Prabakaran mem “batu”?

GE-14 was particularly interesting because there were many fresh faces that took part in the election, especially the younger contenders. One that made the headlines is P.Prabakaran who became Malaysia’s youngest MP at the age of 22 for the Batu seat, beating former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak who was elected into the Parliament at 23.

Prabakaran, who stood as an Independent candidate aspires to encourage the youths to be more involved in the political system of the country. In his campaigning speeches, he urged the youths to vote for a change.

After winning the Batu parliamentary seat with a majority of 24,438 votes on May 9th, Prabakaran popularity spiked in the media, headlining as the youngest MP in the history of Malaysia.

However, after the euphoric period of winning, his exposure dropped dramatically with no news in Jun. In the following months, Prabakaran only received a little coverage.In fact, if we look closely at Prabakaran’s influence in his area, we can detect a pattern of inactiveness.

As a member of parliament of the Batu parliamentary seat, Prabakaran is not as active as how he is supposed to be. In the past 1 month, he did not even appear in the top 10 of influencers. The last 2 months (25 November – 25 December, 2018), he topped the list, however with only 28 statements in a period of 1 month. That is as good as no statements at all considering the fact that he is the face of Batu.

With so much noise made about Prabakaran after he won the seat, it is a wonder where he is today. Candidate like Fahmi Fadzil – whom also made the list as one of the young fresh faces in the Malaysian politics – is seen to be active in his area i.e. Lembah Pantai.

Does his little presence in the media means his speeches especially to the youths and people of Batu prior to GE-14 are merely rhetorical?