Uitm Poll: Most Youths Not ‘Anti-Establishment’

(Bernama) – Initial findings of a just completed study show that 70 percent of youth feel more connected to the government now as a result of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s moves to get closer to the group.

The youth, who were surveyed since 2010, welcome Najib’s use of interactive social media allowing them direct contact to share their opinions, ideas and criticisms on issues, with him.

“The results of my study show 70 percent of youth support the government because they like being engaged through various programmes,” said University Technology Mara (UiTM) Dungun political science lecturer Che Hamdan Mohamed Razali to Bernama recently.

Apart from the connection through social media, he said the respondents, who were between 18 and 40 years old, from students and professionals to fishermen and farmers, felt Najib’s government was now also more open.

The respondents clearly acknowledged the Barisan Nasional government’s initiative which involved more youths and their importance in outlining programmes such as affordable housing for young people who just joined the workforce, assistance for young entrepreneurs and higher education aid, he added.

‘Youths like gov’t attention’

He further agreed it was not true to say that youths liked to challenge the government and were ‘anti-establishment’, which the opposition tried to portray by getting them involved in street demonstrations and being disrespectful to leaders.

“It’s typical for a handful of youth to rebel. My early findings show youth are not ‘anti-establishment’ as claimed by many parties. They just get upset when sidelined. When the government pays them attention, they’ll give their support,” he explained.

However, Che Hamdan was not willing to provide further details on the findings of the study, saying it was still ongoing and would only be announced when it is finalised.

His initial conclusion was that youths would not gamble their future for sweet promises but were prepared to join forces and work with the government which has proven it has better plans for them and has a proven track record.

Meanwhile, when contacted by Bernama, Malaysian Youth Council vice-president Datuk Irmohizam Ibrahim said,” The government has done its best by making various efforts to get closer to the youth. So claims saying the youth are anti-government are not true, it’s only a handful.”

Youths more vocal

Irmohizam, who is also (UiTM) Shah Alam law lecturer said,” In my observation many youths, who are still undecided, are grateful to the government for their education, skills and employment opportunities. Maybe they just want a system which satisfies them better.”

“Voicing such a hope doesn’t mean they’re anti-government, they just want improvements,” he added while noting there were an estimated 11.2 million youths in the country.

Apart from recognising youths in the 2012 Budget, the government is also prepared to amend Section 15 of the University and University College Act in relation to the involvement of undergraduates in politics.

The Prime Minister likened the youth as ideal heroes who had the power to turn the nation’s transformation programme into a reality and admitting they were an established voice, on Dec 12 Najib said the government is always open to the views, ideas and criticisms from them so that each transformation programme would be successful with their involvement.

Furthermore, he admitted that there were efforts by certain parties which tried to exhort university youths to hate the government for their own political agenda and in their quest to wrest power.

“But youths nowadays who are exposed to a lot of information are not easily swayed and would not accept everything without checking the truth first.

“It’s the same with opposition promises, we’re aware it’s all only a gimmick to gain votes without any concrete plans for the youth such as the BN government has implemented now,” he emphasised.