KUALA LUMPUR: Over 80 per cent of young Malaysians are eager to cast their votes during the upcoming elections but more than a third are undecided about their political preferences.
The Youth Aspiration Manifesto Survey conducted by Architects of Diversity Malaysia, Undi18 and UndiNegaraku, also found that Barisan Nasional (BN) currently enjoys a relatively strong support among youths in the country.
The survey found that 15.5 per cent of respondents would vote for BN in the 15th general election, while 13.8 per cent would vote for Perikatan Nasional, 11.9 per cent for the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) and 10.5 per cent for Pakatan Harapan.
However, a significant portion of the respondents – 41 per cent – are still sitting on the fence.
The survey, that was participated in by 3,089 respondents aged between 18 and 30, indicated that strong youth forces would shape the country's electoral direction since 55 per cent of the aspiring voters are first-time voters.
Ninety per cent of young Malaysians regarded the development of affordable homes as their most important bread-and-butter issues, followed by minimum wage hike (61 per cent) and the need to increase public healthcare budget (45 per cent).
While most of them also agreed on the need to enact employment protection for gig workers, increase illegal logging punishment and step up mental health services resources, these issues came secondary and were rated less important.
The majority of the respondents also pointed out on the scarce representation of women and youth in the country's political landscape.
At least 50 per cent of them felt that there were very few women representatives in politics, while almost two-thirds (63 per cent) contended that the country's political community lacked youth representatives.
The respondents were also divided on their views about the representation of minority races in politics, as 34 per cent felt that there were enough representations, while another 33 per cent argued that minority races had very few representatives.
Architects of Diversity co-founder and survey principal, Jason Wee, urged political parties to take heed of the survey results and ensure that youths are included as their campaign priority.