The Political Socialization of First-time Voters after Malaysia’s Amendment on Voting Age

Low, Er Yin (2020) The Political Socialization of First-time Voters after Malaysia’s Amendment on Voting Age. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Pakatan Harapan had complied with one of their manifestoes during the 14th General Election in Malaysia, which was lowering the voting age from 21 to 18. Education programs were said to be implemented in schools to ensure youths were emotionally and mentally prepared for the next general election. The announcement of amendment became a hot topic in Malaysia where the maturity and rationality of youth in making voting decisions were being questioned. Therefore, this paper aims to find out the political socialization of first-time voters in Malaysia and also the level of political knowledge among first-time voters in Malaysia to determine youth’s rationality in making political decisions as well as their own political behavior. Besides, this paper will also identify the importance of education in political socialization among first-time voters in Malaysia in support of the suggestion of implementing political education in schools after the amendment of voting age. Guided by Michael Foucault’s work on power and knowledge, this paper examined how first-time voters depend on the power of agents in political socialization and as well how knowledge became the power to influence first-time voters. The findings and results of the data were collected through an online survey targeted to 180 first-time voters aged between 18-23 to determine their political behavior as well as political knowledge and interviewed with 9 interviewees that consist of either a certain amount of political knowledge or voting experience to obtain information and suggestions on the importance of the role of education in political socialization among first-time voters.