Generational divide: how Pakatan Harapan swung the youth vote in GE14

Abstract

This article examines the strategies of both the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) in trying to reach out to youth voters. It seeks to understand the factors that led to PH winning 80% of the youth votes despite the political structures in place that were skewed against the Opposition and BN’s strong youth outreach. The article argues that BN’s brand of politics which employs Malay-Muslim supremacy is reliant on a practice of feudalistic politics which privileges older Malaysians and thus tends to disempower youths. Since BN utilised this brand of politics to remain in power, it became exceedingly difficult for its component parties to avoid alienating Malaysian youths. This allowed PH to seize the initiative for the youth vote by crafting strategies that sought to rupture the hierarchical nature of Malay-Muslim supremacy.