‘Young voters not easily manipulated’
Sultan: Racial sentiments don’t matter to them
PETALING JAYA: The younger generation of Malaysian voters are no longer swayed by the manipulation of religious or racial sentiments, says Perak’s Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah.
Sultan Nazrin said the recent 14th General Election, in which the country saw a peaceful transition of power from Barisan Nasional to Pakatan Harapan, showed that democracy was maturing in Malaysia.
“The trend in voting for the younger generation and youths shows that the method of getting support by sensationalising religious and racial issues was getting less effective as a pulling factor.
“Voters (nowadays) care more about good governance, and trust deficit happens due to factors such as corruption and misuse of power,” he said, adding Malaysians had shown that they wanted a government that was based on the rule of law and not based on the charisma of individuals.
Having been given the mandate to govern by the people, the present government should read voters’ sentiments correctly, he said.
“Voters’ sentiments should also be a guide to political parties which are working to survive (in the new political atmosphere).
“Voters’ sentiments that are more focused on good governance and transparency, and the lessening hold of sentiments related to religious and racial issues, open up the opportunity for the political culture in this country to be built on a common denominator,” he said.
Sultan Nazrin was speaking at the launch of Reflections on Malaysian Unity and Other Challenges, authored by Yayasan Perpaduan Malaysia Board of Trustees chairman Dr Chandra Muzaffar and published by Zubedy (M) Sdn Bhd at Zubedy’s office here yesterday.
Touching on the topic of the book, which was unity, he said that every country in the world faced its own issues with unity, and this included countries which were homogenous in composition.
“What more Malaysia? Malaysians come from various cultures, speak various languages, are made up of various races, and were part of different religions,” he said, adding the difference in socioeconomic backgrounds and intellectual achievement and political persuasions added to the melting pot of differences.
He also said that despite the differences and the naysayers, Malaysians were united, helped by the role that the Malay language played, as written by Chandra in his book.
“It is no less true today than it was when the first influx of the forefathers of today’s citizens came to this land seeking greener pastures.
“It is no less true today than it was in 1957 when we gained independence and when outsiders predicted that we could never make it work because we were too diverse, we were too different.
“But we proved the worrywarts and the naysayers wrong. And Bahasa Malaysia played a very crucial role as depicted by government campaigns in the early days of independence, such as Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa (Language is the Soul of the People), in breaking down barriers and developing our sense of oneness,” he said.