GE15 Got Politicians Politiktoking
SYDI ALIF
On the other hand, a sum of 441 candidates are contesting in state elections happening over Perak (59 seats), Pahang (42) and Perlis (15) as well as in the Bugaya state by-election in Sabah.
While numerous young, new and fresh faces are put forth to rejuvenate the political scene of the nation, some decade-old characters of the never-ending story did not shy away from their life-long limelight.
1. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
Contesting for the 13th time at both parliamentary and state levels, former Gua Musang parliamentary seat holder Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, famously addressed as Ku Li, recently had taken the public by surprise as he hopped on the infamous social platform among senior citizens, TikTok as his approach to engage with voters, younger ones especially of course ahead of the GE15.
At 85, he is the second oldest candidate in GE15 and Barisan Nasional's oldest. The oldest candidate in this election is Langkawi parliamentary seat incumbent Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad of Pejuang, who is 96.
Speaking to Bernama, Ku Li, who has been Gua Musang’s MP since 1974, said he has been active on TikTok since a month ago.
"I followed the current trend when I started being active on TikTok. This method is also an approach to bridge the gap with the people who are separated by distance and other constraints.
"I also try to meet the tastes of young people in accordance with the changing times," he expressed to the news outlet at Batu Papan 2 recently.
There is no denying the ability of the veteran politician to adapt to changing trends in line with the digital age.
2. Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
Fellow veteran politician, Pejuang chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has garnered over 400,000 followers on TikTok.
On one of his recent videos on the platform, the loyal Langkawi seat candidate brought up his successor of the Malaysia premiership, Bersatu chairperson Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who was depicted as a “traitor”.
The nonagenarian GE15 candidate portrayed Muhyiddin was part of the Sheraton Move which aimed to seize power from ruling PH government in 2020.
3. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
Just like ‘Atok’ (Dr Mahathir), Malaysians’ dubbed ‘Abah’ Muhyiddin had also jumped on the bandwagon and proved that age is just a number, being 75.
On a featured content by Satu Berita TikTok account, he put on a heart-warming smile and brushed off opponent parties, namely PH and BN’s logos out of the screen to a catchy jingle ‘Swipe’ by Singaporean crooner, Alyph.
On his very own page, the Malaysia’s eighth prime minister had managed to amass about half a dozen views at least to date.
4. Khairy Jamaluddin
On board among the younger clans, caretaker Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin quite instantly found his lucky charm on TikTok as it shot to fame when the video of his son receiving the Covid-19 vaccine went viral.
So it is safe to say that the Sungai Buloh candidate from BN will probably have little to no problem campaigning on TikTok, especially now that it seems that there have been quite some reposts and content surrounding his campaign in Sungai Buloh by his ‘fans’.
5. Rafizi Ramli
From the same age group as the former Rembau Member of Parliament (MP), PKR Deputy President Rafizi Ramli and had early on captioned on his first ever TikTok video that he intends to use the application to urge eligible young voters to serve their rights in GE15.
"I will bring the #AyuhMalaysia campaign to TikTok to convince young people to vote and choose Keadilan/PH in the next GE," he insisted.
Determined to navigate himself and his content on the platform, he was reported to reveal that he creates and edits what he posted by himself.
6. Tengku Zafrul Aziz
Another member of the 70s cool kids block, caretaker Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz is notably a newcomer on both TikTok as well as in the nation’s political landscape.
Like his fellow member of caretaker cabinet, Khairy Jamaluddin, the high-profile GE15 candidate has also gained over 300,000 followers on his TikTok account.
Interestingly, while Khairy had shared a video of him dining and cycling with Singapore's Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, Tengku Zafrul uploaded a post of him strumming on six strings with Singapore's Finance Minister, Lawrence Wong.
If you dare, check out the TikTok and guess what tune the pair of finance frontliners were plucking to (p.s. spoiler alert: definitely not Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton).
7. Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman
Of course, this one is no stranger around the short-video platform, but there is no denying that Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman was the key figure who was responsible for paving the way for fellow politicians to embrace the digital format of reaching out to and win voters’ hearts especially ahead of such huge battle at the polls.
So alternatively, the 29-year-old proud 'Muo' native is the veteran one on TikTok with almost a million followers making use of the platform to raise awareness on subjects that are especially close to the younger generation’s heart ranging from mental health, gender pay gap and as you might have figured, their right to vote.
A guest featured regularly in his TikTok videos is the former MP of Segambut, Hannah Yeoh.
This time around, the country is expected to welcome 1.4 million new voters from young citizens.
Out of 21.1 million voters this year, which saw youth voters aged 18 to 40 years old are estimated at 12.2 million making up 58 per cent of the total voting population.
So what does this mean? Well, the TikTok generation or millennials and Gen Z's votes could potentially make a dent and leave a mark on the future government to be formed from the result of the 15th General Election.
Hence, that is why social media, especially TikTok, has ridiculously become one of the hottest platforms for future Yang Berhormat to promote themselves this time around just like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube used to be prior to the last election.
