR banking on youth leaders to win GE13

PETALING JAYA, Dec 17 — Young leaders will make up at least 35 per cent of PKR’s candidates list for the next general election as the party moves aggressively to beat Barisan Nasional (BN) in the crucial contest for the youth vote, says secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

With the 13th general election due by next June, much focus has centred on this growing demographic, which is said to make up some 60 per cent of the 13 million-strong electorate.

In an exclusive interview with The Malaysian Insiderhere, Saifuddin(picture) said the party recognised the importance of the youth vote and will field the most number of young candidates in comparison with its Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partners PAS and the DAP in the polls.

“The reason is simple: 20 per cent out of 12.9 million voters in the next general election will be new voters, first-timers who have never seen the voting ballot before.

“So if we take a cut-off age of 35 years old, the percentage would be huge. To understand what the youths prefer and their demands, it is only fair for PKR to respond to these changes,” said Saifuddin.

The Machang MP pointed out that PKR has been grooming young leaders for a long time and had even fielded fresh faces during the 2008 general election.

Many among these greenhorns have now carved names for themselves in mainstream politics, he added.

“For example, Nurul Izzah (Anwar), Yusmadi (Yusoff), Amiruddin Shari, Suhaimi (Shafie), Gan Pei Nei, Chang Lih Kang, Chan Ming Kai, S. Kesavan, just to say a few names.

“Those waiting for their turn include Rafizi (Ramli), Shamsul Iskandar and many more,” he added.

He said PKR, as an accommodating party, offers equal opportunities to those in all fields and age groups to grow within the party ranks.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re an NGO worker, student leader, young leader, a professional, grassroots leader, civil retiree ... besides holding posts in the party, we will offer individuals from these segments as candidates,” Saifuddin explained.

PKR also aims to emulate the centre-right conservative Turkish party, Justice and Development Party, or more commonly known as AKP, which employs youths in significant campaigning posts.

Like AKP, PKR will be using youths to lead their strategic and new media divisions in their battle for prominence online.

“While I was engaging AKP, I found that the same strategy can be applied in a Malaysian context because the youths here have lost their interests for traditional media, even the party’s own media. To respond to this, PKR is also recruiting youth activists specifically for new media.

“The task is still under (communications director) Nik Nazmi (Nik Ahmad), but we have recruited names like Praba Ganesan, Sim (Tze Tzin), and others who were recruited directly by the Opposition Leader’s office.

“A few student activists are given the specific task of operating matters concerning new media,” said Saifuddin.

The race for the youth and middle ground votes is expected to be neck-and-neck between the ruling BN and the federal opposition as over 80 per cent of Malaysia’s 29 million population are 45 years and below while at least half are aged below 25 years.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been readying his troops in BN and during the Umno general assembly last month, the prime minister sent out a clear message to party members to tackle these key demographics to secure their hold over Putrajaya.

In his opening speech at the assembly, the Umno president led thousands of members into vowing to do everything in their power to win over the hearts and minds of Malaysians.

He pointed out that today’s electorate is significantly younger than before, and smarter “in being able to distinguish between what is real and what is not”.

The BN chairman had also privately warned party leaders not to depend on its over-reliance on the rural, ethnic Malay voters and move instead to the middle ground, warning that they could go the way of US presidential candidate Mitt Romney if they rested on their laurels.

In recent days, PKR’s ally DAP has also been sending out the same message to its members.

In his article for New York Times/International Herald Tribune last Saturday, Najib urged Islamic countries to better understand the aspirations of youths by comprehending changes in demography and technology which are affecting their lives.

“The Muslim world is experiencing a ‘youth bulge’. In 2010, people under 30 comprised about 60 percent of the population in Muslim-majority countries,” Najib was quoted in his article “The challenge of Muslim youth”.

“A youth bulge introduces latent energy into a nation’s economy and society. Left untapped, it can become a destabilising force.”

Najib also conceded that the world as it is today is much different to the one 21 years ago due to advances in technology.

“The age of information has its own generation, the digital natives — those who have only ever known a connected world. They expect information to be free, democracy to be responsive, communication to be global. They want an active role in the digital economy.

“Empowered by technology, young people can articulate their frustrations to a global audience. This has a profound implication: the emergence of a new, international political consciousness,” Najib wrote in the article.