INTERNET, YOUTH AND DEMOCRACY: POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF MALAYSIAN YOUTH
Janice L. H. Nga1 Economic and Third Sector Research Group School of Business and Economics Universiti Malaysia Sabah Locked Bag No. 2073 88999 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia Email: [email protected] ; [email protected] Telephone: +6088-320000 Ext. 1640 Fax: +6088-320360
Li-Min Liao2 Department of Accounting China University of Technology No. 56, Sec. 3, Xinglong Rd., Wunshan District Taipei City 11695 Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Shih-Jung Hsu3 Department of Land Economics National Chengchi University No. 64, Sec. 2, Zhinan Rd., Wunshan District Taipei City 11605 Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Victor T. King4 Department of East Asian Studies The University of Leeds Leeds LS2 9JT United Kingdom
Scholars argue that participation in voluntary associations of a non-political nature is an important companion of political involvement, and some scholars even go further to suggest that participation in non-political voluntary organisations breeds political involvement. This
1Janice L. H. Nga (PhD) is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Accounting (formerly known as the School of Business and Economics), Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS); and a founder member of the Economic and Third Sector Research Group. Correspondent author: [email protected], [email protected]
2Grace L.M. Liao (PhD) is an assistant professor at the Department of Accounting, China University of Technology, Taiwan (R.O.C.). Email: [email protected]
3Shih-Jung Hsu (PhD) is professor at the Department of Land Economics, National Chengchi University, Taiwan (R.O.C.). Email: [email protected]
4V. T. King (PhD) is Emeritus Professor of South East Asian Studies at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Leeds, United Kingdom.
1 article examines the nature of political involvement and participation in terms of its definition and activities. It focuses on changes in the modes of action and participation that were facilitated by internet. Young people's political participation is different i.e. they have different political attitudes with newer and different forms of participation than those practised by adults, and these [other/informal] forms are not always surveyed (Quintelier 2007: 1, 3, 6, 7). It is claimed that "young people prefer local community actions, political consumerism, new social movements and activities, single issue politics, protest politics, etc ... " (Quintelier 2007: 3). This claim is parallel with others’ claim that human beings "were endowed with awesome strength and conceived 'big ideas' " and "decent politics [with an] attitude [which] is without repression toward the other" (Mara 2003: 740, 750). Thus, these youth groups provide a critique focusing on the coercions. In Malaysian context, for example, various groups with political interests are formed from time to time.
This paper also investigates the political participation of young people via the internet in the Malaysian context while exploring the progress and development of the internet over time (2008–2013) and its contribution to the Malaysian General Elections (GE) i.e. GE12 in 2008 and GE13 in 2013. The result of the GE12 has boosted the confidence of many young people and internet users to the extent that they feel able to make significant changes if they act collectively. It has created some kind of "magic bullet to activate youth political participation (Quintelier 2007: 23). Indeed, not all young Malaysians are interested in formal politics and formal organisations. There are still many young Malaysians who do not register as voters whether they have lost faith in politicians, or they are not interested in formal politics, or tired of Malaysians politicians' politicking and politicisation, or they feel politics is irrelevant in their lives or they are just ignorant of the issues (Quintelier 2007: 9, 23). The Election Commission reported about 4.9 million (in 2007) or 3.7 million (in 2009) Malaysians who do not register as voters when they become eligible by the age of 21 and 80% of them are young people aged 21-30 years old (Samsudin A. Rahim 2007: 84; Utusan Malaysia Online: 4 July 2009). These figures are observed to be in a decreasing trend over time. As it is, the Election Commission reported that 70 per cent of the 4.2 million unregistered voters are between the ages of 21 and 40 in 2013 (Channel Newsasia: 15 April 2013). The decrease in these figures of unregistered voters demonstrates that young people have become relatively more aware and responsive of elections and their political functioning roles. Hence, it is significant to investigate the changes of mood and mode in young people’s political participation.
