Youths say will not mortgage country’s future for sweet promises
“We, the youths, might break loose in certain issues but we are not that ignorant to be assumed by the opposition that we can be easily influenced by their empty promises. We can evaluate whether promises had been fulfilled or not, the impossible and the possible to be implemented,” said Aina who works in the private sector.
Bernama
The assumption that the young generation is inclined to the opposition pact as claimed by the Pakatan Rakyat is simply baseless propaganda say several young voters who will be voting in the coming general election for the first time.
They said the younger generation that represented 45 per cent of the total population in the country is standing firmly behind the current government, for the sake of continuity in development, solidity, unity, economic progress, peace and harmony of the nation.
“This is such a typical opposition… if they are not making any irrelevant fuss, they are not them. Using the April 28 rally that turned into a riot as a measurement is not an accurate analogy at them to use.
“Let’s say all the 25,000 in the rally were youths… and compare it with the Million Youth Gathering in Putrajaya. That alone is enough to prove that their claim is a baseless lie,” a university student who only wished to be known as Sera told Bernama.
She said the other obvious lie by the opposition was when its leader had claimed to capture Sarawak in the last Sarawak state election by winning a majority of the state assembly seats.
“The final election results not only showed that such claims were procrastination… the Barisan Nasional remained strong to form the state government, right? He (the opposition leader) on the other hand decided to go overseas,” she said.
Meanwhile, her housemate, a Kelantanese who only wished to be known as Aina, said his 68-year-old grandmother was still hoping for the RM100 senior citizen assistance per month as promised by the PAS-led government.
“We, the youths, might break loose in certain issues but we are not that ignorant to be assumed by the opposition that we can be easily influenced by their empty promises. We can evaluate whether promises had been fulfilled or not, the impossible and the possible to be implemented,” said Aina who works in the private sector.
Moreover, the opposition’s promise to abolish the PTPTN loan, even though a catchy one, would be impossible to be implemented because the RM42 billion is not only a huge amount, but also because the system of repayment for IPTA and IPTS loans cannot become obsolete.
“We had also thought of its logic. If it was to be abolished, it will be our generation which will need to pay a higher amount of tax just to sustain the cost of free higher education. It will become a major burden compared with the repayment of the PTPTN loan itself,” said Aina.
A student at a higher education institution in Shah Alam who only wished to be known as Masri said there should not be any political parties claiming they have majority support from the young generation, especially the new voters, as they are able to analyse the situation themselves and rationally.
“If we do not vote the party, we cannot go to heaven… this means that Nabi Muhammad and his companions were not able to go to heaven as well, as they had never voted for a party. I was disappointed when I went back to my hometown where such phrases were used by a speaker,” he said.
However, he said the government need to also rid itself of negative activities like corruption, mismanagement, wastage and misappropriation of funds.
“I had no doubts about who I want to support because whenever I browse the Internet, read the blogs or dig for information, I only come across moral issues of the opposition leaders like sodomy, prostitution even though such news is always denied,” he said.
Meanwhile, an employee of a supermarket who only wanted to be known as Soo Mey refused to accept the idea that youths are more inclined towards the opposition by measuring the involvement of youths in the April 28 rally at Dataran Merdeka.
“My family and I do not like such disturbances. I just do not understand why people say youths favour such situations. Only a few like to join such demonstrations. Millions of others don’t,” she said admitting that she did pray that the security in the country was maintained.
She also described Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as sincere by implementing numerous programmes for the people, regardless of race or religion, like the distribution of RM500 BR1M and RM100 for all schoolchildren.
“We have already seen that this is a good government because they fulfilled all the promises, thus why are we trying to test another government. We have a good home now, do not demolish it just because someone else had promised to give a better or bigger house,” she said.
A random survey by Bernama had also revealed that youths want their voice and opinion to be heard.
Their level of awareness and political knowledge is good because students of today are well exposed to information through various mediums, including social media and the Internet and they do make wise judgments and will not mortgage their future.