Young people taking to the streets out of frustration, says expert

 

More than 1,000 young people are reported to have taken part in the Lawan rally in Kuala Lumpur last weekend.

PETALING JAYA: Uncertainties over the future, in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, are causing youths to vent their frustrations on streets over the country’s economic, health and leadership crisis, says a sociologist.

Syed Farid Alatas said young people were aware that the government is not managing the country well, especially after the surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths.

“There is a lockdown but despite that cases keep going up. It is building a lot of frustration among them,” he told FMT.

He said young Malaysians were concerned not only about their career and jobs but “there is a perception that the health system is not able to cope with the pandemic.”

Syed Farid Alatas.

“Youths want a change. They want to see things progressing but they don’t see any progress. “They want a corrupt free and competent leadership,” he said, but even Pakatan Harapan had failed to carry out reforms.

Farid’s remarks came after a weekend in which more than 1,000 youths were reported to have taken part in the Lawan protest rally against the government’s failed policies.

Former Umno MP Tawfik Ismail said Malay youths for many years have been urbanised but culturally challenged by living in cramped quarters compared to the wide open spaces of the kampung.

“The various MCOs imposed made uncomfortable living worse,” he told FMT. “All they needed was a spark like the Black Flag movement to inflame and instigate,” he said.
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He said young people are frustrated over uncertainties in career development.

Tawfik Ismail

“Young men make a living as delivery riders, and the MCO provides better demand for their services but it also increases their expenses. All these accumulate into a pressured environment that needs release,” he said.

He said the political uncertainties provide an outlet for the less educated and more emotional to vent their frustration. “Almost everyone has access to a mobile phone and messaging services,” he said. “MCO has sparked the imagination of youth and set them off in directions unexplored before,” he added.

Apolitical youths who are economically disadvantaged are seeking certainty over their career and health prospects in the midst of the pandemic. “They are also fearful over whether they will have jobs once things are normalised,” he added. FMT