The usage of mixed method, utilising qualitative and quantitative data to study the primary data obtain during GE12 served as the basis to compare and corroborate with data from secondary sources. These steps were taken in order to maintain the validity and reliability of the findings through triangulation. Finally, this article reveals the significance of public spheres to the citizen-oriented political activity seekers particularly youth in search of democracy through new political playgrounds in public net-spaces. It also explores the Malaysian case in relevance to other countries in examining any similarities and challenges or it is indeed an isolated case by itself that may well offer lessons to be learned in other countries in the future.
Keywords: Democracy, Youth, Internet, Malaysia, Political Participation
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Introduction
Scholars argue that participation in voluntary associations of a non-political nature is an important companion of political involvement, and some scholars even go further to suggest that participation in non-political voluntary organisations breeds political involvement. This article examines the nature of political involvement and participation in terms of its definition and activities. It focuses on changes in the modes of action and participation that were facilitated by internet. Young people's political participation is different i.e. they have different political attitudes with newer and different forms of participation than those practised by adults, and these [other/informal] forms are not always surveyed (Quintelier 2007: 1, 3, 6, 7). It is claimed that "young people prefer local community actions, political consumerism, new social movements and activities, single issue politics, protest politics, etc ... " (Quintelier 2007: 3). This claim is parallel with others’ claim that human beings "were endowed with awesome strength and conceived 'big ideas' " and "decent politics [with an] attitude [which] is without repression toward the other" (Mara 2003: 740, 750). Thus, these youth groups provide a critique focusing on the coercions. In Malaysian context, for example, various groups with political interests are formed from time to time.
This paper also investigates the political participation of young people via the internet in the Malaysian context while exploring the progress and development of the internet over time (2008–2013) and its contribution to the Malaysian General Elections (GE) i.e. GE12 in 2008 and GE13 in 2013. The result of the GE12 has boosted the confidence of many young people and internet users to the extent that they feel able to make significant changes if they act collectively. It has created some kind of "magic bullet to activate youth political participation (Quintelier 2007: 23). Indeed, not all young Malaysians are interested in formal politics and formal organisations. There are still many young Malaysians who do not register as voters whether they have lost faith in politicians, or they are not interested in formal politics, or tired of Malaysians politicians' politicking and politicisation, or they feel politics is irrelevant in their lives or they are just ignorant of the issues (Quintelier 2007: 9, 23). The Election Commission reported about 4.9 million (in 2007) or 3.7 million (in 2009) Malaysians who do not register as voters when they become eligible by the age of 21 and 80% of them are young people aged 21-30 years old (Samsudin A. Rahim 2007: 84; Utusan Malaysia Online: 4 July 2009). These figures are observed to be in a decreasing trend over time. As it is, the Election Commission reported that 70 per cent of the 4.2 million unregistered voters are between the
3 ages of 21 and 40 in 2013 (Channel Newsasia: 15 April 2013). The decrease in these figures of unregistered voters demonstrates that young people have become relatively more aware and responsive of elections and their political functioning roles. Hence, it is significant to investigate the changes of mood and mode in young people’s political participation.
Finally, this article reveals the significance of public spheres to the citizen-oriented political activity seekers particularly youth in search of democracy through new political playgrounds in public net-spaces. It also explores the Malaysian case in relevance to other countries in examining any similarities and challenges or it is indeed an isolated case by itself that may well offer lessons to be learned in other countries in the future.
Method The usage of mixed method, utilising qualitative and quantitative data to study the primary data obtain during GE12 served as the basis to compare and corroborate with data from secondary sources. These steps were taken in order to maintain the validity and reliability of the findings through triangulation.
Political Participation Political participation includes formal and informal political involvement. It includes, but not limited to, formal political parties. In other words, it involves wider perspectives that go beyond the membership of a political party.
