KUALA LUMPUR – Having to travel hundreds of kilometres in an aeroplane is no inhibition for most students from Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak to fulfil their responsibilities as first-time voters in the looming 15th general election (GE15).
Not wishing to forego the benefits of the five-day leave granted to pupils of higher education institutions, they are eager to fly home to vote for their chosen candidates and preferred parties, despite the expensive airfares.
Mohd Aznirulnaim Abd Azis, 22, is excited to cast his vote for the first time. The student at Universiti Selangor has already bought a flight ticket in advance to return to his hometown.
Aznirulnaim, who is pursuing a bachelor of education in islamic studies, said he was willing to use his semester savings to buy a one-way ticket priced at RM394 to fulfil his responsibility as a Malaysian.
I strongly encourage all students in all public and private (higher education institutions) to go home and vote because this is a very important matter. We need to think about the future of the current and future generations if they (students) do not vote,” he told Bernama.
However, he suggested that the government think of a way to have transport fares reduced during the election season to make it easier for students to go home to vote, especially for those who face financial difficulty.
For medical student Nurul Anis Ramli, 19, it is important to return to her hometown in Pusing, Perak to vote but certain constraints mean she has yet to buy a flight ticket.
The Universiti Malaysia Sabah student said that if there are no obstacles, she would buy a ticket soon in the hope that it would be cheaper, considering that she needs a lot of money for her studies.
My suggestion is that the government should provide transportation for less (financially) able students because even though the ticket prices have come down, for us it is still a big expense as we need the fare money to buy necessities,” she said.
It is a different story for Universiti Malaysia Sarawak student Nor Iqbal Mohd Sait, 24, who is still considering going back to vote in Kuala Lumpur – taking into account the price of a one-way ticket from Sarawak to the federal capital, which can reach up to more than RM400.
Nor Iqbal, who is pursuing a master of social sciences in sociology, insists that the “traditional” voting system needs to be improved in the future considering that globalisation has affected almost all aspects of life through digitalisation.
“Urban areas should encourage e-voting, which is common in large countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and the Philippines. For rural areas, it cannot be denied that the facility may be less effective,” he said when interviewed by Bernama.
In the meantime, Muhammad Tirmizi Rabidin, 19, a first-semester law student at Universiti Utara Malaysia, admitted that returning to Keningau, Sabah to vote is out of the question given the astronomically high airfare, with passenger traffic growing as voting day looms.
Furthermore, he does not have access to a direct flight from Alor Star, Kedah to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Based on Election Commission (EC) records, as of October 9, there were a total of 1,393,549 registered voters aged 18 to 20 while 4,614,429 voters were aged 21 to 29.
The EC has set voting day for GE15 on November 19, nomination of candidates on November 5, and early voting on November 15. – The Vibes, October 31, 2022
