KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 — Five days into campaigning for the 15th general election, Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz has found that a sense of apathy still prevails among young voters.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) hopeful for Kuala Selangor, who is making his electoral debut, said he has also found these young voters are more likely to favour candidates based on “personality instead of along party lines”.
In his interaction with them, he found they had a skewed perception of being marginalised by those in power.
“Those are the three things they raised when I talked to them. You see the voter turnout in the last two state elections, the young voter turnout is quite low,” he said in a televised interview on an Astro Awani programme titled Consider This last night.
The banker-turned-minister was referring to the state elections in Melaka last year, and Johor earlier this year.
Asked by programme host Melissa Idris how he responded to these issues, Tengku Zafrul said he reminded these young voters that they have the democratic right to vote, and should exercise it as every vote made a difference in deciding the kind of government they wanted.
Tengku Zafrul, who is competing with four others to take Kuala Selangor, said the issues in the coastal parliamentary constituency in Malaysia’s most developed state were more localised.
He disclosed that he had visited the federal seat no less than 200 times over the past six months.
Issues such as public amenities, public infrastructures, drainage and roads are some of the examples raised, Tengku Zafrul added.
He said he was involved in drafting BN’s GE15 manifesto, and glad that he could contribute several key initiatives on its fiscal policies.
“I am glad that in the end when I saw the final product, it's a product where I can say this is doable and it is something sustainable but at the same time responsible,” he said.
The BN manifesto, launched by BN chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, offers 99 approaches and initiatives to steer Malaysia towards developed nation status, if the coalition is given the mandate to form the government.
Tengku Zafrul is challenging Kuala Selangor incumbent Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad from Pakatan Harapan for the federal seat. His other rivals are Mohd Noor Mohd Sahar from Perikatan Nasional and Mohd Shaid Rosli from Gerakan Tanah Air, which is running under the Pejuang logo.
Early voting is on November 15 and polling day is November 19.
