- 2 days ago
What drives young Malaysians to contest an election? Fresh off the Johor state election, Rashifa Aljunied, MUDA candidate for Puteri Wangsa, Johor, and Nicholas Paul Vincent, BERSAMA candidate for Puteri Wangsa, Johor, share what inspired them to run, the realities of campaigning, and why young people have a crucial role in shaping Malaysia’s political future.
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00:06Hello and welcome to It's About Youth. I'm your host Fahna Sheh. Now the Johor election has just
00:12wrapped up but today we're not dissecting the results instead we're looking ahead to the future
00:18of youth in Malaysian politics. Now joining me today are two young candidates who are fresh
00:25off the campaign trail. We're lucky to have them with us because especially considering they've
00:29only just had the chance to catch their breaths after weeks of campaigning. Both contested the
00:36Putri Wangsa seat. Please welcome Rashifa Aljanit from Muda as well as Nicholas Paul Vincent joining
00:42us online as well from Bersama. Thank you so much both of you for being here. I'm pretty sure you
00:47have very busy schedule so I'm super thankful that you guys made the time to come here. Right so I
00:54don't want to waste any more time. Let's start with you know why you guys are here right. So both
01:00of
01:00you are relatively young. Most people you know your age focused on building careers not really
01:06contesting elections at this age I feel. Yeah. So what made you decide you know I'm going to run for
01:12election this time. Maybe Rashifa we can start with you. I'm 26 years old but I started my journey in
01:18politics at 22 years old. I started by volunteering in Amir Aisha's campaign in Puchuwangsa so four years
01:26five years later I am a candidate in Puchuwangsa seat. So I've never really expected to be in this
01:31journey but I am where I am today because of the things that I've seen for the past four years
01:36in
01:37Malaysia and also in Puchuwangsa. I wanted to speak out on Puchuwangsa issues especially on the flood
01:42issues, the climate change issues and the data center issues and the main reason of me contesting
01:48was I wanted to make sure that young candidates are not only seen as young candidates but also
01:53candidates who can speak on very serious issues and issues pertaining on that constituency itself.
02:00My party believes in principles and also policies and we spoke on that for the past two weeks.
02:06We didn't really speak on like the fighting of other political parties or who wanted what seat
02:10but it was mostly on why it was important for young people to become candidates and also why political
02:16parties need to put more younger candidates. Yeah I mean I think that was reflected as well in your
02:22campaign trail. The fact that you know a lot of these issues have to be have to put forth and
02:28the
02:28fact that you are the young person sort of you know putting forth this kind of issues really speaks a
02:33lot
02:33I think. Nicholas do you mind sharing with us why you decided to contest for the Puchuwangsa seat?
02:41Okay so it's actually not about that we wanted to get a title you know as a as a YB
02:52or an adon for for the what we contested.
