Young Johoreans anxious about voting for the first time

 

Sanjena Ananthan and Iqmal Aziq said they were slightly nervous when casting their ballots but said they would be better prepared the next time.

JOHOR BAHRU: As many political parties and election observers have noted, it will be hard to predict how young voters are going to impact the Johor polls.

With the Undi18 and automatic voter registration enforced since the beginning of this year, the state elections is the first platform for these youths aged 18 to 20, and those who had never registered before to cast their ballots.

A few of the young voters told FMT about feeling anxious when they arrived at the polling centres to cast their ballots for the first time.

Sanjena Ananthan, 18, admitted that she felt even more nervous when she was directed to a different voting stream from her mother, leaving her all alone.

However, the college student said the kind and friendly Election Commission (EC) officers who guided her through the process helped settle her nerves.

“Other than that, it was quite fun. The SOPs were good, they made us sanitise our hands at each station. And the flow was smooth, since there weren’t that many people.

“The whole process took me just about a minute,” the Perling voter told reporters outside the SK Taman Sutera polling centre today.

Iqmal Aziq, 23, said he was slightly nervous about voting but had done his “research” on the three candidates contesting in Perling – Liew Chin Tong of Pakatan Harapan (PH), Tan Hiang Kee of Barisan Nasional (BN) and Khoo Siaw Lee of Perikatan Nasional (PN).

Iqmal, who had just missed the cut to vote in 2018, said there was some excitement when Undi18 was passed last year, but did not expect that he would get to vote so early.

Both Sanjena and Iqmal said they are hoping for a stable government to take over the reins in Johor, while the latter also voiced the need for greater job opportunities for youths.

However, 26-year-old Ikmal Iskandar said he did not know much about politics though he was at the SK Taman Bukit Kempas polling centre to make his vote count.

“I just voted for whoever my mother told me to. Maybe for the next general election, I will have more knowledge about politics and can make my own decision,” the first-time voter said.

Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman with Johor DAP chief Liew Chin Tong, who is the Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Perling seat.

The implementation of Undi18 and the automatic voter registration saw some 750,000 new eligible voters in Johor. The majority of them, however, were above 21 and had not registered with the Election Commission.

When met at SK Taman Sutera after casting his ballot, Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman urged youths to ensure that they voted so they could make their voices heard.

The former youth and sports minister told reporters that young voters were less devoted to one political party or coalition and would vote for parties that had good policies, adding that this was a good thing.

“Your vote is like gold that will be an investment for your future. This is the time to exercise our basic duty as a citizen, by voting,” Syed Saddiq said.

A voter in Kempas, Md Yassin Idris, says he had voted for the same party in previous elections but had a hard time deciding on who to vote for in this Johor polls.

But while most of the attention will be on youngsters, it was the older folk who came out in greater numbers to vote this morning.

At SK Taman Bukit Kempas, Md Yassin Idris, 77, said he had lost count of how many times he had voted, saying this was probably his sixth time.

Yassin said he will continue to vote in every election, adding that he was eagerly awaiting the next general election (GE15). He admitted, however, that he had a hard time choosing his candidate this time, something he had never experienced before.

“I have voted for the same party my whole life. But now, I hear that the leaders of the party that I have been supporting are involved with crimes. Some say it is slander but such claims are hard to ignore,” he said.

Kempas is one of two seats that has a seven-cornered fight, with PKR’s Napsiah Khamis, BN’s Ramlee Bohani, PN’s Faizal Abdullah, Pejuang’s Nornekman Osman and three independent candidates in contention. - FMT