In the 13th general election in May 2013, there were 11.2 million out of 13.2 million registered voters who cast their vote, which represented an 85% turnout.

The turnout was unprecedented in all Malaysia’s past general elections and the opposition’s result in the election was also unprecedented.

The opposition was, however, unable to form the government albeit obtaining a 51% popular vote due to gerrymandering. Barisan Nasional, with 47% popular vote, managed to form the government with 133 out of 222 parliamentary seats.

As the 14th general election, which is the mother of all elections, approaches, we are now faced with two challenges: the 4 million unregistered voters and a newly emerged group who intend to abstain from voting.

It is unclear if the group who are planning to abstain from voting is a subset of the unregistered voters or otherwise. In either case, if they do not plan to vote, they effectually become the same group of silent Malaysians whose voices will not be heard.