02:56It's actually what we wanted to serve to the people so that was our primary uh primary goal you know
03:05and also uh i've been in politics since i'm like 21 i'm 36 right now uh it's already like 15
03:13years i've been working for people i've been like uh being uh
03:18uh gentra for people and then this is what we've been doing practicing all this while and then um yeah
03:24i was in a in a previously i was in a different party and then just recently this uh bersama
03:30uh pop out and then uh yeah i joined bersama and i got this uh chance
03:36so i think that this would be like a platform for me to bring people's concern actually not to uh
03:46and realize many lack proper representation from uh the previous uh uh previous uh wakil rayat or what you know
03:58so so that is why i came into this uh field
04:03i am actively in i'm i've been active in politics since like uh the past 15 years and then uh
04:09we've been doing like uh we are like more to people to people you know people to people we listen
04:15to people's problem
04:16um so that's why we actually come into this platform and we contested and i contested and i think this
04:26is a service to the community actually you know it's a service to the community so rather than uh being
04:35uh yb or adon or wakil rayat or whatever it is so i think youth can be can be more
04:43engaging as a friends to the people
04:46you know they can be friends to the rakyat so that is much more important so that is why i
04:51came into like this politics and i became a candidate yeah and i think we're very lucky that both of
04:57you um you know have this kind of mindset this service to community mindset right and the fact that both
05:03of you started very very young um in your early 20s when most people are probably just trying to get
05:10a hold of life trying to start their careers you know you're already thinking like okay what can i do
05:15to my community to make sure that you know we live in a better place so that's very inspiring both
05:21of you right okay um i want to talk a little bit about your experience in joho and your you
05:27know because you both of you are first time candidates yeah so before you even started campaigning what was the
05:33biggest sort of misconception you had about running for office
05:36and after spending weeks in joho you know meeting voters on the ground what sort of surprised you the most
05:45maybe we can start with you richa i think one of the largest misconception i had before prior in campaigns
05:52was
05:52i thought younger people would be more receptive to younger candidates but i unfortunately the comments that i've seen like
06:00a lot of people said that i was running a pilihan raya campus like campus pilihan raya because i was
06:07trying to do more um youthful things like flash mobs posters um that really reflected younger people but unfortunately that
06:15was called by younger people themselves
06:17but i saw a consistent pattern of older generations being really inspired of having younger candidates and saying that they
06:25need more younger people in politics um in that two weeks of campaigning i've seen a lot and i've heard
06:32a lot and that was an opportunity for me to really understand
06:36what was going through put your wangsa and joho for the part that in that two weeks and i really
06:41was really impacted by a lot of stories that people told um and i i i i think one of
06:48the things that maybe nicholas can share also like we as younger people younger candidates are more approachable than maybe
06:55older candidates are more established candidates we they are willing to talk to us about their longkang tersumbat their sampah
07:01their dengue issues and i feel like that is kind of the advantage of being a younger candidate
07:06candidate in an elections you are more approachable you are more like people can tell you stuff that they wouldn't
07:11have told like big names like candidates in my constituency so i feel in that two weeks it was really
07:18um and a good opportunity for us being younger candidates in putri wangsa because um in the prn 2022 they
07:26chose a 27 year old amira aisha as their wakil rakyat so putri wangsa in a way does not see
07:33age in who they choose but we've
07:36seen in the election the results elections they chose people from a largest establishment that could provide them stability in
07:43their in their constituency right i mean i like hearing the fact that um you know older generation are more
07:50susceptible or more more more acceptable when it comes to younger candidates because you're right like if i'm talking to
07:58to my grandma for example you know she's definitely you know when you complain about you know stuff not being
08:05done for example
08:06um it's a familiar face we are a bit more i think there's there's some sort of friendly vibe that
08:14you can you know lament and complain so yeah that's very nice to hear and quite surprising as well um
08:20nicholas what about you you know two weeks of campaigning in putri wangsa what was your experience like and what
08:26do you find surprising
08:28yeah okay um yeah okay um during the campaign i thought i personally thought that voters would like mostly like
08:35they would be focusing on politics and party debates and uh all this uh ceramah ceramah you know so but
08:46then they don't they like very least they care about
