Undi18: MyUndi platform launched to guide first-time voters

SHAH ALAM - The new voters or youth of Undi18 need to have full guidance about political knowledge so that this group of first-time voters does not make the wrong choice in the 15th General Election (GE15).

Angkatan Belia Malaysia (ABIM) Secretary General Fazril Saleh said the Undi-18 youth group was new to the world of politics and should be given guidance and accurate information.

He said they needed to be given education and guidance to know the real scenario before being involved in the world of politics because this group could be likened to having zero knowledge about the political world of the country.

In fact, he said, the groups’ voting registration was also done automatically, not from the individual’s actual desire to be directly involved in politics.

“When asked and by observations and studies made by independent bodies, the findings show that some of these young people are unaware that they are already in the voter’s register because it was done automatically.

“This is a problem because they are unaware and not even interested in politics, but this time they have to vote in GE15.

“For that reason, these people need to be given guidance and accurate information about the country’s political scenario.

“Because of this, ABIM launched a new initiative to approach the Undi-18 group by launching MyUndi,” he said.

He said this when he was a guest on the Kompas Rasuah Busters Special Edition GE-15 entitled ‘GE15:'Reminder To Voters, which was broadcasted live on all Sinar Harian digital platforms on Wednesday hosted by Asmaliza Mansor.

Commenting further, Fazril said MyUndi was a democratic and citizenship education platform that wants to focus on young people, especially those in the Undi18 group.

He said it was important to ensure that the target group got the right information and situation about the country’s politics.

He added that ABIM’s new MyUndi initiative was seen to be capable of dealing with recent problems related to voting confusion involving Undi18 and the automatic registration of new candidate voters.

“The government should play a proper and earnest role in educating young people about politics, never act carelessly in the context of Undi18.

“The government also needs to deliver information to those who have been registered automatically instead of other parties doing that important task,” he said.

This is because, clearly, the outside party has no equipment in the matter, in addition to no data and no ability to implement it perfectly.

“The capacity of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) may simply be to raise awareness or find individuals aged 18 and above to be treated better to explain the country’s politics.

“However, all the more accurate information and data need to be conveyed by the government to the groups involved,” he stressed.