Abdul Muqit Muhammad of Universiti Malaya said the assumption that young voters were more progressive was “baseless” and this was a trend that was observed for the first time in the 15th general election (GE15) last November.

Muqit, who said he studied voters in Malay majority areas, said he found youths to be sentimental and were heavily influenced by their parents, although they have the tendency to vote differently.

“Their brand of politics still revolves around Malay populism, which is amplified by narratives, at times cherry-picked, in social media of popular historical events and pseudo history,” he said at a talk organised by think tank Ilham Centre on the recently concluded elections in six states.

On Aug 12, PN retained the three states it previously led, namely Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah and made inroads into Selangor, a Pakatan Harapan (PH) stronghold.

According to Muqit, young voters were attracted to communal institutions, such as political parties like Umno.

And when Umno began to lose its relevance, the youths turned to PAS and Bersatu, the two Malay parties in PN, he said.

“Youths are also perceived to be anti-establishment, but it does not mean they cannot be conservative.”

He added that youths were more politically active on social media, a factor that PAS exploited.

“And PAS has been on TikTok since 2016,” he said of the video-sharing platform that made its debut in September 2016.

Muqit said if political parties wanted to woo voters in the digital world, they had to understand the trends.

“The government must also understand PN’s grand narrative, one that leans on ethnocentrism.”