Political Involvement among Youth in Malaysia: Lessons Learnt

Youth are asset for the country and their ideas may provide significant contribution towards the country development process.  They are the driving force towards the progress of the country and their contributions are undeniable in providing new ideas.  Other than as the human capitals provided for the workforce, youth are also backbone of the country.  Youth involvement in politics happen throughout the world and Malaysia has no exception.  Youth have voice out their concern on the government’s policies and actions towards developing process by using available platform such as social media other than joining political parties or any association specifically for youth.  The opportunities should be given to this group since country will lose creative, dynamic and innovative ideas from this group, known as Generation Y.  The tagline like young leaders have create phenomena to give them opportunities to be leader at every level of government (community, state as well as country). This article will discuss the political involvement  based on the survey among students in Universiti Utara Malaysia. Findings showed that internet (social media) has attracted the respondents to know more about politics.  Their lower involvement in political parties’ activities are quite contradictory in which their willingness to vote and  encourage others to vote during the election process in Malaysia. This paper will highlight the importance of social media as a platform for gaining youth involvement in political scenario in Malaysia

Democracy, violence and insecurity: Perversion and implications on the youth in Northern Nigeria

Nigeria as it is constituted today depict a picture typical of a semi-democratic entity that is undergoing a demographic transition process, where the large fraction of the total population is represented by youth with high propensity for violence. Achieving political stability in the country, therefore revolve around the existence of a workable democracy which can improve government performance and thus reduce the sources of grievances capable of generating anti-government violence by the youth. However, it is the conception of this paper that, in Nigeria the political and the socio-economic principles associated with the liberal democracy are either weakly internalized or remained largely not internalized across the body polity thereby creating room for grievance hence the persistent incidence of violence, as democracy fails to deliver its promises of good governance and economic stability. Such violence therefore interacts perversely with democratic institutions, eroding their legitimacy and effectiveness thereby engendering insecurity. Living in the midst of violence and insecurity thus transforms the youth’s perceptions of their physical and political environments which invariably weaken their commitment to democracy and encourage them to support forms of authority from nonstate actors such as Boko Haram in the North-Eastern geo-political zone and bodies of organized crime perpetrators who specialized in cattle rustling, kidnapping and banditry in the North-West geo-political zone

Political violence and radicalization in the north-eastern Nigeria: analyzing the youth bulge phenomenon

Political Violence has recently become a recurring decimal in Northern Nigeria especially in the North-Eastern part of the country where peace seems to have eluded the region since 2009. Several scholarly inputs were propounded in an attempt to address and find a lasting solution to the persistent incidence of violence ravaging the region. This article is another attempt geared toward addressing the problem by looking at it from a different perspective that is the youth Bulge Phenomenon. It is the conception of this paper that, the genesis, the life span and the demise of political violence is greatly influence by the socio-cultural and political environment surrounding it. To understand political violence and the factors that breed it, one has to understand the environment that actually nurtured it. In other words, without understanding the socio-political attributes of a given population, one will not understand the causes of insurgency within it. This paper views environment as a key factor in understanding the political violence within the context of the North-Eastern Nigeria. It examines environment from a demographic parlance and adopts the youth Bulge theory and the social identity theory to conceptually analyse the key elements that continue to shape and mould the growth of political violence in the North-Eastern Nigeria, where institutional weakness due to poor governance, social categorization and the formation of social network were discovered to be the contributing factors to the menace

Impak ketidakakuran sivil terhadap landskap politik Malaysia

Gerakan Reformasi tercetus apabila rakyat bangkit berdemonstrasi di ibu kota Kuala Lumpur pada tahun 1998 bagi membantah pemecatan Anwar Ibrahim dari jawatan Timbalan Perdana Menteri. Bantahan tersebut dipelopori oleh golongan muda, mahasiswa dan masyarakat sivil. Namun, gerakan Reformasi hampir mati di permulaan era pemerintahan Abdullah Badawi. Ini kerana rakyat gembira dan terpesona dengan janjinya membawa perubahan politik negara untuk mengukuhkan demokrasi dan menegakkan integriti. Maka, Barisan Nasional (BN) memperoleh mandat besar dalam Pilihan Raya Umum ke-11 (PRU-11) pada tahun 2004 yang merupakan pencapaian terbaik parti tersebut dalam sejarah politik Malaysia. Begitupun, sepinya Kuala Lumpur tidak lama kerana ketidakakuran sivil kembali menjadi pemandangan biasa di hujung pemerintahan Abdullah dan semakin marak di era Najib Razak. Persoalannya, apakah faktor yang mendorong kepada berlakunya ketidakakuran sivil tersebut? Sejauh manakah impak ketidakakuran sivil terhadap politik Malaysia? Makalah ini menggunakan data sekunder seperti buku dan jurnal untuk mendapatkan maklumat kajian. Data-data ini kemudiannya dianalisis menggunakan kaedah analisis kandungan dan dibincangkan secara tematik. Makalah ini berhujah ketidakakuran sivil menyebabkan kerajaan BN akur dengan tuntutan penambahbaikan proses demokrasi dan keadaan inilah yang membuka ruang kepada gabungan oposisi untuk mempromosikan kempen politiknya. Hasilnya, dalam PRU-14 pada 9 Mei 2018, BN buat pertama kalinya tewas setelah 61 tahun memerintah negara