Many countries including Malaysia, struggle with political inclusiveness and engagement by young people in the political process. Malaysian Youth Index indicates that low score of political socialization since 2006, demonstrates young people’s continuous lack of engagement with the political process (Ismi et al. 2011:66). Youth want their voices to be heard but they are frequently restricted from the freedom of political inclusiveness (Zaidel Baharuddin:28 June 2012). Thus, it is essential to investigate youth voices in different structures such as the informal platform that significantly influence the political process. Malaysian Youth Index (Ismi Arif Ismail et al. 2011:73) reports that media penetration score has increased over time i.e.87.4 (2011) as compared to 84.8 (2006) and 85.0 (2008). Hence, it is useful to examine this modern media to understand youth participation in politics.
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In Malaysia, youth are those within the age ranges of 15-40 years old and youth organisations are main components of civil society organisations (KBS:29 January 2009; Nga 2009:6). Young people are generally responsive, progressive and adapt to changes more easily, relatively less racist than the older generation because of their ‘youth culture’ (Gilroy 1987:154-156; Hall 1992:322). Thus, youth play significant roles in Malaysian multiracial society. The growing pattern of active political participation of young people through new platforms (Nga 2009: 243). Young people determine the nature and course of politics (The Star: 9 January 2009).
As mentioned earlier, Ellen Quintelier claims that young people's political participation is different i.e. they have different political attitudes with newer and different forms of participation than those practised by adults, and these [other/informal] forms are not always surveyed (Quintelier 2007: 1, 3, 6, 7). She claimed "young people prefer local community actions, political consumerism, new social movements and activities, single issue politics, protest politics, etc ... " (Quintelier 2007: 3). It is parallel with Mara's (2003: 740, 750) claim that human beings "were endowed with awesome strength and conceived 'big ideas' " and "decent politics [with an] attitude [which] is without repression toward the other". Thus, these youth groups provide a critique focusing on the coercions (Mara 2003: 739).
In Malaysian context, for example, various groups with political interests are formed from time to time. There are "I bet you hate politics in Malaysia" (138 members), "I Bet I Can Find 10,000 People Who Hate Khairy Jamaluddin" (8,871 members), and "1,000,000 Malaysians hate ISA" (4,243 members). Although these groups may sound 'comical' or less than credible, similar groups have had a significant influence on political development in Malaysia. Malaysian politics has been in 'chaos' with a lot of politicking and politicisation involved (The Star: 13 May 2009a). Discussion in cyberspace often referred to Khairy Jamaluddin as 'the most powerful man' in Malaysia when his father-in-law Abdullah Badawi was the Prime Minister. He was 'Prime Minister's Prime Minister' and infamous in his involvement in influencing the then Prime Minister's decisions, project allocation and government affairs.
In addition, Malaysians desire justice (The Star: 19 June 2009). There is significant demand for justice from the people especially the younger generation but it was not sufficiently supplied by the authorities. Thus, when individuals such as Elizabeth were 'victimised', people have the empathy to 'supply' to Elizabeth 'justice' in their own ways i.e. through
5 informal networks and support. This is parallel to van Vugt and Snyder's (2002: 765, 766) claim that "individuals organise themselves to find solutions to the collective problems they face" or "collective threat" such as the 'absence' of justice or deterioration of the judiciary in the case of Malaysia. It shows that the informal networks are capable of influencing politics and have emerged as a "vehicle for collective action and political participation" (van Vugt & Snyder 2002: 767; Sullivan et al. 2002: 868, 870, 872).
Findings – Political Participation through Informal Channel Internet is the informal networks where people ‘gather’, ‘meet’ and discuss issues of interest including politics and national issues. Its importance to youth has grown significantly and necessary to discuss its political functioning vis-à-vis the formal youth organisations. As both types of youth groups have the characteristics of an organisation, this article subscribes to the term ‘informal’ and ‘formal youth organisations’ to distinguish the e-groups of youth from the ‘physically’ existing youth organisations such as those with formal organisation structures, registered with the authority and paying subscription fees (Dekker & van Den Broek 2004:3; Kumar 1993:383; Lee 2004:3; Nga 2009:246; Schwartz & Lawson 2005:270; Wainwright et al. 2006:13; White 2006:114; Zadek 2007:38).
In the informal channel, bloggers and commentators are able to remain anonymous, resulting in open discussion. They are relatively more protected, face less risk as compared to expressing views through traditional domains such as mainstream media and forums organised by formal youth organisations. However, bloggers or ‘owners’ of their sites are responsible for anything published there including comments from visitors. There have been cases of bloggers sued for this reason (The Star:24 January 2007a).
In response, bloggers established National Alliance of Bloggers, raising legal funds to shield themselves from intimidation and oppressive control from government (Kickdefella:6 April 2007; The Star:24 January 2007b). The National Front or Barisan Nasional(BN) government of Malaysia has argued the importance of ensuring accountability of bloggers. However, the action taken on bloggers has further distanced the cyber activists from the BN government led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). On the contrary, it encourages cyber users to ally with the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR or People’s Alliance).
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Although this article does not infer that the informal internet networks are replacing the formal youth organisations, it does not rule out such a possibility. It is apparent that a large population of young people, who are potential voters, has been actively engaged in cyberspace activities and some have developed pressure groups into a new political force, bringing new phase of Malaysian politics. Their active participation and discourses have drawn significant crowd to attend voluntarily in a series of BERSIH Rally or Walk of Democracy (see below) despite police harassment and eventual clampdown of the rally venue.
The internet played a significant role in the Malaysian political tsunami of 8 March 2008 and continued in 2013 by exposing and disseminating information pertaining to the weaknesses of the government but it was not the sole reason for it. Justice, good governance and democracy were the main contributors. They were key issues to Malaysians but due to limited platforms to channel their concern, the dissemination of their views did not take off until the penetration of the internet into the general population and youth in particular. Thus, internet has become a functional tool for this purpose and drew significant interest and continued interest among Malaysians especially youth.
This article maintains that the internet is an important medium that attracts and engages many young people or cyber activists. It is a valuable and effective platform that the Malaysian political parties can utilise to garner support and publicise their political agendas. In this respect, the primary data collected i.e. the number of YouTube downloads for the political campaign songs and other politically oriented internet activities are useful evidences in this aspect (for example, see Table 1 and Figure 1 in appendix). These findings are in line with the past reports of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC 2008:30), in that, 77.3% internet users were below 39 years old and 70.0% were between 15 to 39 years old in 2006 (for example, see Table 2 in appendix).The findings of this study also supported reports in ‘National Youth and ICT’ (YnICT) research that leaders are expected to know ICT. YnICT surveyed 1501 Malaysian youths in 2003. For example, 87.3%respondents felt that ICT is a necessity and youth leaders should have good ICT skills (NITC 2004:27). Respondents had high expectations of youth leaders with 63.6% of them believing that Malaysian youth leaders had considerable knowledge of ICT (NITC 2004:28).
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Conclusion It appears very promising that informal organisations through the internet will remain popular and attractive to youth, young professionals and the general public, until the mainstream media can demonstrate they have assumed responsibilities as an independent voice. In Malaysia, one of the most popular genres of blogging has been politics. Prior to the election in 2008, opposition politicians in the People’s Alliance were more active in blogging activities as compared to BN politicians. However, due to the extraordinary election results, many BN politicians have started to blog thereafter. Some of these late-comers are successful in engaging young people to visit their blogs e.g. former Chief Minister of Selangor Khir Toyo who started blogging on 28 March 2008 (Khir Toyo: 28 March 2008).
The political tsunami in 2008 has changed the political landscape of Malaysia. It continues with the ‘urban tsunami’ in 2013 (while some claim it as the ‘Chinese tsunami’). The ruling parties can no longer ignore the demands of the people or impose too much control as these will only further reduce their popularity. Omar Azfar and McGuire (2002:452, 460) claimed a regime “will lose first the power of patronage, and next political support, and finally disappear from the political landscape” according to the “Gresham’s Law of Political Economy”. The GE13 demonstarted Gresham’s Law in the Malaysian context. While the ruling coalition maintained the governing power, it lost the popular vote to the People’s Alliance (PA gaining 51% of total votes). Thus, it will be interesting to look into the political development in the next 5 years leading to GE14.
