Youth vote shattered old shibboleths in Malaysia’s GE15

Q3 Social Sciences Round Table Pub Date : 2023-05-04 DOI:10.1080/00358533.2023.2219530
Wan Ahmad Kamal
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Abstract

In Malaysia’s 15th General Election (GE15), our young National Alliance (Perikatan Nasional, PN) had performed well beyond expectation over the two older coalitions, National Front (Barisan Nasional, BN) and Alliance of Hope (Pakatan Harapan, PH), Many analysts had predicted that the incumbent BN would return to power. Even the Royal Malaysian Police’s intelligence unit, the Special Branch, could not accurately predict the undercurrents amongst the youth and the protest votes of the Malay population against both BN and PH. Buoyed by poll numbers and landslides in the state elections of Malacca (November 2021) and Johor (March 2022), BN’s anchor party, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) successfully pressured Ismail Sabri to dissolve Parliament on 10 October 2022But UMNO’s president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi could not have been more wrong. What initially appeared to be a masterstroke quickly turned into his Achilles’ heel. The strongest revolt came from the country’s youth who happened to be the voters’ largest block. The mobilisation of youth since 2018 had continued in 2022. As compared to 2018, the electorate had increased by six million thanks to automatic voter registration and the lowering of voting age from 21 to 18, effective December 2021. What was initially predicted to be a walkover by PH in the Peninsula’s west coast also did not materialise. Meanwhile, in the Malay heartlands, young faces swarmed to PN rallies as the Malays were growingly becoming disillusioned by UMNO’s perceived unbridled hunger for power. As the results poured in, even I was surprised by PN’s overwhelming support from young electorates. I unseated Kelantan’s UMNO chief Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub in his party’s stronghold Machang with a margin of 10,154 votes (15.59% of the total valid votes), fuelled by overwhelming youth support in all 36 polling districts. Other traditional UMNO seats in the Malay belt like Penang’s Kepala Batas and Kedah’s Baling also flipped to PN, leaving UMNO with only 26 seats nationwide. Even PH leader Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter Nurul Izzah failed to keep her family’s impregnable fortress of Permatang Pauh. Nurul Izzah fell alongside Anwar’s old guards such as Abdullah Sani (Kapar) and Saifuddin Nasution (Kulim-Bandar Baru). Analysts call PN’s victory in 74 or one-third of parliamentary seats a ‘green wave’, referring to the colour of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, PAS), PN’s largest component party which won 43 seats on its own. I respectfully disagree.
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青年投票打破了马来西亚GE15的陈词滥调
在马来西亚第15届大选(GE15)中,我们年轻的国民联盟(Perikatan Nasional,PN)的表现远远超出了对国民阵线(Barisan Nasional)和希望联盟(Pakatan Harapan,PH)这两个老联盟的预期。许多分析人士预测,现任国阵将重新掌权。即使是马来西亚皇家警察局的情报部门,特别部门,也无法准确预测年轻人的暗流以及马来民众对国阵和菲律宾的抗议投票。在马六甲(2021年11月)和柔佛(2022年3月)州选举的民调数字和滑坡的推动下,马来民族联合组织(巫统)于2022年10月10日成功向伊斯梅尔·萨布里施压,要求其解散议会,但巫统主席艾哈迈德·扎希德·哈米迪大错特错。起初看似神来之笔的东西很快变成了他的致命弱点。最强烈的反抗来自这个国家的年轻人,他们恰好是选民最大的群体。自2018年以来,青年动员工作在2022年继续进行。与2018年相比,由于自动选民登记和自2021年12月起将投票年龄从21岁降至18岁,选民人数增加了600万。最初预测的PH在半岛西海岸的徒步旅行也没有实现。与此同时,在马来的中心地带,年轻的面孔涌向PN集会,因为马来人对巫统对权力的无限渴望越来越失望。当选举结果纷至沓来时,就连我也对PN在年轻选民中的压倒性支持感到惊讶。我在吉兰丹党的大本营马场以10154票(占有效选票总数的15.59%)的优势击败了吉兰丹的巫统主席艾哈迈德·贾兹兰·亚库布,这得益于所有36个投票区压倒性的青年支持。马来地带的其他传统巫统席位,如槟城的Kepala Batas和吉打的Baling,也转为PN,使巫统在全国只有26个席位。就连人民党领袖安瓦尔·易卜拉欣的女儿努鲁尔·伊扎赫也没能守住她家坚不可摧的堡垒佩马坦堡。Nurul Izzah与安瓦尔的老卫士Abdullah Sani(Kapar饰)和Saifuddin Nasution(Kulim Bandar Baru饰)并肩作战。分析人士称PN在74个或三分之一议会席位中的胜利是“绿色浪潮”,指的是泛马来西亚伊斯兰党(Parti Islam Se Malaysia,PAS)的颜色,该党是PN最大的组成政党,独立赢得43个席位。我谨此表示不同意。
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来源期刊
Round Table
Round Table Social Sciences-Geography, Planning and Development
CiteScore
1.70
自引率
0.00%
发文量
77
期刊介绍: Founded in 1910, The Round Table, Britain"s oldest international affairs journal, provides analysis and commentary on all aspects of international affairs. The journal is the major source for coverage of policy issues concerning the contemporary Commonwealth and its role in international affairs, with occasional articles on themes of historical interest. The Round Table has for many years been a repository of informed scholarship, opinion, and judgement regarding both international relations in general, and the Commonwealth in particular, with authorship and readership drawn from the worlds of government, business, finance and academe.
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