Young Malaysians more politically conscious now

A survey shows that young Malaysians' attitude towards politics has changed and most are registered voters.

PETALING JAYA: Most young Malaysians, at least 73% of them, are registered voters, according to a survey.

Although voter registration numbers are the poorest among the 21- and 22-year olds, it is encouraging to note that by the time they reached 35,ninety percent of them registered as voters.

The National Youth Survey 2012, an initiative by The Asia Foundation, surveyed 2,105 youths aged from 17 to 35.

“Youths are beginning to adopt a change in attitude and behaviour towards political issues,” said Nur Azrina Azhar, senior programme officer at The Asia Foundation.

However, the results of the survey were also consistent with the Election Commission’s findings that Selangor and East Malaysia have the lowest proportion of registered voters in the country.

This may be because, among those of voting age, lack of time to register (33%) and a dislike for politics (21%) are the top two reasons for non-registration.

A lack of voter awareness and education was also cited as a key factor behind reasons such as unsure of where to register (15%) and unsure of the procedure for registration (10%).

Prof Khaldun Malek, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, had a reason for this non-registration issue.

“Malaysian politics is weird… there is no ideological politics present but only race and religious politics which continue to make headlines,” he said.

His explanation was that due to the present political climate in Malaysia, many youths can and are being driven away by the unnecessary race and religion discussions which are rampant in Malaysian politics.

An unfair electoral system was deemed to be another area of concern for youths, with 19% of the total respondents saying that the current election process is still corrupt.

“Malaysia’s 13th general election is imminent and youths are a critical and pivotal electorate” said Anthea Mulakala, country representative for The Asia Foundation in Malaysia.

“We hope the findings will enable both government and opposition to better understand and respond to the nation’s youth,” she said.

Of those registered to vote, 55% voted in the 2008 general election and the foundation hopes that more of Malaysian youths will vote in the next general election.