Anti-Politics Behaviour among Young Malaysian Chinese

Abstract

Objective: The study investigated the anti-politics behaviour of Chinese youth in Malaysia.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 Chinese participants aged 18 to 40 in Malaysia. They were from lower socio-economic backgrounds. The interview questions included frequency of reading newspapers, and having political conversations with friends, parents and educators. They were also asked about their interest in political speeches, and political involvement. Thematic analysis was conducted for the 85,000-word interview transcript.

Results: The interview results revealed that the participants read newspaper articles and social media postings to confirm their pre-existing opinions on political issues. All the participants read Chinese newspapers because they were Chinese-educated, but only three participants were politically informed. The agents of political socialisation were their parents rather than peers and educators. Only one-third of the young Chinese participants read political news, and engaged in political conversations. They were likely to vote, hope for change, and believe that politics is a force for food. On the other hand, two-thirds of the participants were not interested in politics. The anti-politics behaviour was due to the politicians’ negative behaviour and observations of dirty tactics in politics. Most of the participants exhibited non-participation without democracy, and there were few participants in the political participation category, whether negative evaluation or positive evaluation.

Conclusion: The study indicates that information black-out contributed to apathy of Chinese youth towards political participation and the disengagement may limit Chinese representation in the political structures of Malaysia in the future.