WILL the spoilt votes (undi rosak) determine the dynamics of the 15th General Election (GE15)? During GE13 and GE14, the ‘undi rosak‘ element played a huge role in the outcome of the respective two elections then more so during the GE14 when the Opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH) came to power.
The ‘undi rosak‘ element meant that voters felt there was no need to cast their ballots irrespective of political parties by ticking two parties on the ballot paper or not ticking at all, even worse drawing pictures and making fun of their elected representatives on the ballot paper, a notion that suggests the loss of faith towards a coalition.
‘Undi rosak‘ also means that political parties are aware that they have lost support of voters in a constituency where once upon a time they had full support of these voters. In Malaysia, the undi rosak sentiment has been more prevalent in the younger voters who have lost whatever hope they have in the country’s politics.
DAP’s election director Liew Chin Tong is of the notion that in the coming polls, if these bunch of voters are fed with a lot of cynicism and finally decide there is no point to vote, then Barisan Nasional (BN) has won.
“The logic is that everyone is the same. Let’s forget about it. Let’s not come out to vote. Let’s be cynical about all this, and then eventually BN will win.
“This is something that we will have to fight. We have to fight against apathy, fight against cynicism, and we have to explain to the public that we are in the face of democracy where we defeated the old order, we defeated the one-party state.
“But by voting UMNO-BN, you are basically returning to the old one-party state and they will try every way to curtail freedom. They will try every way to stop democratic participation,” he explained the situation in a Malay Mail report recently.
Liew who is also DAP Johor chairman said GE15 will be more challenging as there is a three-way split in votes due to the formation of Perikatan Nasional (PN) meaning now voters would have to really choose who they intend to vote for, BN, PH or PN at the same time present with intense cynicism.
Therefore, stating further that the impending polls would be more difficult for Pakatan but on a good note said that favour would be on the Opposition’s side as UMNO is losing its support among its loyal voters.
“It is a possible scenario where there is a three-cornered fight, resulting in PH and PN both losing and giving UMNO-BN free passage. So we cannot write them off.
“There is also a PAS-base vote everywhere and there are also Malays who hate UMNO and do not necessarily want to support PH. They may choose PN.” he predicted the possibility of GE15.
Based on FocusM ground observations, many voters, especially the younger ones, are disinterested in casting their votes due to their loss of faith in politicians and a very negative view of the country’s politics.
This is despite the increase in new voters through Undi18 and the Automatic Voters Registration where the electoral role has been increased to 42%.
Many who have voted during the previous election have decided not to cast their votes during the upcoming polls saying it was a waste of their time when nothing much has changed for the rakyat and politicians remained corrupt.
With GE15 coming up, will there be instances of ‘Undi Rosak’ just like during the previous elections? Will the voters put aside their distrust, doubts and cast their vote giving the country’s politics another chance to rebuild and work on their reforms and promises, hence keeping up to their respective election manifestos? – Oct 19, 2022
Main photo credit: Cilisos
