Young People’s Political Participation in Malaysia During the 1998 Reformasi Era

Abstract

This article examines the dynamics of young people’s political participation in Malaysia during the 1998 Reformasi era by focusing its analyses on the patterns of participation and the impacts of the 1998 Reformasi and the 1999 general election on young people’s political engagement.  By using content analysis of secondary data, the findings show that the 1998 Reformasi marked as a turning point that changed political engagement of young people from politically indifferent or disconnected generation to politically engaged citizens, whether in the forms of conventional politics (i.e. voting) or unconventional politics (i.e. protest activism and social movements) whilst failed to replace the existing ruling regime.  This change was closely related to the regional trend, socioeconomic factors and the new media.