This study found that close relationships exist between youth and political development, and that young people take on political roles and contribute to both formal and informal politics. Informal networks especially through the internet have encouraged the political participation of young people which may be due to the fact that they have overcome some of the constraints that prevent young people from active and formal political participation. While this article focuses on Malaysian case, it will be useful to compare with the context of other countries in future study.
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References
Channel NewsAsia (2013). Young voters as kingmakers?15April[online]. [Accessed 11July2013] Available from World Wide Web:
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Political Sociology:States,Civil Societies,and Globalization,pp.266-286.New York:Cambridge University Press. Sullivan,J.L.,Borgida,E.,Jackson,M.S.,Riedel,E.,Oxendine,A.andGangl,A.(2002).Social Capital and Community Electronic Networks:For-Profit Versus For-Community Approaches.The American Behavioral Scientist,45(5):868-886. The Star.(2007).Bloggers Must Be Responsible.24January(a)[online].[Accessed 22November2007]Available from World Wide Web:
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Table 1 Visitors of DAP Campaign Song
Mandarin Malay English TOTAL DATE (Series 1) (Series 2) (Series 3) (Series 4) 21-Feb(Launch) 5,166 5,575 6,419 17,160 22-Feb 8,370 7,914 10,637 26,921 26-Feb 17,476 15,012 22,901 55,389 28-Feb 21,401 16,360 27,936 65,697 29-Feb 24,375 17,498 32,224 74,097 1-Mar 29,820 19,154 39,491 88,465 2-Mar 32,626 20,013 43,260 95,899 4-Mar * 35,750 21,095 48,672 105,517 4-Mar 38,247 21,896 51,910 112,053 5-Mar 40,995 22,995 55,893 119,883 6-Mar 41,325 23,093 56,302 120,720 7-Mar 45,049 25,157 62,071 132,277 11-Mar** 58,469 28,034 86,912 173,415 12-Mar 59,906 28,337 89,479 177,722 13-Mar 61,215 28,593 91,901 181,709 16-Mar** 62,911 28,945 95,135 186,991 17-Mar 63,729 29,119 96,847 189,695 18-Mar 64,525 29,285 98,198 192,008 20-Mar** 65,203 29,413 99,231 193,847 21-Mar 66,077 29,590 100,810 196,477 22-Mar 66,263 29,663 101,194 197,120 22-Mar 66,473 29,718 101,546 197,737 24-Mar** 66,936 29,824 102,377 199,137 25-Mar 67,441 29,983 103,291 200,715 26-Mar 67,790 30,034 103,979 201,803 27-Mar 68,004 30,085 104,465 202,554 28-Mar 68,170 30,145 104,850 203,165 29-Mar 68,504 30,231 105,455 204,190 30-Mar 68,803 30,295 105,929 205,027 31-Mar 68,975 30,339 106,294 205,608 Source:Nga(2009:320-322).
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Table 2 Percentage of Home Internet Users by Age Categories Age Category 2005 2006 Below 15 6.5% 7.3% 15–19 18.6% 18.7% 10–24 17.2% 16.3% 25–29 12.5% 11.3% 30–34 12.2% 12.3% 35–39 9.9% 10.4% 40–44 9.6% 10.6% 45–49 5.1% 6.1% 50 and above 8.4% 7.1% Source:MCMC(2008:30).
250000
200000
150000
No. of Visitors of No. 100000
50000
數列Mandarin1 0
數列Malay 2 1 14 27 40 53 66 79 92 105 118 131 144 157
數列English 3 No. of Days after Launch 數列Total 4
Figure 1 Visitors of DAP Campaign Song
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