08:49these things actually what they care is about their cost of living jobs housing their public transport health care issues
08:59so this is what actually the voters care so this is a big misconception also where like uh
09:08uh when people meet us yeah they will talk about politics just for maybe like a minute then after that
09:16they will be telling their problems to us
09:18so that is what the advantage of being uh being a youth candidate is is yes as it is it
09:28should be you know we we listen to people and also uh everyone is uh right now
09:34the nation is like uh some sort of they are bored with this uh to meet a adon or a
09:41yb they should get appointment with six or seven people to meet in their office or else to get their
09:47contact number or whatever
09:49so it will be so much of protocols you know so when uh like like people like us we are
09:57from we are we are normal people
09:58you know like myself nicholas and rashifa we are from normal people from normal family and then we work
10:06and i'm an income taxpayer i've been working since i'm i'm 18 19 years old so i know how this
10:13uh
10:14rayat biasa will think about it and then what their problem is but then again um people don't go out
10:24to see all these uh
10:26debates and ceramah like last time where they they will be gathering at a place but then people like
10:35uh they are more to social medias and digital platform you know and then they they only listen but then
10:43at end of the day they are only they only think about their problem and their children's problem so this
10:51uh that is a misconception
10:52that's what i see because of uh we we always think like uh the raya is uh yeah raya is
11:01bijak they actually are very intelligent
11:03but then when it comes to their door-to-door problems they need more engaging uh wakil raya at their
11:13place where that is what we were campaigning
11:17we were campaigning yeah so uh yeah when you ask me these questions that a lot of uh controversial thing
11:25is coming out but then
11:26that is not this is not the platform it's okay we love some controversial things here
11:30yeah but i get what you mean like it's it's at the end of the day it's about the longkang
11:35tersumpat
11:36yeah it's the end of the day that is the issue about their children's studies it's bread and butter issues
11:41yeah about the people going to work their public transport their their what their cost of living
11:47their subsidy that they are getting this is this is what like people really uh care about they don't
11:54this is the biggest misconception lah if you go in a bigger like a bigger mindset like you have to
12:00talk about
12:01national politics you have to talk about the state politics yeah people like just nowadays they are just scrolling
12:07their phone and then and then they know what information they need they can get it immediately
12:12but then they need someone to talk about their problems you know so that is very important yeah
12:19yeah and the fact that you know both of you are on the ground not just during campaign but you
12:25guys have been
12:26in politics for quite a while and being the voices for the people i think that matters a lot and
12:30i see
12:31a lot of youth movements as well in politics um coming up um being there bypassing the bureaucracy of it
12:38all
12:38um and just you know trying to solve one problem after another right uh right okay um we are going
12:46to go for a
12:47little break um but we'll continue this talk right after this hello and welcome back to it's about youth now
13:07we are joined by two joe candidate joe election candidate rashifa and uh nicholas who just recently contested the putri
13:15once a seat um they've been talking about their inspiration or their motivation behind joining um you
13:21know contesting um for office um but at the same time you know we also touched on why representation matters
13:29and why youth matters when it comes to you know being in politics and being there for your constituents
13:35and the people in your community right i want to segue a little bit to youth participation because you know
13:41obviously you
13:41two are championing the issues that we talked about um but many young malaysians are not or don't even care
13:49about or think politics is toxic um they think because of you know the infighting and everything
13:55they don't want to get involved they don't want to talk about these issues because um either they don't care
14:01or they feel that it's too much for them right so what would you say to convince them otherwise and
14:07do you
14:08think that malaysians today or youth malaysian youth today are generally more politically engaged
14:14or is it just they're just more vocal online being vocal online can be synonym to being politically engaged
14:22i think we are finding more ways to being involved in politics and talking about politics but i think
14:27at the same time i do wish there was more a wave of more younger people being interested in politics
14:33but
14:33we are talking about an economic situation where younger people cannot afford to be interested in
14:39politics or engaged in politics um i when i was growing up my father told me not to be a
14:44politician
14:45but the older sibling in me was like no i have to prove you wrong and i think that came
14:50from seeing
14:51how politics was very toxic and how politics was very corrupt um a party like moda we are trying to
