This article first appeared in Digital Edge, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 14, 2022 - November 20, 2022

“The 15th general election will be held on Nov 19.”

This variation of a long-anticipated headline that was plastered all over the news on Oct 20 left me with mixed feelings.

I thought I would feel excited because this would be my first time voting, but then the weight of the responsibility dawned on me because there is a chance that whomever I vote for, candidate or party, could be the one to lead the country next.

Thanks to the passing of the constitutional amendment in 2019 that allows for the automatic registration of voters aged 18 and above, also known as #Undi18, I no longer needed to worry about registering to be a voter. But that has by no means helped in deciding whom to vote for — because politics can be perplexing.

As a Gen Z-er and one who easily succumbs to peer pressure, I turned to my most used social media platforms of all time — Twitter and TikTok — to check on my peers’ political sentiments for this election. Most of them either already had their favoured candidates or, like me, were still clueless as to the best person or party to vote for. These conversations are usually kept within our Twitter Circle — an inner circle mode that enables selected users to view our tweets — a safe space, largely to avoid public backlash.

It was then that satirist and activist Mohd Fahmi Reza Mohd Zarin, better known as Fahmi Reza, embarked on a political education initiative dubbed #KelasParlimen, made up of one-minute videos to educate first-time voters. This has really helped in my voting direction.

One of the videos, the classification of political parties based on their economic and social views, was a true eye-opener for me. It was interesting because I realised that choosing to vote for a certain candidate should be for the ideologies, and not so much for his or her personality.

I could vote for the ideologies that I am an advocate for. It is easier to decide to vote for the party that is most aligned with me.

Speaking of ideologies, social media is an open book that helps the rakyat determine each political party or candidate’s stance over hard issues based on their response, including no response at all.

For example, only the incumbent Klang Member of Parliament (MP) Charles Santiago and Pemuda Sosialis — the youth wing of Parti Sosialis Malaysia — spoke out against the Halloween party raid at REXKL, where 20 transgenders were caught by the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (Jawi) for alleged indecency.

Whatever we agree or disagree on with a particular party or candidate is an indicator of whether the issues that matter to us matter to them too.

Having familiarised myself with the political parties, I now turned to the candidates. I saw many new faces online contesting in their respective constituencies.

One of the candidates, Datin Paduka Che Asmah Ibrahim from Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), who is canvassing for the Sepang seat, included her qualifications and achievements in her campaign poster, a move that enables the rakyat to gauge a candidate’s ability to lead.

Meanwhile, Parti Keadilan Rakyat has compiled the information about its candidates’ background and qualifications on one website: calonkeadilan.org. I hope more candidates from all political parties will follow suit.

With the youth comprising 58% of voters, as reported by public opinion research firm Merdeka Center, social media is a crucial tool either to attract them to or repel them from the elections, depending on each political party’s agenda. Use it well and, to all the voters out there, happy voting!

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