Note: This session was conducted under Chatham House rule, and therefore we cannot quote any of the participants directly. The content of this article comprises attendees’ responses to the panelists’ presentation at DRAPAC24.
Panelists Subinoy Mustofi Eron (Activate Rights), Tharindu Abeyrathna (ANFREL), Ankita Rathi (NetMission), Afifah Fitriyani Oceanto (Jentera Law School) share their insights on the 2024 super-election year in the Asia-Pacific
As part of the youth engagement track of the Digital Rights in Asia Pacific 2024 (DRAPAC24) in Taipei last August, EngageMedia and the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) co-hosted a session titled “The 2024 tech-influenced elections in the eyes of young persons.” Held on the first day of the convening on August 18, 2024, the session featured youth panelists sharing their insights on the 2024 super-election year in the Asia-Pacific, quoting the findings of the “Polls, Politics, and Policies: Assessing Impact of 2024 Elections on Digital Development and Internet Governance” report. They also delved into the election situations in Indonesia and Bangladesh and discussed what to expect in the Sri Lankan election this September.
In the session, EngageMedia and ANFREL asked participants a reflective question on their experiences in their respective election cycles: “Have you felt like your voice was heard during this election cycle?”
Social media, a double-edged virtual sword
Everyone uses social media nowadays, from Twitter to TikTok; young people said social media platforms have granted them unprecedented access to information and provided them with a place to express themselves. These platforms also serve as a place to build community – and drive forward initiatives. “Tags on social media have been a very quick tool to get people interested,” one participant said. “It is effective to get messages across. Calls for actions and mobilizations were quick to be spread around in social media, particularly X / Twitter.”
However, social media influence tends to be very shallow and emphasises chasing clout; social media users, especially creators, often echo trending sentiments that are not always reflective or nuanced enough to respond to the issue at hand.
Some even went so far as amplifying disinformation and inciting hate – a trend that tends to rise as countries near their election dates, further blurring the information landscape and pitting people against each other. In these cases, the youth participants attending the DRAPAC24 session find that social media platforms tend to not be very responsive to sensitive political issues or content that violates these platforms’ policies. “In Malaysia, for example, political advertisements and endorsements are not properly labeled, creating a fog of information,” a participant said. Political buzzers and trolls are also well-coordinated to further disturb online discussions, and users reporting them to social media platforms find that this yields very little results.
Often, these platforms’ content moderation policies limit the outreach of certain content. Some extra sensitive information or political news is also shadow-banned or moderated, preventing these from being posted. For some communities, especially those who have been historically subjected to repression, it can be very difficult to get news out.
Meaningful youth representation?
The participants said their respective governments have increasingly reached out to young people for policymaking and deliberation in some aspects of governance. More space is being made for the youth in parliament or the executive and judiciary branches of government. “For example, Indian parliamentarians have increased youth members,” one participant said. “Sri Lanka has also increased the quota for youth representatives in their provincial / city level government.” Many young people are also signing up to be members of parliament and other government positions. In India, more and more people under the youth age group (20 – 35 years old) are being elected.
However, some of these positions seem to be token positions with no concrete power or authority, and many selected for these positions either are not chosen properly or do not have sufficient decision-making power. “The term ‘nepo baby’ comes to mind,” quipped one participant.
Governments may also deny the results of youth voices. One participant recounted their experience organizing in Thailand, where the government dissolved the progressive Move Forward Party, which won the national election back in 2023 and whose voter base was predominantly youth.
Modern problems require modern solutions
The participants also noted shifting trends in youth participation across the Asia-Pacific. Many of the youth and first-time voters are much more interested in participating in political and democratic discourses and actions. However, what this participation looks like manifests differently across jurisdictions.
Conventional participation, such as organizing campaigns and voting during election days, is increasing in countries like Indonesia and India, where young people are actively weighing in on political discourses. Independent initiatives to safeguard the election process are also on the rise; fact-checking initiatives and election monitoring coalitions are usually spearheaded by youth working in non-government organizations, but also are carried through by independent volunteers.
Another means of participation, albeit unconventional, is coordinated boycotting elections. In Bangladesh, this happened almost organically, and in India, a lot of young people decided to tick the dissatisfied box on their ballots rather than choosing candidates to elect.
And now… we trudge forward
Youth participation in several South and Southeast Asian countries is at an all-time high – but it is not enough to just participate. Nearly all attendees in the DRAPAC24 session agreed that meaningful youth participation is crucial in safeguarding democracy and digital rights. To bridge the gap in youth participation, the attendees proposed the following approaches:
- Contextual political education. To help young people better understand the value of their participation in political processes, using inclusive language and contextualizing issues to young people’s situations allows for a better grounding of the problems and links political issues to what young people care about.
- Incentivizing youth participation. Social capital is a great incentive – making something a trend that young people would be interested in participating in work very well in several countries to up the political discourse on social media.
- Clear, “cool” messaging. To appeal to young people, there is a need to strategize on what messaging tactics would best work to capture their attention and interest. In Malaysia, for instance, being progressive or ‘woke’ used to be cool, but the current landscape has again seen a rise in conservatism alongside the polarization of ideologies. What then can progressives do to tailor their messages and make being progressive cool again?
- Being critical with fellow youth. Many of these political tactics to manipulate youth voters are currently being employed by politicians, and they learned these from the young generation, particularly online influencers and content creators. There is unfortunately a chunk of young people who are willing to “sell their own kin” for fame and power, and their fellow youth must be vigilant to call them out.
