Youth In Malaysia Become Election’s Wild Card
Rising prices and the glacial pace of government reforms are dictating the battle for Malaysian votes as a young middle class demanding greater democracy emerges as the wild card in the next general election.
The battle lines for support in this multiracial country have traditionally been drawn along ethnic and urban-rural divides, but youth is become a growing force — as reflected in a rare antigovernment street protest this month calling for electoral reform.
The rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur on July 9 drew more than 10,000 people, a significant number in a country that has seen no more than a handful of protests in the last decade.
Many who turned out were under 40, underscoring one of Prime Minister Najib Razak's biggest looming challenges.
"If this group turns up to vote and is riled up, it will prevent the ruling coalition from getting back the two-thirds majority in Parliament that it lost to the opposition in 2008," Ibrahim Suffian, director of the independent opinion polling outfit Merdeka Center, said.
Najib, who came to power in 2009, does not have to call a general election until 2013 but it could happen as soon as next year as the government seeks a mandate to introduce investor-friendly reforms.
In order to win over the young voters, who make up just under half of the population of 28 million, Najib has to address the rising cost of living and move faster on reforms like giving a greater voice to dissenting views, simplifying the voting process and reviewing the policy of detention without trial.
For these voters, who were born after the country's worst racial riots in 1969 overhauled the country's economic landscape, the security of jobs and limited freedom of expression are no longer enough.
Malaysia's average annual per capita income is about $7,000, compared with over $40,000 in neighboring Singapore and consumers argue that wage increases have not kept pace with the rise in the cost of living.
As the impact of global food and fuel inflation filter through to the economy, the government has cut back on some subsidies and increased the price of staples such as sugar, electricity and diesel for some commercial users.
Annual inflation raced to a 26-month high of 3.3 percent in May and economists expect it to rise further in the coming months.
Some analysts say urban voters' unhappiness over the slow pace of political and social reforms could pose a problem.
The crowd of protesters on July 9 wanted changes in the voting process, but analysts say the anger only touches the surface of issues in a country where authorities are worried that street protests and a proliferation of alternative views could unseat the government.
Police fired repeated rounds of tear gas and briefly detained more than 1,600 people.
Over the years, independent news Web sites have been allowed to provide often anti-government views although analysts say traditional mainstream media offering the government's ideas remain the staple of many Malaysians who have no access to alternatives.
Young voters are increasingly critical of what they see as editorializing in state-controlled newspapers and the government's heavy censoring of reports that find fault with its policies. This was especially evident after the July 9 rally, when the authorities downplayed the number of protesters and slammed international criticism of their handling of the event.
"We are not dumb. We read, we learn, we conclude and most of us experienced it head on, face to face," f0ul99 tweeted, referring to the government's slant of the rally's events - Reuters