Page 157 - Towards_a_New_Malaysia_The_2018_Election_and_Its_6146371_(z-lib.org)

142 Haris Zuan

is no wonder that one survey points to the economy as a much bigger concern
among youth than other issues, including the 1Malaysia Development Berhad
(1MDB) scandal (Kamles 2017). is focus is why all political parties’
manifestos focused on economic agendas and why even youth themselves
criticised PH Youth’s idea of airing the English Premier League.
In terms of candidacy, having more young candidates appeared to be a
good selling point, even for the ruling party, which used to highlight more
experienced candidates as a strength in previous elections. In GE14, BN
elded 28 candidates who were under 40 years old, out of 222 candidates
for parliamentary seats, and 79 young candidates for state seats (PakDin.my
2018). For Pakatan Harapan, 104 youth candidates contested across both
parliamentary and state seats, with 23 of them competing at the federal
level—8 PKR, 7 Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM, Malaysian United
Indigenous Party), 6 DAP, and 2 Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah, National
Trust Party)—and 81 in state constituencies (24 PPBM, 22 DAP, 19 Amanah,
and 16 PKR). Among these Pakatan Harapan youth candidates, 13 won
parliamentary seats (6 PKR, 5 DAP, and 2 PPBM) and 45 won state seats (22
DAP, 11 PKR, 7 Amanah, and 5 PPBM) (Nik Nazmi 2018). Moreover, many
were quite young: nine of the DAP’s candidates for state constituencies, for
instance, were under 30 years old (Lim 2018)
e trend in East Malaysia echoed that of peninsular Malaysia. Contesting
political parties elded younger candidates, especially under 35 years old. In
Sabah, for example, among the prominent young candidates contesting in
parliamentary seats were Caesar Mandela Malakun, 28, from the BN’s United
Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) in Penampang;
Chrisnadia Sinam, 34, from PKR in Tuaran; Raymond Ahuar, 33, also from
PKR in Pensiangan; and Jo-Anna Sue Henley Rampas, 28, from Warisan in
Kiulu. In Sarawak, the DAP elded Mordi Bimol, 33, in Mas Gading. Most of
these candidates won their seats.
Yet not all youth engagement was via parties. Approaching GE14, a
group of youth activists under the banner of Gabungan Anak Muda Demi
Malaysia (Coalition of Youth for Malaysia) had organised a Kongres Anak
Muda Malaysia (Malaysian Youth Congress), attended by several hundred
people, either representing youth organisations or coming as individuals. e
congress produced a thirteen-point Declaration of Malaysian Youth 2017,
covering education, academic freedom, gender equality, the environment, and
institutional reforms. is group later formed the Liga Pemuda (Youth League),
led by prominent youth activists such as Adam Adli (former student activist),
Mandeep Singh (former secretariat manager for Bersih 2.0), Anis Sya qah

This content downloaded from 139.80.253.0 on Fri, 06 Nov 2020 04:22:16 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms