Dalam sebuah negara demokrasi seperti Malaysia, media memainkan peranan penting dalam membentuk struktur pengetahuan politik dan mendorong kepada tindakan menyertai aktiviti politik di kalangan pengundi muda baharu. Isunya penyelidikan empirikal terhadap struktur pengetahuan politik di kalangan pengundi muda baharu di Malaysia masih kurang diberi perhatian memandangkan topik kesediaan penyertaan politik kian mendapat perhatian dalam forum politik. Objektif kajian untuk menilai tahap struktur pengetahuan politik dari 1) dimensi maklumat demokrasi, 2) dimensi maklumat pilihan raya dan 3) dimensi maklumat parti politik dalam konteks pengundi muda baharu di Malaysia. Penyelidikan kuantitatif ini menggunakan kaedah survei fokus kepada 547 responden yang berusia 18-26 tahun di seluruh Malaysia dari Zon Utara, Timur, Barat, Selatan dan Borneo. Kajian ini melaporkan pengundi muda baharu di Malaysia mempunyai tahap pengetahuan politik yang tinggi terutama bagi maklumat demokrasi dan maklumat pilihan raya. Namun, tahap pengetahuan maklumat parti politik dalam kalangan responden dilaporkan di tahap sederhana. Kajian ini mencadangkan agar Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia menganjurkan outreach program dengan kerjasama Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia dan Kementerian Belia dan Sukan. Kandungan program ini untuk kempen kesedaran mengundi dan inisiatif strategik untuk meningkatkan jaringan pengundi muda baharu dengan entiti kerajaan. Memuatnaik foto, mencipta kandungan di media baharu dan tag media baharu milik entiti kerajaan ini mampu mencetus data tetapan algoritma di media baharu. Ini adalah strategi ‘gesaan’ (prompt) kepada tetapan algoritma untuk mencadangkan kandungan berunsur politik dalam media baharu pengundi muda baharu. Hal ini membantu pengundi muda baharu di Malaysia yang kurang minat politik untuk mendapat pendedahan maklumat politik melalui maklumat polisi kerajaan.

Kata kunci: Pengundi muda baharu; media baharu; maklumat demokrasi; maklumat parti politik; maklumat pilihan raya

Abstract: In a democratic country like Malaysia, the media plays a vital role in shaping the structure of political knowledge and encouraging political participation among new young voters. Lack of empirical study on structure of political knowledge among new young voters in Malaysia conducted even the topic of political participation readiness gain popular in political forums. The objective of this study are to analyse the level of political knowledge structure from 1) democratic information dimension, 2) election information dimension, and 3) political party information dimension among new young voters in Malaysia. This study uses a quantitative approach with a survey method on 547 respondents aged 18-26 throughout Malaysia from the North, East, West, South, and Borneo Zones. The findings reported that new young voters in Malaysia have a high level of political knowledge on democratic information and election information. However, for political party information at a moderate level. This study suggests that the SPR organize an outreach program in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Education Malaysia, and the Ministry of Higher Education in promoting voting awareness campaigns purposely to increase engagement of new young voters with government entities. Uploading photos, creating content on social media, and tagging the government entities. By using ‘prompt’ strategy and algorithm tools, it helps new young voters in Malaysia who are less interested in politics gain exposure to political information through government policy information and finally, shape their structure of political knowledge.

Keywords: New young voters; social media; demoracy information; electoral information; political party information

References

Aljalabneh, A. A. S., Alzoubi, A. F., & Shlool, H. (2023). Facebook as a contemporary public sphere for opinion expression and participation: Jordan as a case study. Studies in Media and Communication, 11(3), 70–78. https://doi.org/10.11114/SMC.V11I3.5984

Ar-robbaniy, N. A., Rahmawati, H., & Shanti, P. (2022). The relationship between attitudes and the use of instagram for political participation among college students. Psychology Research on Education and Social Sciences, 3(4), 103–109.

Ariff Aizuddin , Azlam & Muhamad Nadzri, M. N. (2023). Dari Barisan ke Perikatan: Politik, parti dan pengundi dalam pilihan raya umum 2022. Malaysian Journal of History, Politics & Strategic Studies, 50(2), 137–153.

Azevedo, F., Micheli, L., & Bolesta, D. S. (2023). Does stereotype threat contribute to the political knowledge gender gap? A preregistered replication study of Ihme and Tausendpfund (2018). Journal of Experimental Political Science, 00(00), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1017/xps.2022.35

Beardow, J. (2021). Scroll, click, like, share, repeat: The algorithmic polarisation phenomenon. ANU Journal of Law and Technology, 2(1), 153–164.

Boulianne, S., & Larsson, A. O. (2023). Engagement with candidate posts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook during the 2019 election. New Media and Society, 25(1), 119–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211009504

Bruce, R., & Lima, R. C. (2019). Compulsory voting and TV news consumption. Journal of Development Economics, 138(January), 165–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.01.006

Eichhorn, J., & Bergh, J. (2021). Lowering the voting age to 16 in practice: Processes and outcomes compared. Parliamentary Affairs, 74(3), 507–521. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsab019

Ellyanis, N., Basori, M., & Awang Besar, J. (2020). Pengaruh media terhadap sokongan kepada parti politik di Malaysia. Journal of Social Science and Humanities., 17(5), 1823–1884. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/333872119.pdf

Garz, M., & Szucs, F. (2023). Algorithmic selection and supply of political news on Facebook. Information Economics and Policy, 62(2), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoecopol.2023.101020

Gil de Zúñiga, H., Ardèvol-Abreu, A., & Casero-Ripollés, A. (2021). WhatsApp political discussion, conventional participation and activism: exploring direct, indirect and generational effects. Information Communication and Society, 24(2), 201–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1642933

González, R., Alvarez, B., Manzi, J., Varela, M., Frigolett, C., Livingstone, A. G., Louis, W., Carvacho, H., Castro, D., Cheyre, M., Cornejo, M., Jiménez-Moya, G., Rocha, C., & Valdenegro, D. (2021). The role of family in the intergenerational transmission of collective action. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12(6), 856–867. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550620949378

Halim, H., Mohamad, B., Dauda, S. A., & Azizan, F. L. (2021). Association of online political participation with social media usage, perceived information quality, political interest and political knowledge among Malaysian youth : Structural equation model analysis. Cogent Social Sciences, 7(1), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2021.1964186

Hermawan, I. C., Mulyadi, M. B., & Septian, A. (2020). Perception of students as a beginner voter on general election in Cianjur District. International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 9(2), 1853–1861.

Hung, L. E. E. T. (2022). Tiktok content in communication strategy: Politics of the 15th General Election in Malaysia. Higher Education and Oriental Studies, 2(6), 24–33. https://doi.org/10.54435/heos.v2i6.83

Hutasoit, K., & Gusfa, H. (2020). The effect of television media on beginner voters’ political participation. Jurnal Studi Komunikasi (Indonesian Journal of Communications Studies), 3(November), 583–596. https://doi.org/10.25139/jsk.v4i3.2432

Intyaswati, D., Maryani, E., Sugiana, D., & Venus, A. (2021). Using media for voting decision among first-time voter college students in West Java, Indonesia. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 10(1), 327–339. https://doi.org/10.36941/ajis-2021-0028

Intyaswati, D., & Venus, A. (2021). Using Media for Voting Decision among First-time Voter College Students in West Java , Indonesia. 2003, 327–339.

Islam, M. R., Khan, N. A., & Baikady, R. (2022). Principles of social research methodology. In Principles of Social Research Methodology (Issue October, pp. 167–179). Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5441-2

Ismail, M. M., Adnan, Z. H., & Ishak, M. S. (2023). Kecenderungan pengundi baharu dalam Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-15. Malaysian Journal of History, Politics & Strategic Studies, 50(2), 224–240.

Johansson, H., & Scaramuzzino, G. (2023). Digital resource abundance: How social media shapes success and failure of online mobilisation. Convergence, 29(3), 586–601. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565221149853

Junaidi Awang Besar, Rosmadi Fauzi, Amer Saifude Ghazali, Mohd Azlan Abdullah, & Mazlan Ali. (2017). Pilihan Raya Umum (PRU) 2013 di Malaysia: Suatu analisis ‘tsunami politik bandar’ (Malaysia’s General Election (GE) 2013: An analysis of urban political ’tsunami’). Geografia - Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 10(4), 28–38.

Junaidi, Awang Besar. (2023). Pilihan Raya Umum Malaysia ke-15: Pola sokongan pengundi berdasarkan faktor kewilayahan. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 4(1), 168–180.

Karimi, K., & Fox, R. L. (2023). Scrolling, simping, and mobilizing: TikTok’s influence over Generation Z’s Political Behavior. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 12(1), 181–208.

Kwiatkowska, A., & Cześnik, M. (2020). Electoral system, political knowledge and voter turnout - Complex liaisons. Polish Sociological Review, 212(4), 425–444. https://doi.org/10.26412/psr212.03

Lang, A. (2023). Voting at 16? 16–17-Year-Old Germans vote as correctly as adults. Political Psychology, 44(4), 857–870. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12892

Lee, C. (2020). The Lowered Voting Age in Malaysia : Who Will Benefit ? (Vol. 5, Issue 1).

Lee, J., & Hardy, R. J. (2019). Positive messages as a motivator for seeking information about candidates. Politics and Policy, 47(5), 877–901. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12326

Lee, S., Nanz, A., & Heiss, R. (2022). Platform-dependent effects of incidental exposure to political news on political knowledge and political participation. Computers in Human Behavior, 127(June 2021), 107048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107048

Loukianov, A., Burningham, K., & Jackson, T. (2023). The patterning of the discursive space in search for the #goodlife: A network analysis of the co-occurrence of Instagram hashtags. Information Society, 39(1), 62–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2022.2125604

Lozano-Blasco, R., Mira-Aladrén., M., & Gil-Lamata, M. (2023). Social media influence on young people and children: Analysis on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Comunicar, 30(74), 117–128. https://doi.org/10.3916/C74-2023-10

Lu, Y., & Lee, J. K. (2020). Determinants of cross-cutting discussion on Facebook: Political interest, news consumption, and strong-tie heterogeneity. New Media and Society, 23(1), 175–192. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819899879

Mahathir, M. (2019, April). Teks ucapan menggulung perbahasan Rang Undang-Undang Perlembagaan (Pindaan) 2019. https://pmo.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Ucapan-Penggulungan-YAB-PM-RUU-Perlembagaan.pdf

Majid, K. & I. (2020). Signifikan pendidikan sejarah Perlembagaan dalam melestarikan institusi beraja. International Journal of Education and Pedagogy, 2(4), 321–338.

Malaysia, S. P. raya. (2022). Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya. Latar Belakang.
Martin, J. D., & Sharma, K. (2023). Are newsjunkies more likely to vote ? Intrinsic need for orientation and voter registration , intention to vote , and voter conscientiousness. Political Psychology, 44(1), 197–214. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12834

Metzler, H., & Garcia, D. (2023). Social drivers and algorithmic mechanisms on digital media. Perspectives on Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916231185057

Meyerhoefer, H. C. C. D. (2023). Do elections make you sick ? Evidence from first-time voters. Health Economic, 9(2), 1064–1083. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4655

Michalski, P., Marchlewska, M., Furman, A., Szczepańska, D., Panayiotou, O., Molenda, Z., & Górska, P. (2023). To advise and scrutinize the government? Two types of political knowledge, political trust and unconventional participation. Current Psychology, 42(14), 12104–12117. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02561-2

Michell, J. (1997). Quantitative science and the definition of. British Journal of Psychology, 88, 355–383.

Mohd Dzaki, M. Z. Bin. (2022). Sifat dan tingkah laku politik pengundi Undi-18 di Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Swasta (IPTS) di Pulau Pinang. Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (MJSSH), 7(11), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.47405/mjssh.v7i11.1941

Mohd Faizal, K. (2023). Undi 18: Understanding the political participation of first-time Malay voters through social media. SEARCH Journal of Media and Communication Research, 2023(Special Issue), 33–48.

Mohd Nizah, M. A., & Abu Bakar, A. R. (2022). Undi 18, dinamika politik dan keselamatan negara: Analisa daripada Pilihan Raya Negeri Johor 2022. Journal of Public Security and Safety, 14(2), 1–14.

Mont’Alverne, C., Moraes, D., & Kemer, T. (2023). Are politically engaged citizens more democratic? A glimpse from Brazil. International Political Science Review, 44(3), 354–369. https://doi.org/10.1177/01925121211056578

Nizah, M. A. M. (2019). Undi 18: Belia dan politik konvensional. Seminar Tamadun, Etnik Dan Turath Islami, October, 304–210.
Ohme, J. (2019). When digital natives enter the electorate: Political social media use among first-time voters and its effects on campaign participation. Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 16(2), 119–136.https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2019.1613279

Ohme, J. (2020). Mobile but Not mobilized? Differential gains from mobile news consumption for citizens’ political knowledge and campaign participation. Digital Journalism, 8(1), 103–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2019.1697625

Othman, I. W., Ibrahim, M. A., & Esa, M. S. (2022). Democratization and mature elections: A study of youth political participation in voters 18 and automatik voter registration. International Journal of Law, Government And Communication, 7(29), 600–622. https://doi.org/10.35631/IJLGC.729041

Pallant, J. (2016). Preliminary analyses. In SPSS : Survival manual. Open University Press.

Razali, M. M., Hussin, N. I., Moral, J. P., Karakter, P., Pendidikan, U., Idris, S., & Malim, T. (2021). Media baharu dan aktiviti politik belia Melayu di Selangor. Journal of Social Scienc, 7(1), 45–54.

