Harapan failed to prepare youth voters after Undi18 - Kasthuri

 

Panellists at a forum discussing youth voting trends based on electoral data have pointed to political education as a guiding tool that could shape the country's future.

DAP's former Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto, as a panellist at the Malaysiakini-hosted forum in Penang last night, noted that while Pakatan Harapan had moved to eventually pass the Undi18 Bill in Parliament in 2019, there was little done to prepare the first-time voters.

"We didn't frame the narrative: why is it important for SPM-leavers to choose their government? To choose their leaders.

"We didn't do enough groundwork, particularly among semi-rural and rural voters," Kasthuri (above) said.

The Undi18 Bill to lower the voting age from 21 to 18, as well as automatic voter registration, came into effect on Dec 15, 2021, shifting the landscape of the 15th general election last year.

Malaysiakini's analysis of GE15 results from 7,351 polling districts nationwide revealed that BN and Harapan secured victories in over 70 percent of the polling districts with the oldest voters only.

Conversely, Perikatan Nasional (PN) emerged as the predominant winner in 46 percent of the polling districts with the youngest voters only, followed by Harapan with 38 percent. Generally, the trend is most pronounced in Malay-majority seats.

Kasthuri noted that Harapan had wrongly assumed that its traditional ways of rallying support through large physical ceramah attended by older voters would work while staying out of social media platform TikTok, which is populated by youths who became the target of PN.

"PN used TikTok very well [...] We (Harapan) thought the age group of our voters will tell their children how to vote.

"But that is no longer the trend for the head of household to guide their family how to vote," she said, adding it was a lesson learnt for Harapan in entering the ongoing six-state elections.

Kasthuri argued that political education must start in school, but taught in a manner that can help first-time voters to make their own informed choices.

Further, she said, there should be more "storytelling" to inform youths on significant past political milestones since the post-Reformasi era in 1998.

Penang Muda information chief Danial Abdul Majeed

Meanwhile, Penang Muda information chief Danial Abdul Majeed concurred that little effort had been made to educate youths after Undi18.

He identified five broad groups of first-time voters - from those who don't vote; vote based on their parent's preferences; vote based on trends shaped by friends and sentiments; vote based on policies offered; and those who could be swayed to vote for money.

"These are five things we forgot to address," said Danial who contested and lost the Kepala Batas parliamentary seat for Muda in GE15, then a Harapan ally.

Of the various categories, he said the smallest group comprises youths who were able to analyse offers made by candidates and take into consideration the impact of their votes on state or national policies.

"Every time I meet young voters, one thing I tell them is, don't just trust what you see on social media [...] The vote you cast will affect your future," said Danial.

Penang Gerakan Youth chief Andrew Ooi

Commenting on the GE15 youth voting trends, Penang Gerakan Youth chief Andrew Ooi said he believed that the shift in support to PN was due to the failures of Harapan in the coalition's first 22 months in power.

"They (youths) don't want to know who made what mistakes [...] they want to see an alternative on how to make the nation great again," claimed Ooi, who is contesting Paya Terubong in Penang under the PN ticket.

He also claimed the youths are more susceptible to change, unlike the older generation shown to maintain support for Harapan.

Ooi, who has a 19-year-old son, however, conceded that he agreed on the importance of political education for youths.

"We should give them political education but don't brainwash them to support one party," he stressed. - Mkini