PETALING JAYA: Youths are increasingly tilting towards Perikatan Nasional, even in states known as impenetrable Pakatan Harapan bastions, data from the 15th General Election (GE15) and state elections have shown.

The Star’s analysis of youth support, which compared the results of GE15 in 2022 with the state elections last year, found that Perikatan’s youth vote share has increased substantially in all six states.

In Selangor, Barisan Nasional and Pakatan saw a dip of 2.14% and 5.92%, respectively, compared to Perikatan, which managed to increase its vote share by 9.12%.

A similar situation played out in Penang, where the share of youth votes for Barisan saw a dip of 5.61% and Pakatan (-4.22%), while Perikatan gained 7.62% new votes from youths.

Negri Sembilan saw the highest increase in youth votes for Perikatan at 12.44%, followed by Pakatan, which saw its youth votes diminish by 10.24%, and Barisan reduced by 3.43%.

Selangor, Penang and Negri Sembilan are states administered by the unity government that consists of the Pakatan and Barisan pact.

All three states – Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan – under Perikatan rule saw an increase in youth votes.

Kedah saw the highest increase in youth votes, where Perikatan registered a 16.1% increase in youth votes, while Pakatan saw a dip of 11.41% and Barisan’s youth votes were reduced by 3.49%.

Kelantan, meanwhile, saw an increase of 4.31% for youths voting for Perikatan, while Pakatan saw a dip of 2.51%, followed by Barisan’s decrease of 1.4%.

Terengganu, however, saw a marginal increase for Perikatan with merely 2.43%, while Barisan registered a minor increase of 0.18% and Pakatan experienced a dip of 2.43%.

Merdeka Centre co-founder and programme director Ibrahim Suffian said that although younger Malay voters are generally tilting towards the Opposition, there are still many who remain on the fence.

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“Thirty per cent of all youth are open to being persuaded,” he said.

Ibrahim said Umno can persuade younger voters to return to its fold by ensuring a clear transition of leadership from within, a better economy and stable politics.

“The leaders in Umno now are from 2018, so as we are going into the next decade, the question for young people is, do we still want to see these people running the country?” he said.

Ibrahim said undecided young voters want to see how the new unity government performs before they decide at the ballot box.

“For undecided voters, while Perikatan remains the champion of the Malay agenda, they have not put forth any new ideas or articulated any new policies about how they will increase wages, ensure efficiency in governance, attract investments, and create jobs.

“They continue to harp on identity politics, and this sours the mood of the undecided voters,” he added.

As the unity government approaches its two-year anniversary, Ibrahim said there is still a long time until the next general election, which is not due until 2027.

“It also takes time for policies to bear fruit. Although young voters feel financially squeezed, they also feel that at least things are not getting worse.

“There is a cautious confidence that the unity government is doing its best for the country,” said Ibrahim.

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Universiti Teknologi Mara political scientist Dr Mujibu Muis said that during GE15 and the six state elections last year, younger voters have shown that they are not strongly in support of any coalition, given the lack of political exposure.

“They are mostly riding the wave when making political decisions. But they are mostly inclined to vote along racial lines,” he said.

He said when he was present at a state seat at the 2022 Johor state polls, a younger voter had told him that he voted for Perikatan because he wanted its chairman, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, to be prime minister.

“In actual fact, he was choosing his assemblyman. But he thought he was choosing a prime minister.

“They don’t even understand such basic terms,” said Mujibu.

He stressed the importance of improving political literacy before the 16th General Election.

In September this year, an opinion research firm released its Malaysian Youth Findings 2024, which was based on feedback from 1,065 respondents aged 18 to 30 from various ethnic groups.