‘Vote of youth matters’
Future is in your hands, Khairy tells younger generation
PETALING JAYA: As politicians gear up for “war” in an election that is expected to be held soon, young people are being urged to take part in what could be a watershed poll.
With the economic recession hitting many countries, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said the youth vote was necessary to determine the nation’s direction.
“It is important to get the youth to vote because they can decide the outcome in marginal constituencies and they show less party loyalty than older voters,” he said.
“Apathy and ignorance could be why there is still an astonishing number of eligible voters yet to register with the Election Commission (EC).
“I am somewhat surprised there are 3.7 million Malaysians who have yet to register,” he said, adding that he personally favoured automatic voter registration although it might not address the apathy issue.
“Maybe, we need to ask if the political process is turning young people off,” said Khairy, adding that Umno Youth had helped to register 80,000 voters last year.
DAP publicity chief Tony Pua said automatic voter registration could address many of the factors that discouraged people from registering as voters.
Citing ignorance as a reason, he added: “There have been people coming up to us to ask if they have to register to vote.”
Pua said he had been personally asked if people had to pay to register and vote.
Nevertheless, Pua said there was an improvement since 2008, when there were about 4.3 million people who did not register to vote at the last general election.
According to the EC, the third quarter of last year showed 12.4 million eligible to vote.
Many young Malaysians, however, are becoming aware of their democratic rights.
Fourth-year medical student Tang Mei San registered just a month after turning 21 in April.
“More of my friends are becoming aware of their electoral responsibility. It is quite easy to register. I went to the post office and the registration was over in 10 minutes,” she said.