COMMENT | "I am tired of the same dismissive attitude from both sides," 27-year-old Sara (not her real name) said to me, in response to my question about voting in the next general election.

For a lot of youths on the political left, not only are they unrepresented, their politics are often dismissed as clueless, hopeless, or meaningless.

Just last week when the Malaysia Muda coalition announced their simulation of the Angkatan Pemuda Insaf (API) congress in December 1946, the press referred to them as the "youths without ‘Harapan’."

A good pun, but it nevertheless misrepresented the group at a time when they cannot afford to be, more than ever.

If anything, these are the youths that provide actual harapan (hope). Where is the harapan in voting in the different face of people with the same archaic, racist and homophobic politics as Umno or BN?

Are we to expect youths to vote for the opposition just because we don't want BN to win again? Are we to expect the youths to continue to let themselves be intellectually and culturally undermined for the sake of the "greater good"?

For the sake of the greater good, or for the sake of the opposition establishment?

If the answer to the questions raised above is a yes, do not expect to see a change in the political participation of the youth. The days of party politics are now stale. It is no longer cool or hip for young people to turn into more politicians we don't need, BN or otherwise.

‘Politik kebudayaan’

Budi (courtesy) and daya (ability), the two words that combine to become budaya, or culture in Malay.

Until today, both sides of the political establishment have neglected a vital aspect of political conscientisation: culture...