'Gratitude Plea No Longer Works For BN', Free Malaysia Today, 3 March 2016

Sheith Khidhir Bin Abu Bakar

 | March 3, 2016

A political analyst speaks of a 'cultural change' brought on by greater political awareness.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are moving away from the culture of voting for the incumbent government out of gratitude or a sense of loyalty, according to political analyst Sivamurugan Pandian.
Speaking to FMT, the University Sains Malaysia lecturer said Barisan Nasional was finding it harder to persuade voters to elect it by appealing to the two sentiments.
He said this “cultural change” became evident in the 2008 election results and was accentuated in 2013.
“Members of the younger generation are not blindly following their parents; on the contrary, some are influencing their parents to cast votes against Barisan Nasional,” he said.
He said there existed a category of voters who were against the opposition but still would not give their votes to Barisan Nasional out of disappointment with its policies and decisions. These voters would cast votes they had deliberately spoiled as a sign of protest against the ruling government, he said.

Sivamurugan attributed the change in the tradition of voting for BN to the social media boom and to a rise in political awareness among rural youths who have migrated to the urban areas for work.
“The social media gives a wider range of information regardless of whether it’s true or false and because of that people are more educated now,” he said.
“Urbanised workers are no longer motivated by loyalty or gratitude but by concerns over current issues such as the cost of living, the candidate’s performance and so on.”
However, he said it was still too early to forecast the results for the 14th General Election.
“The election is still two years away; normally the issues that influence the voters most are those that emerge in the six months before the election,” he said.