14:57prove
14:57that notion or that stigma wrong um we are trying to prove that politics can be about service and
15:04politics can be clean you can do it in a clean way but um i was 22 year old once
15:10and i once believed that
15:11politics was all about toxic and all about male very toxic male situations but i think in reality um we
15:20especially when i campaigned in which once for the past two weeks it was really about service um i
15:26thought being four years in politics was learning about politics was about like politicking how to
15:31fight how to win arguments but the reality is that politics is about service is how you change um the
15:38constituency how you make changes in systems how you make changes in institutions um so for me
15:45being a candidate in puci wangsa was also about trying to inspire a new generation of young leaders
15:51and young candidates in political parties and also trying to prove other political parties that young
15:56candidates can be attractive you need to invest in younger candidates in order to win the hearts of
16:00the people so puci wangsa the my candidacy puci wangsa was a force talking about what i've seen puci wangsa
16:08and what i've heard in puci wangsa for the past four years but it was also trying to prove
16:12um a lot of people a lot of older people wrong in a way that younger people can be advocates
16:19and
16:19younger people can be change makers if you invest in them and if you spend time teaching them um if
16:25you spend time um teaching them about the system about the institution yeah i think it takes a bit of
16:30um understanding a bit of knowledge and a bit of patience um you know for a lot of people who
16:35wants
16:36to join politics yeah um what about you nicholas when we talk about joining politics for youth
16:41obviously there's a lot of stigma um around you know joining politics that i think youth are aware
16:47of and are a bit scared of um what do you make of them um in terms of you know
16:53the incentive to
16:54join politics for youths and do you think they are more vocally engaged or is it just you know the
17:00same
17:00for you yeah i can see a lot of uh people uh vocally engaged but then not on social media
17:07where they
17:08share their thoughts with their friends or families or people like us during our campaigns we met a lot of
17:15uh people a lot of youth so that is where they tell us all their problems you know and then
17:25some of them yeah some of them they might not interested in politics you know nowadays gen z's
17:31you know usually especially gen z's they don't like to be noisy they don't like to talk so much they
17:39don't like to uh listen to people's debate or what but then they are aware of what is happening actually
17:47they are aware of what is happening around them in a uh what is happening in the country and also
17:54they are more concerned on these uh national and international news but then for them for for
18:02those who are thinking like politics is noisy and stuff so that is why uh a professional and integrity
18:10should be there in politics for people like us like uh those uh like candidates like uh like
18:18a youth candidate like me and also rashifa we don't campaign like that we don't campaign like that and
18:24also we have proven to some of them okay within two weeks i can't be telling that
18:31i have uh changed a lot of people or what but we can see a lot of good feedbacks in
18:37social medias and
18:38what by the way that how we campaign we don't shout we don't we don't we don't make noise we
18:45don't uh
18:46create ruckus or what we don't do that we are going in a professional way as what like rasifa told
18:52just
18:52now on uh engaging people on a flash mob and uh doing more social medias videos so that is what
19:00now the
19:01uh upcoming youth and genesis they love to watch it and also it is only about uh not about knowing
19:12politics we need more people we need more leaders to to grow up there on our upcoming upcoming generations and
19:24stuff so they are they they know what is going on actually they know what is going on but then
19:30they
19:30are like uh don't want to know about the old politics for them it is like uh this politics is
19:38same
19:39but then when we show them what we are capable of doing how like a disciplined politician will act
19:46like how like a integrity a politician with integrity will look will will speak and how they work so that
19:55is the way how we can bring in more people to engage with us and also they also might be
20:01they also
20:02like to be maybe a politician in future you know yeah i think it's this wave of new politics that
20:07a lot
20:08of gen z's or younger generation are talking about something that's more transparent something that is
20:14more you know issue based something that is more relatable relatable and tangible um and you know to
20:24be rid of the infighting the the sort of the campaigning that that the kind of campaigning that you
20:31just sort of want to make the other party look bad kind of thing you know so i think yeah
20:36there's
20:36definitely gen z's are aware i i agree agencies are aware and although some of them are a bit hesitant
20:42to get involved but i think um there are ways where they are trying to to insert themselves although
20:50maybe not directly like both of you right yeah right okay so i guess on that we don't have much
20:55time
