Malaysia GE2022: Youths raise funds to help Sabah, Sarawak peers return home for polling day

KOTA KINABALU — With the lowering of Malaysia’s voting age from 21 to 18 in the upcoming elections, several fundraising initiatives have emerged in the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak to help students from there return home to cast their votes.

These initiatives subsidise the travel fares of students studying in schools outside of their constituencies, including those in Peninsular Malaysia. 

The number of eligible voters in Malaysia has increased by more than six million, following the Malaysian government’s move to lower the voting age.

However, unlike overseas voters, Malaysians staying outside their hometown are not eligible for postal voting and must return to their constituencies to vote. 

The issue has been a bug bear among East Malaysian voters, especially those who must take a flight back to return to Sabah or Sarawak if they are working or studying in a different state.

Local media reported that ticket prices for domestic flights soared after Malaysia’s Election Commission announced that polls would be held on Nov 19.

Among the various fundraising efforts to ease the financial burden of East Malaysian students is the #JuhBalitNgundi (which means "it's time to vote") campaign started by Mr Luqman Al-Hakim. 

The campaign is being run by SiswaBalik Initiative (which means "students, go home"), a youth group co-founded by Mr Luqman last month which pushes for greater voting accessibility and postal voting for students in Malaysia.

The 24-year-old, who is studying international relations at the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, is raising funds to cover the bus fares of Sarawakian students who need to travel within the state to get to their polling stations. 

“We are afraid if youth are silenced, whether directly or indirectly, it will negatively influence any real chances of progress in Malaysia,” said Mr Luqman, who is from Selangor.

He hopes that the youth group will also “coerce the Election Commission” to allow Malaysian students studying locally, especially those who have to travel between the peninsular and East Malaysian states, to vote by post.

As of Sunday (Nov 13), the fundraising campaign has raised RM42,000 (S$12,500) from public donations since it kicked off on Nov 3.

The amount is enough to benefit 237 out of 385 people who have applied for the fund, added Mr Luqman. 

His initiative has also inspired a similar fundraising campaign in the neighbouring state of Sabah. 

Started by 26-year-old lawyer Priskila Akwila Sinem, the Anak Sabah Balik Mengundi (Sabah children return to vote) campaign is raising funds to cover the airfare of students returning to Sabah from other states.

Ms Priskila said that she started the initiative after finding out from her sister, who is a student in Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, that Sabah students at the university could not afford the flight tickets home.

“She found out that there are movements for Sarawakian students to go back for voting, yet unfortunately there were no such campaigns for the Sabahan students. Thus, we decided to start the movement,” said Ms Priskila.

Ms Priskila is raising funds through the Kelab Belia Generasi Pemenang Kampung Tempasuk, a youth club she started in 2019.

Within three days of the campaign’s launch on Nov 7, the club has received 500 applications for funds. The majority of the applicants are first-time voters, said Ms Priskila. 

While as of Nov 10, only RM5 had been raised, Ms Priskila said she is confident that donations will pick up as the campaign is still in its early days. 

Ms Crystal Birid, a 21-year-old studying in the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, is hoping she will be able to tap the funds from the Anak Sabah Balik Mengundi campaign to return back to Sabah to vote.

Ms Crystal said that she cannot afford to buy flight tickets to return to vote and she also needs airfare money to return home during the school break in December. 

She said that a round trip between Sabah and Kuala Lumpur currently costs between RM700 and RM1,000, up from RM300 to RM500 usually.

She also believes that the government should allow postal voting for those who live far away from their hometowns. 

Analysts said that while the response to such fundraising efforts demonstrates the eagerness of East Malaysians to vote in the upcoming elections, they will have a limited impact on voter turnout for Sabah and Sarawak. 

Dr Azmi Hassan, a political analyst from Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research, said that East Malaysians who are unable to return home to vote will not pull down overall voter turnout at the polls on Nov 19.