Readiness of Malaysian Youth in Undi-18 : Are They Ready to Vote and Commit to Democracy

Fong, Regine Ruijing (2023) Readiness of Malaysian Youth in Undi-18 : Are They Ready to Vote and Commit to Democracy. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.

Text RMS BHMS3004 FULL THESIS FONG RUIJING REGINE.pdf Restricted to Registered users only Download (3MB)

Abstract

The decline of youth political participation in established democracies has been long researched by scholars and it is often viewed as signalling a crisis of democracy. Issues regarding the readiness of the young voters have been widely discussed by scholars in Malaysia after the lowering of voting age to 18 years old in Malaysia. Therefore, the readiness of the first-time voters has been examined by looking through civic education, political awareness, political literacy and media literacy of them. This study employed quantitative approach which is a survey using quota sampling on 272 first-time voters that includes Malay, Chinese and Indians voters. Unlike the criticism and findings by other scholars which indicates that the young voters are rather political and media illiterate and received low civic education, the result shows that the civic education level, political awareness and literacy and media literacy of the first-time voters are in a high range. Other than that, it also illustrates that there is a significant relationship between civic education and the political awareness, literacy and media literacy and the readiness of the first time voters.This study evidenced that the first-time voters in Malaysia are ready to vote in the 15th General Election as the result has indicated the majority of them have a high level of civic education, political awareness and literacy and media literacy. This article contributes to ongoing discourse in the area of political literacy and media literacy among the youth in Malaysia. It has implications for the future researchers and authorities which is Cognitive Engagement Theory in carrying out a more in-depth research towards the politics consumed by the youth and implementing a better policy