Kempen politik: Dari reformasi kepada cyber democracy

Pilihan raya umum Malaysia pada tahun 1999 mencatat sejarah tersendiri apabila buat pertama kalinya internet digunakan sebagai medium untuk berkempen, lanjutan daripada penggunaan internet oleh penyokong reformasi pada tahun 1998.Kertas ini bertujuan membincangkan kempen politik melalui internet pada pilihan raya umum 1999 dan pilihan raya umum 2008.Dapatan kajian menunjukkan: pertama, pada pilihan raya umum 1999 parti pembangkang telah menggunakan lnternet dengan intensif untuk berkempen.Ini kerana terdapat banyak isu-isu berkaitan reformasi yang ingin disampaikan, sedangkan peluang mereka untuk menggunakan media massa perdana begitu terhad. Kedua, penggunaan internet untuk kempen politik menjadi semakin meluas pada pilihan raya umum 2008.Hal ini kerana pada ketika itu terdapat banyak isu-isu sensasi berkaitan politik dan pentadbiran diperdebatkan, di samping pertambahan penggunaan internet di kalangan penduduk Malaysia. Penggunaan internet yang meluas untuk kempen politik bukan hanya melibatkan ahli politik dan parti politik, bahkan rakyat biasa.Hasilnya ia telah melahirkan cyber democracy iaitu rakyat bebas untuk memberi idea dan pandangan dan juga berkumpul secara maya untuk berbincang isu-isu politik.Ketiga, kempen politik melalui lnternet telah memberi impak kepada kedua-dua keputusan pilihan raya tersebut.Pada pilihan raya umum 1999 sokongan kepada Barisan Nasional khususnya UMNO semakin merosot, manakala pada pilihan raya umum 2008 pencapaian Barisan Nasional menjunam teruk apabila mereka gagal memperolehi kemenangan majoriti dua pertiga bagi kerusi dewan rakyat

Civil disobedience during reformation era

The removal of Anwar Ibrahim as Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia in September 1998 was a shock to the nation. This is because there were a series of street demonstrations in 1998 until 2001 that gave birth to reformasi (reform) movement. People thought that the dismissal was unfair due to personal conflict between the Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the emergence of civil disobedience during reform movement and to identify the actors involved in mobilizing civil disobedience. The analysis shows what the main reason behind the outbreak of civil disobedience was the result of government actions that weakened democracy through the restriction of political rights and civil liberties. In this respect, the removal of Anwar Ibrahim was only a triggering factor. Furthermore, the actors who were involved in acts of civil disobedience include students, young people, opposition parties, non government organizations (NGOs) and activists. These groups cooperated to seek justice for Anwar Ibrahim and also raised issues related to corruption, cronyism and abuse of power in the government. Consequently, support for the Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition, especially the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) declined dramatically in the 1999 general election

The Vulnerability to A Covid-19 Outbreak in Malaysia: Panel Analysis During the Endemic Phase

Reaching the endemic phase of COVID-19 starting April 1, 2022, Malaysia had move forward for their normal norm. No more home isolation and even mask mandate is unnecessary. With the vaccination status (completed 2nd dose), people can freely access the premises. However, Ministry of Health did not take COVID-19 for granted. The ministry keeps updating daily new cases to remind public the urgency to prevent the COVID-19 outbreak. This study describes the vulnerability of the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia by assessing relationship between the vaccination status to the number of COVID-19 cases. The data is taken from the ministry and panel data is taken to test within the period of endemic phase (April 2022- June 2022). The key findings will provide the relationship between the access variables and further research should be conducted to provide relevancy of this matter especially during endemic phase