Razali, S. Z., & Abdul Hani, M. L. H. (2022). “If there is a declaration of war, we welcome the war”: Undi-18, TikTok election and normalisation of violence. Journal of Strategic Studies & International Affairs, 2(2), 183–198. https://doi.org/10.17576/sinergi.0202.2022.08

Reiter, F., & Matthes, J. (2023). Correctives of the mainstream media? A panel study on mainstream media use, alternative digital media use, and the erosion of political interest as well as political knowledge. Digital Journalism, 11(5), 813–832. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.1974916

Rogers, S. (2023). What Americans know about Statehouse Democracy. State Politics and Policy Quarterly, 23(4), 420–442. https://doi.org/10.1017/spq.2023.19

Sahide, N., & Pauzi, H. M. (2023). Strategi daya tindak dan kesejahteraan subjektif dalam kalangan remaja di Semenanjung Malaysia. International Journal of Islamic Products and Malay Civilization, 2(2), 103–117.

Sanawi, J. B., Mustaffa, N., & Sannusi, S. N. (2022). Political discussion on Twitter: Attributes of political issues in Malaysian media’s tweets during pre and post 14th General Election. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 38(4), 231–249. https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2022-3804-13

Sehl, A., & Schützeneder, J. (2023). Political knowledge to go: An analysis of selected political influencers and their formats in the context of the 2021 German federal election. Social Media and Society, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231177916

Shafiron, N. S., Boyman, S. N., & Razak, N. (2023). Analisis perbandingan mata pelajaran Sejarah di Malaysia dan Finland. Perspektif Jurnal Sains Sosial Dan Kemanusiaan, 15(Special Issue), 106–121. https://doi.org/10.37134/perspektif.vol15.sp.9.2023

Shahabudin, M. S., Nadzri, M., & Noor, M. (2022). Politik dan pilihan raya pakatan harapan pasca Sheraton, 2020-2022. Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 7(11), 2020–2022.

Sharif, M. A. M. N. & S. M. (2020). Undi 18 : Belia dan Politik Konvensional. Sains, 5(1), 180–186.

Sowula, J. (2023). Mind the gap: Young people and welfare-state related knowledge in deservingness and welfare attitude research. Journal of European Social Policy, 34(1), 101–114. https://doi.org/10.1177/09589287231222884

Suhaimee, Saahar, Mohd Khairuddin, Othman, Ahmad Danial Faris, A. (2022). Kesan senario politik ke atas tingkah laku dan niat pengundi PRN Johor 2022. Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (MJSSH), 7(5), e001479. https://doi.org/10.47405/mjssh.v7i5.1479

Tajuddin, S. N. A. A., Joni, J., & Bahari, K. A. (2023). Political communication: Uncovering knowledge, attitudes and young voters’ readiness for PRU-15 in Batang Padang District, Perak. Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, 39(1), 459–472. https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2023-3901-26

Thorson, K., Cotter, K., Medeiros, M., & Pak, C. (2021). Algorithmic inference, political interest, and exposure to news and politics on Facebook. Information Communication and Society, 24(2), 183–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1642934

Tonge, J., Loughran, T., & Mycock, A. (2021). Voting age reform, political partisanship and multi-level governance in the UK: The party politics of “votes-at-16.” Parliamentary Affairs, 74(3), 522–541. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsab020

Turner, D. P. (2019). Sampling methods in research design. American Headache Society, 60(1), 8–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/head.13707
Unkel, J., & Haim, M. (2021). Googling politics: Parties, sources, and issue ownerships on Google in the 2017 German federal election campaign. Social Science Computer Review, 39(5), 844–861. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439319881634

Vogler, D., Weston, M., Ryffel, Q., Rauchfleisch, A., Jürgens, P., Eisenegger, M., Schwaiger, L., & Christen, U. (2023). Mobile news consumption and its relation to young adults’ knowledge about and participation in referendums. Media and Communication, 11(1), 6–18. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v11i1.6029

Weiss, M. L. (2022). Undi18: Youth vote only part of story. RSIS Commentary, 1(January 2022), 1–4. www.rsis.edu.sg
Wunderlich, L., & Hölig, S. (2022). Types of information orientation and information levels among young and old news audiences. Media and Communication, 10(3), 104–117. https://doi.org/10.17645/MAC.V10I3.5293

Zulkifli, N., Omar, S. K., Farizah, N., Hassan, M. S., Rahimi, M., & Rosman, M. (2021). Pengaruh media baru dan penglibatan politik belia. Advances in Humanities and Contemporary Studies, 2(2), 63–77.