The book mentions that fighting for “students’ right” was the much sought after thing for the Nationalist Party, Communist Party and the Chinese Youth Party in the 1920s because these political entities believed whoever had the support of the young people would have the future.

The question of “political movement students” remains relevant even in 21st century Malaysia. It is anticipated that “political movement students” will become a reality now that the Parliament has lowered the voting age to 18.

Concerns about political movement students have stemmed from the intrinsic deficiencies in the country’s civic education. The civic education curriculum we now have has been a legacy of “partisanised education” from BN’s time that has largely failed to uplift the civic mindedness of first-time voters which all legitimate voters should have, such as critical thinking. Moreover, with 18-year-olds now entitled to vote, if the ruling party’s “candy policy” works, they will stand to benefit.

On top of this, multi-ethnic young Malaysians trained under the country’s multi-stream education system will determine the fundamental support bases of individual parties in our local political spectrum.

18-year-old young Malaysians are at a transitional age from high school to tertiary institution. Sure enough some of them will opt to step into the job market early compared to their contemporaries in the West. This group of young people are financially weak and owing to the intrinsic weaknesses in the country’s civic education, these first-time voters will pin the hopes of their own future on a political party which will get the support of young voters.

The coexistence of different education streams in this country has shaped the natural support bases of various parties. The vast differences in their value systems have given rise to inconsistencies in their varied progress in democratic process.

Additionally, the voting inclinations of Malaysian voters have largely taken cue from their parents. If several generations of people subscribe to the same set of values or a specific political party, this party will very likely benefit from such political inheritance. Against the backdrop that 18-year-olds will now be able to vote, some parties can look to higher support rates because of such phenomenon.

If Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional fail to compete on an equal footing after GE14, Malaysia will invariably be torn into a polarised society, and elections will become an extension of ethnic-oriented population census. With 18-year-olds now able to vote, first-time voters produced under the country’s divergent education steams are poised to strengthen the grips of specific parties. It is believed that the adoption of this constitutional amendment bill is what Umno and PAS will love to see.

There is this chapter in French high school philosophy textbook: Do we really understand the expectations of this country when we express our views and exercise our right to vote? Indeed, different ethnic communities have their own appeals and concerns and their expectations for this country will therefore differ greatly. However, it is anticipated that young voters will follow blindly or vote emotionally for an existing party.

In Malaysia, student movements are almost unheard of in our secondary schools and students lack the learning experience in public decision participation. Moreover, under the guiding principle that politics should be kept out of schools, it will be very hard for students who are voters or voters-to-be to have the opportunity to learn more about the ideologies of political parties through formal education, and assess the possible consequences after they have cast their votes.

Of course, people involved in education has this obligation to guide the students to learn about politics and civic responsibilities in order to lift the students’ voter quality while preventing further politicisation of school campuses.

The current dilemma is how to exercise one’s right to vote. The education sector can try to reform civic education or promote general education by freeing the students’ space of political deliberations.

Education can determine an individual’s voter quality while the voters will determine the survival of a political party. Unfortunately Malaysia currently lacks youth political participation far more established in places like Hong Kong, Taiwan and the West, not to mention our youngsters are much more concerned about being able to graduate smoothly, getting a well-paid job and fulfilling the appeals of their own ethnic communities.

This is the second in a series of five articles published in conjunction with the Chinese Education Day 2019.

More:

Youth suffrage and civic education
Making our youngsters more matured
From preservation to rejuvenation
Do we need civic education?