The process of democratization during Najib Razak’s time

Democratization aspect is important around the world, in the era of knowledge and information technology as the public is better educated and thus has high expectations to the government.In Malaysia, although a general election is held once in five years to elect a government, it is necessary to enhance the democratic aspect from time to time to achieve a better practice of democracy.This article is to discuss the issue of democratization in Malaysia, specifically during Najib Razak‟s time.The main objective of this article is to study the extent of democratization process which has already taken place and to analyze the factors leading to this process. The research methodology used is qualitative. Data obtained through in-depth interview of informants from government political parties, opposition parties, non-governmental organizations and academics. Face-to-face non-structured interview method is used whereby informants may respond without limitations, while focus is still on the research issue.The result shows that: first, the democratization process during Najib Razak‟s premiership is positive when the government started to open up the democratic space.Some of the outcomes are improvement in general election process, more freedom for public expression with the repeal of the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA), introduction of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 and amendments to the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971.Second, the government has accommodated the democratization process due to demands from pro-democracy groups for improvements in terms of politics, general elections, justice and freedom of expression. In conclusion, democratic system in Malaysia has not reached a commendable level because of certain restrictions, to the extent that some scholars in their analysis describe Malaysia as a semi-democracy.Thus, several pro-democracy groups have emerged to demand ongoing democratization through their campaigns, demonstrations, protests or even political campaigns. During Najib Razak‟s time government has met the demands of certain pro-democracy groups and boosted the democratic process in Malaysia

The Emergence of Civil Disobedience: A Comparison during Dr. Mahathir and Abdullah Badawi’s Era

Civil disobedience is not new in Malaysia. It has been going on since the days of Tunku Abdul Rahman. However, it did not explode until the final phase of the reign of Dr. Mahathir in 1998. While in 2007 there was widespread civil disobedience when people were not satisfied with the administration of Abdullah Badawi.The purpose of this article is to analyze the factors that caused at the time of the occurrence of civil disobedience during the era of Dr. Mahathir and Abdullah Badawi. Results show that the main reason for the occurrence of civil disobedience at the time of Dr. Mahathir was due to the grievances of the people on the issue of the dismissal of Anwar Ibrahim. Whereas at the time of Abdullah Badawi the emergence of civil disobedience is caused by the weakness of his leadership. In addition, the analysis also found that civil disobedience affect the outcome of the general elections in 1999 and 2008 when the Barisan Nasional (National Front) performance deteriorated badly in the General Elections. The Barisan Nasional decline in the general election of 2008 resulted in Abdullah Badawi’s resignation in April 2009 DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n1s1p27

Aktiviti penyeludupan migran dalam lalangan Pendatang Asing Tanpa Izin (PATI) di Malaysia

Penyeludupan migran merupakan aktiviti jenayah rentas sempadan yang dapat memberi keuntungan kepada pihak yang menguruskannya. Golongan pendatang yang menggunakan kaedah ini dianggap sebagai Pendatang Asing Tanpa Izin (PATI) kerana proses kemasukan mereka ini telah melanggari undang-undang di sesebuah negara. Oleh itu, artikel ini bertujuan menjelaskan aktiviti penyeludupan migran yang berlaku di wilayah utara Semenanjung Malaysia. Antara elemen yang dibincangkan adalah sempadan yang dilalui, pengangkutan yang digunakan, bayaran yang dibuat kepada pihak sindiket, pihak-pihak yang memberi bantuan, negara-negara yang dilalui dan taktik-taktik penyeludupan yang digunakan. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kualitatif seperti menjalankan temu bual, perbincangan berfokus secara berkumpulan dan pemerhatian. Sampel kajian ini adalah 55 pendatang asing tanpa izin (PATI) yang ditahan di Depoh Belantik, Sik, Kedah, golongan pelarian dan pihak berkuasa yang mempunyai kaitan dengan jenayah penyeludupan migran seperti Agensi Penguatkuasaan Maritim Malaysia (APMM), Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia dan Rejimen Renjer Sempadan. Hasil kajian mendapati aktiviti penyeludupan migran memang berlaku di wilayah utara Semenanjung Malaysia tetapi keadaannya masih terkawal. Ia juga telah menyebabkan pihak keselamatan sentiasa mempertingkatkan kawalan dengan melaksanakan pelbagai strategi untuk mengekang aktiviti tersebut daripada berleluasa. Kesimpulannya, pihak sindiket memainkan peranan yang penting dalam penyeludupan migran. Mereka sentiasa menggunakan pelbagai taktik untuk mengaburi pihak keselamatan dan tindakan mereka sering selangkah kehadapan kerana rangkaian sindiket sukar dikesan