Young People Hold Key To Mahkota By-election As BN Seeks Thumping Win

KLUANG, Sept 15 (Bernama) -- Young voters are seen as a decisive factor in the Mahkota state constituency by-election, in addition to the candidate’s willingness to solve local issues faced by residents, say experts.

Senior Lecturer of the Department of Social Sciences, Centre for General Studies and Co-Curriculum of Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) Ku Hasnan Ku Halim said more than 52 per cent of the voters in the constituency were youths, entailing that the contesting parties need to be smart in appealing to them.

Taking into account the demographics, he believes that the parties involved, among others, need to take advantage of social media platforms to appeal to the younger generation, taking into account the position of the Mahkota constituency which is located in the middle of Kluang city.

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“Mahkota is an area that has a good internet network because of its location in the city. Taking into account the large number of young voters, it is a loss if the party involved only campaigns with traditional methods without combining the two.

“Most of the young people are (sitting) on the fence, but they are actually watching. Any candidate who manages to win their hearts, the chances of winning are brighter,” he told Bernama here today.

He said the traditional mode of campaigning, however, was still important to approach voters face-to-face to add more of a ‘human touch’, and liked by older voters, with statistics showing that 12,070 voters or 18.20 per cent of the 66,318 registered voters in Mahkota State Assembly were aged 60 and over.

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Besides this, Ku Hasnan said Barisan Nasional’s (BN) approach of highlighting young candidate Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah, 40, was also spot-on because it better understood the needs of the youth, but should not be too comfortable, especially when up against Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Mohamad Haizan Jaafar who is 61 years old.

“Although the PN candidate needs more time to popularise himself compared to the BN candidate, he has his own followers, especially in the field of sports considering his background as a player and now a football coach,” Ku Hasnan said.

Meanwhile, Socio-political analyst at the Universiti Malaya Centre for Democracy and Elections (UMCEDEL), Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi is of the view that even though on paper BN appears to dominate the Mahkota state assembly seat, the party is actually facing the challenge of ensuring that voters turn out to fulfill their responsibility on Sept 28.

He said this was because of the possibility that voters could be overconfident that BN would win and not go out or return to vote, especially outside voters, who according to BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, accounted for about 50 per cent of the voters in the constituency.

“If this happens, it will give a poor image or perception to UMNO. Previously, BN won with a majority of 5,166 votes. That’s a comfortable position that BN is in, but it can’t just maintain that number, but rather it must carve a bigger victory to signal to the party grassroots that the party has recovered.

“This will in turn be a signal, good preparation and motivation for the party to face the next election, which is the Sabah State Election. This is actually a challenge for BN even though its path in the Mahkota state assembly seat is seen as comfortable,” he said.

In that regard, Awang Azman said the matter was the biggest challenge not only for the candidate, but also for BN’s Mahkota by-election director Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi, who is also Johor Menteri Besar, and his machinery.

Awang Azman said Mahkota constituency voters were also seen as being easily influenced by national issues, rhetorics or sentimental matters and were more focused on local issues.

“In terms of campaigning, I think a smaller campaign approach will take place, taking the formula from the previous Nenggiri (Kelantan) by-election. The move is to court voters in small groups such as going door-to-door in groups.

“Apart from that, the organisation of smaller programmes such as sports events, for example, is more suitable for young voters who are known to be the dominant voter group in the by-election this time, while hinging on making full use of social media. Although not large-scale, it must be remembered that the campaign carried out is targeted,” he said.

Based on records, the Mahkota state constituency was first contested in the 11th General Election (GE) in 2004 which saw victory for BN and was retained in the GE12 and GE13, before losing to Pakatan Harapan (PH) during the ‘Political Tsunami’ that happened during GE14 in 2018.

However, BN recaptured the constituency in the State Election two years ago through Datuk Sharifah Azizah Syed Zain, with a majority of 5,166 votes in a four-cornered contest with candidates from Pakatan Harapan (PH), PN and Warisan.

Out of a total of 66,318 registered voters in Mahkota, the majority or 54 per cent are Malay voters followed by Chinese voters which is 34 per cent, besides the presence of a military camp which is Kem Mahkota, one of the largest army camps in Johor.

The Election Commission (EC) has set Sept 28 as polling day for the straight contest between BN and PN, while early voting takes place on Sept 24.

The by-election is being held following the death of Sharifah Azizah, 63, on Aug 2.

-- BERNAMA