Political Awareness and Behaviour of Undi18 Cohort: Insights from a survey of Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

Abstract

The UNDI18 Bill, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 and provided automatic voter registration, was passed in 2019 by the Malaysian Parliament to the applause of many stakeholders. However, concerns have been raised about the readiness of these 18-year-olds to vote, given their limited exposure to political discussions. To address this, this study aimed to (i) explore the political awareness of 18-year-old first-time voters in Malaysia, (ii) investigate their sources of political information, and (iii) examine the relationship between their Malay student background studying in a Malay-based university and their political party and candidate choices. We surveyed 5,586 undergraduate students from Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia, using a quantitative research design. Our findings revealed that science stream students were less politically aware than their social science counterparts, and that respondents from the Faculty of Administrative Science and Policy Studies scored the highest. Additionally, social media was the primary source of political information for our respondents. We also found that Malay students studying at a Malay-based university showed strong support for the Malay political leaders which supports the perception that Universiti Teknologi MARA nurtures its undergraduates to be defenders of Malay supremacy. Overall, our study provides valuable insights into the political awareness and behavior of 18-year-old Malaysians, which can inform efforts to engage and educate this demographic in future elections.