Youth Tsunami: University Students' Political Participation

Abstract

Several studies has cast the political participation of young people in general, which resulted in the existence of a political tsunami in Malaysia. In this article, we examine how university students (young people) participated in campus politics, which contributed to Malaysia's political tsunami. Protest is one type of political participation that has transformed into a new form of political action that includes petitions, demonstrations, rallies and boycotts. It arose as a result of the growth of political expression and mobilisation. Taking Fox, J and Gurr's perspective on the conflict model, this study assumes that cultural, religious, economic, and political discrimination thus creates group discontent (minorities) and contributes to protests and demonstrations. The purpose of this study is to identify the significant factors that contribute to political protest among students, particularly at Malaysian public institutions, by placing young people as a minority group in society. A collection of data responders from 60 students from a national university, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, in campus elections was used to get answers to the factors of university students' political participation. The findings highlight the fact that protests among young people will be facilitated by a group of provocateurs formed as a result of shared pressure. Apart from that, political mobilisation is also the root cause of demonstrations. This study implies that a university policy and a policymaker must consider the demands of minority groups for rights and justice, as well as the rights and efforts to defend race and religion.

Pengaruh Tiktok Terhadap Mahasiswa Malaysia Dalam Pilihanraya Umum-15 (Pru 15)

“…Penglibatan pelajar memainkan peranan aktif sebagai penyokong parti politik dalam menggerakkan dan meraih undi. Trend pergerakan belia dicirikan oleh tumpuan yang jelas untuk menangani kebimbangan seperti ketegangan kaum dan agama (Taib & Vivian;. Pilihan raya di Malaysia, kedua-dua parti pemerintah dan pembangkang menyasarkan golongan muda untuk kejayaan pilihan raya, satu trend yang diperhatikan dari pilihan raya umum ke-12 hingga ke-14 (Yazid et al, 2020).…”

“…Platform media sosial yang berkesan berpotensi meningkatkan penyertaan pengundi belia, menunjukkan keperluan untuk ahli politik menyesuaikan strategi mereka untuk demografi yang lebih muda (Hall, 2019). Tambahan pula, kebangkitan platform media sosial seperti Twitter, Facebook, dan blog, yang menekankan peranan media sosial yang berpengaruh dalam membentuk politik muda (Taib & Vivian, 2022) Subre et al( 2023) mengkaji peranan Tik Tok dalam kalangan milenium semasa kempen PRU15. Keputusan menunjukkan bahawa TikTok kebanyakannya digunakan oleh milenium untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan politik dan membimbing pilihan pengundian.…”