The Digital Rhizomorph: Understanding Online Youth Political Participation Post Malaysia’s GE14

Abstract:Since the eleventh general elections in 2004, Malaysia’s ‘convergence’ mediascape has revealed new affordances in youth politics (see Jenkins 2006, pp. 2–3). Consistent with the perceived characteristics of a digitized culture in political participation, ‘rhizomorphic’ behaviour is observed (see Lim 2017, pp. 217–23) and further examined in this study—undertaken fifteen years later, in 2020—following the country’s first ever regime change in the 2018 general elections (GE14). Referencing Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987, pp. 3–25) ‘schizoanalysis’, this study sheds light on how Malaysian youths creatively and purposefully deterritorialize and reterritorialize their political desires. Specifically, this paper observes the political mediascape post-GE14 via a database from Malaysia’s ‘Twitter-verse’ and a collective of civil society groups (e.g., Projek Dialog, Warga Dunia, Borneo Komrad) in order to substantiate the idea of a ‘digital rhizomorph’. The digital rhizomorph is defined in this study as a body of contemporary youth politics that are more experimental and collaborative than hierarchical in character. The digital rhizomorph offers a more nuanced understanding of the original concept of the ‘rhizome’, often reflecting and morphing based on several key factors identified in the fieldwork.