KUCHING: Issues pertaining to teens and young adults must be given attention in the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15), following the implementation of Undi18 and automatic voter registration.
Sarawak Dayak Graduates Association (SDGA) president Gary Ningkan said it is encouraging to see those aged between 18 and 21 are now allowed to vote.
Based on the Department of Statistics, Malaysia, he said, it is estimated 58 per cent of voters are from the youth category (18 to 40 years old).
“Thus, the manifesto of political parties must be inclusive of the youth – in order to attract the first-time and young voters,” he told New Sarawak Tribune.
Among the main issues that young adults are facing now include unemployment, sky-high housing prices and increasing cost of living.
He said aspiring politicians must now pay attention to these issues and formulate a plan to address these issues in their manifesto.
“The youth is the primary mover of the economy and any issues that affect their livelihood will turn into a bigger issue if not solved promptly.
“Young Sarawakians would like to know the plans and actions will be taken to address the increase in house prices, to create more jobs as well as to reduce rural-urban migration,” he said.
The manifesto of the aspiring government should have a strategy to create more entrepreneurs amongst the youth as this will lead to more job creation for the community.
Meanwhile, political analyst Dick Lembang Dugun who shared similar sentiments said political parties or election candidates must be able to identify the problems faced specifically by the young voters.
“Come out with solutions that can address the problem effectively; they want better education, employment as well as more business and entrepreneurial opportunities in the modern era.
“Stop playing politics… but be an accountable and responsible leader; these are the qualities that will win the hearts of the young voters,” the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) lecturer stressed.
He opined that young voters are likely to decide “who is the candidate” instead of “which party”; hence, candidates must have academic credentials, a problem solver and someone with high integrity.
