GUA MUSANG, Nov 10 — In line with the digital age, Gua Musang parliamentary seat incumbent Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is not missing out on using the TikTok application as a new medium to approach voters, especially young people, in his campaign in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Contesting for the 13th time at the parliamentary and state levels, there is no denying the ability of the veteran politician, more popularly known as Ku Li, to adapt to changing trends.
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 reporters, Tengku Razaliegh, who has been the MP for Gua Musang since 1974, said he has been active on the social media platform 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 said when met at Batu Papan 2, here, recently.
As of today, Tengku Razaleigh ‘s TikTok account has 2,751 followers and is growing every day.
Two of his challengers in the four-cornered fight for the seat, Mohd Azizi Abu Naim (PAS) and Asharun Uji (PH), are also using TikTok as one of their campaign mediums.
Mohd Azizi, 50, said that he is sharing his campaign through PAS Gua Musang’s TikTok account.
“Insya-Allah (God willing), very soon I will highlight my own personal account, but for now information sharing is being channeled through the @pasguamusang account,” he said.
According to Asharun, 48, he is uploading his campaign videos through his TikTok account ‘Abeyo Gua Muse’.
“There are those who support, some post provocative comments. However I welcome all opinions and am not quick to lash out let alone reply back to those comments,” he said.
Apart from Ku Li, Mohd Azizi and Asharun, the other candidate in the fray is Dr Samsu Adabi Mamat, 50 ( GTA-Pejuang).
Meanwhile, Head of Communication and Media Studies, College of Computing, Informatics and Media Studies at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Dr Wan Hartini Wan Zainodin, said TikTok has become a new form of culture for youths.
“There are 14.59 million TikTok users aged 18 and over (in Malaysia), although TikTok is a good medium for advertising, it is also good for campaigning,
“As many opportunities as product advertisers get on TikTok, so do political parties get those opportunities. It’s just the approach of use that will determine people’s acceptance of videos on TikTok, whether they use ‘influencers’ or the figure of the candidate himself,” he said.