20:56we want to talk a little bit just a little bit more on youth participation um let's look ahead a
21:01little bit so what do you hope for your participation in malaysian politics would look like in the next
21:0710 years just based off you know where you are right now and where you are before um how do
21:13you see it
21:13growing and what needs to happen to sort of get us there we can talk about youth participation in politics
21:22in um in companies being ceos but i think the most important part about youth participation in
21:27politics is the political parties themselves it is the political parties who put candidates who put
21:32candidates in elections whether federal or state or general elections if political parties don't put
21:38younger candidates we are not going to have younger legislators we are not going to have younger
21:42adults younger mps so parties need to play a role in making sure that their candidates are a fraction of
21:49malaysia so for example malaysia we are a very youthful country right almost half of the population
21:54is youth why is not half of the candidates younger people so it's about political parties making sure
22:00that they are investing not only just putting younger candidates out there but also investing time
22:05and effort and resources making sure that you are putting younger candidates in winnable seats as well
22:10what i hope um for younger people in politics but also youth in politics as well
22:16is that we are pushing politics in a hope-based manner i think a lot of politics now in order
22:23for you to
22:24win you have to be very fear-based you would say you have to vote for us in if not
22:29this will happen
22:30i believe in the past two weeks of campaigning is making sure that i could offer solutions in
22:35everything i talked about you're not in talking about floods in talking about climate change data centers
22:40cost of living i made sure there was a cost um there was a cta a call to action or
22:44solution
22:45because i wanted to offer hope to people but i think a lot of political parties are still trapped
22:50in making sure that their campaigns are very fear-based and unfortunately maybe um i don't know the data
22:56for it maybe that is more winnable to them but i want to malaysia that um in order for you
23:02to win
23:02you have to be offering hope to people not fear that's very nice that's very nice way to put it
23:07i
23:08think hope and also solution right um you know be rid of the fear that you know if you don't
23:14vote me
23:15you're not gonna get you know this allocation yeah you're not gonna get you know this and this yeah um
23:23and and i like also the fact that you said that you know it's we need to put them in
23:28winnable seat as
23:29well so it's not just token participation yes correct yeah um nicholas what about you your hopes
23:34or on youth participation in malaysian politics let's say in the next 10 years where you are and
23:40where we're going what's your thoughts yeah youth participation is a must actually is a must and then
23:48all these uh uh the the all the dinosaurs party you know which has been in malaysia for many years
23:57they also should understand that uh the youth participation is very important for them
24:05to change uh to change and also elevate elevate the political standard of malaysia
24:14so that is very important where like uh let's say we are we are going to talk about this digitalizing
24:21and also ai so who who can do that it's it's actually youth youth who is like more concerned
24:29about it and then they know what they are doing actually so that is where like uh all these uh
24:36social
24:36medias things are going out so more to like youth should come into politics and they should be given
24:45chance to contest and they should be given chance to listen to people's problem and i'm very sure it
24:52won't be like uh like a yb and raya it will be more friendly you know it will be a
25:00more friendly
25:01manner if there is more youth participation in malaysia and after 10 years yes uh my my concern is
25:09the parents should teach the brothers and sisters should teach their younger ones what is politics is
25:16about and how how a politician should be and uh i can i can tell you like maybe in other
25:2410 years
25:25i hope a lot of people will take politics as their career also they should to change and to make
25:33malaysia more more more betterment in malaysia more we can uh we can uh elevate malaysia more so that is
25:41very important yeah all right i think on that hopeful note thank you so much reshifa and as well as
25:48nicholas for joining us um there's a lot that we need to do i'm sure um and the road doesn't
25:55end here
25:55for both of you and for all of us as well um and we hope that you know um both
26:01of you are able we wish you
26:02the very best in in your political careers i guess um and in your normal careers as well and we
26:08hope
26:08that you know this would inspire inspire a lot of young people to get involved and to know that it's
26:15not so scary out there and and yeah and and i think the fact that both of you highlighted is
26:21the service
26:22to the country yeah i think that's the main main essence of why young people should contest thank you
26:27so much for being here that's all the time we have thank you for watching i'm fine i should see
26:33you
26:34again
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