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Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email one benefit of rallies like bersih and hindraf is that youths may be attracted to register as voters and get to know about local politics.
Spot Light: Youth apathetic and lazy when it comes to votingsource
By : Dharshini Balan
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ONE-THIRD of Malaysians aged 20 to 35 have not registered as voters according to a recent opinion poll. And around half of the young voters feel there is little they can do to hold the government accountable between elections.
Thirty-six per cent of the 1,508 respondents in the National Youth Survey 2007 had not registered, saying they have no time to vote, or they are not interested or too lazy.
Others said voting is not important, and some said they do not know where to vote.
A few said their votes would not make any difference to the outcome of the upcoming election.
The telephone survey was conducted by the Merdeka Center with the support of the Asia Foundation. The respondents were randomly selected from all over the country.
Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian said these figures show a lack of awareness among the youth of the importance of exercising their right to vote, and a strong tendency to leave any problems to the government to solve.
Some 39 per cent of those not registered as voters cited lack of time, and 17 per cent said they were uninterested or lazy. Seven per cent didn't know where to vote.
"The youth are disconnected from what is happening, even though they are concerned by the impact of the economy or social problems," said Ibrahim, adding that this lackadaisical attitude was becoming a culture.
"Some expressed that their freedom of speech is stifled due to many restrictions set by certain organisations," he said.
While the majority of young voters feel that voting is important, 52 per cent thought there is little they could do to hold the government accountable between elections.
Asked how much of a difference their votes made in influencing the government, 45 per cent of the respondents who are registered voters felt it made a lot of difference. Thirty-six per cent thought it made some difference, while 11 per cent said little difference.
Some five per cent of the respondents thought it did not make any difference at all. The remaining four per cent either did not know or had no response."There is an apparent gap between youth and the government as the youth do not have keen interest in politics," said Ibrahim.
Despite many programmes organised by the government to encourage youth to be more wholesome individuals, there was a lack of chemistry between the youth and the government, creating a void that must be addressed soon, he said. Ibrahim commented that these figures were likely to change after recent events like the Bersih and Hindraf rallies.
