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138 Haris Zuan

volunteerism among members (Astro Awani 2016), and elding more young
candidates in GE14 (Mohamed Basyir 2017).
After GE12 in 2008, with two of the richest states, Selangor and Penang,
under Pakatan control, Pakatan’s component parties were now able to carry
out the kind of better-organised training for the public and its members
described above. Indeed, the coalition’s unexpectedly strong showing in 2008
made the situation urgent, as Pakatan’s top leadership worried about the quality
of its elected representatives and members. Pakatan leaders concluded that
they needed to hold a series of internal training sessions, while also providing
avenues for the public to get to know their parties better.
Youth participation in partisan political activities remained low, however.
Rather than only withdrawing their support from BN, youth were increasingly
critical of political parties on both sides, with a corresponding decrease in
their interest in becoming political-party members. Only a few participated in
activities held by political parties, such as ceramah (rallies), fundraising dinners,
and social events (Junaidi et al. 2012; Marshelayanti et al. 2016; Norshuhada
et al. 2016).
Despite amendments to the University and University Colleges Act in 2012
that made it legal for students to participate in party politics, campus youths
remained especially uninterested in joining political parties or participating
in campus politics. Several reinstated campus ‘speakers’ corners’ went almost
unused. Despite political parties’ setting up student wings on campus, such as
PKR’s Mahasiswa Keadilan, they were not well-received. Anti-establishment
political coalitions (often referred to as ‘pro-Mahasiswa’ or ‘pro-student’) on
campus dwindled. For instance, Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia (Malaysian
Students Solidarity), after having reorganized as the Student Union of Malaysia
(Kesatuan), folded in 2015. As a result, most campus elections became easy
wins or walkovers for the ‘pro-Aspirasi’ (pro-government) group.
One explanation for this shift is that youth, including university students,
prefer to participate in o -campus programmes that are more relaxed, without
strict structures, and more cultural or social in nature. Indeed, since 2008,
Malaysian youths have shown increasing inclination to organise themselves
in small groups known as ‘collectives’. is trend of students’ taking their
activism out of the campus and abandoning campus politics could be caused
by ‘intellectual containment’—the suppression of academic freedom and
institutional autonomy (Weiss 2011)—and ‘depoliticisation’, which removes
students’ ability to organise themselves collectively and disconnects them
from the historical narrative of student activism (Haris Zuan 2013, 2014).
is preference for cultural and social activities, free from clearly-de ned

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