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Youth in the Politics of Transition

in Malaysia

Haris Zuan

Before the 14th General Election (GE14), Malaysian media carried a substantial
amount of pessimistic commentary about youth. Youth were said to make
up the bulk of unregistered voters, be ckle-minded as to which coalition
to support, or be politically apathetic. Yet, by the conclusion of the election,
youths—meaning those aged 21 to 40—were found to have played major roles
not just as voters, but also in political campaigns of various forms. is chapter
seeks to understand the politics of Malaysian youth in an historic election. It
starts by mapping out the forms youth activism has taken, including changes
over the past 20 years since the 1998 Reformasi movement. e analysis then
turns to e orts by political parties to approach youths, particularly their shift
away from programmes often linked to youths, such as concerts and sports.
Political parties have recognised that youths are less inclined than in the past to
join organisational structures such as associations, clubs, and parties themselves,
seeing these as rigid and in exible. To deal with this change, political parties
have turned to seeking to empower youths via political-education programmes.
e nal part of this chapter deals with youth involvement in GE14, starting
with the ways political parties from both sides focused on capturing young
voters through youth-friendly manifestos and by elding younger candidates,
then highlighting the e orts of a few youth groups who campaigned around
speci c issues or directly for young candidates. Overall, the chapter argues
1
that there are signi cant changes happening in youth activism in Malaysia, in
both orientations and strategies, to which political parties from both sides are
trying to adapt. is process underlies the importance of youth as a political

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