MELAKA, Nov 14 — A first-time voter flew all the way from Sarawak to Melaka, spending RM700 on return tickets just to make sure she had her say in the state election today.

For 20-year-old Ashira Dania Mohd Hairun, a first-year Social Sciences student at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), casting her ballot in her hometown of Duyong was worth the expense.

“I spent about RM700 on return flight tickets,” she told the New Straits Times after voting at SK Seri Duyong today.

Ashira said she was excited to finally have the opportunity to choose her elected representative, with the trip also turning into a family outing as her older sister, relatives and a cousin who was also voting for the first time accompanied her.

She had been up by about 6.30am after her parents woke her to head to the polling station.

Ashira said she hoped the next elected representative would bring further development to Duyong and create more opportunities for young people to participate in community programmes.

She also wanted to see more activities catering to youths, particularly in sports such as football, rugby, fishing and netball.

Her message to fellow young voters was simple: do not put off voting until later in the day.

“To Gen Z, go out and vote now. Do not wait until noon. Do not sleep until the afternoon and wait for your parents to scold you before going out to vote. Go out and vote now,” she said.

The Duyong seat is being contested in a straight fight between Barisan Nasional incumbent Datuk Mohd Noor Helmy Abd Halem and Pakatan Harapan candidate Poo Long Suan.

The 16th Melaka state election involves 79 candidates contesting all 28 state seats, with 669,211 registered ordinary voters eligible to cast their ballots at 240 polling centres.