'Approach young voters online with personal touch'

Umno and the Barisan Nasional (BN) are advised to approach young voters, who could be the deciding factor in the forthcoming general election, with personal touch through various platforms of social media.

A check by Bernama revealed that most undergraduates opined that the government’s approach on many issues or policies, particularly on social media, was still not good enough, causing some of them to turn to the opposition’s propaganda.

Siti Nor Azliza Ali, 20, said young people today were more interested in sensational issues than facts, and that social media was seen as one of the mechanisms that could be used to win the support of this group of voters.

“For example, the giving of the 1Malaysia Student Card by the government... they do not want to hear the efforts of the government in producing the card. However, they prefer to hear that the card is issued to win the hearts of the students.

“This is among the things that the government should focus on and address all the accusations being circulated on social media. Young people are more likely to believe first-hand information they receive and that is why personal touch is important,” the Universiti Malaya (UM) finance undergraduate told Bernama in Kuala Lumpur today.

Yesterday, Umno president and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, in his policy speech at the Umno General Assembly 2017, said Umno and the BN must avoid making the same mistake in the previous general election after becoming the victim of the opposition’s politics of deception.

For Muhammad Haziq Shafe’ee, 21, he said Umno, as the backbone of the BN government, needed to work hard and explain matters to the young, particularly the fence-sitters, via conventional and unconventional methods.

“The government should explain in detail to convince the young. For example, the ‘You Can Duit’ programme. It is an extensive programme but most of them have not made use of this opportunity because they are not even aware of it.

“It is important for the government to go to the ground and explain,” said the law undergraduate from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

- Bernama