Article: BN’s ‘New’ Youth Face

In 2008, Barisan Nasional struck out with youths. Now it’s fighting back. Let’s take a look at their ‘new’ youth culture. It was June. Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak stood on a stage outside the Bukit Jalil stadium, wearing a casual, colourful T-shirt. Addressing a crowd of youngsters at a TwtUp youth event, he spoke of learning the “youth language”. This apparently included text-speak; he slowly and deliberately name-dropped a few like ‘LOL’ and ‘TGIF’, much to the amusement of the crowd. Rather wisely, he didn’t try to use the words himself, opting to be the grown-up leader who knows the lingo rather than the desperate dad trying to look cool. And that has been the tack Najib has been taking, by and large – his aim is to connect with youths and appear accessible to them, rather than trying to be one of them. The focus therefore has been to consistently attend youth events, of which the tournament was only one. However, he was not the only one trying to pull young voters that day. Deputy Higher Education Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Gan Ping Sieu and Hulu Selangor MP P Kamalanathan were also in attendance [...]