It's going to take more than fancy promises to get Sarawak's youth to come out and vote in next month's state elections, a two-term member of parliament says.

Kapit MP Alexander Nanta Linggi said Sarawak faces the same trend of a low interest in politics among the youth - the problem both BN and Pakatan Rakyat face at the national level.

Information and communication technology has put a great deal of power in the hands of the youth, Alexander said, making it all the more important for political parties to engage them.

"I'm sure many youths want to be fence sitters because they are assessing (the situation), and they don't want to simply throw support behind any political party," he told Malaysiakini .

"We leaders must accept the fact that the youth have great expectations, even those who do not have tertiary education... they have Internet access and interrelate with one another.

NONE "(It's tough) not only for BN; even the opposition has to reckon with the young voters," he pointed out.

Alexander, 52, who started his political career with PBB's youth wing in 1983, acknowledged that the March 2008 'tsunami', which whittled down BN's hold on Parliament to a simple majority, had to a certain extent tipped youth support towards the opposition.

However, he noted, the various gaffes made by the Pakatan state governments in Penang and Selangor, as well as some of its MPs over the past three years, have since brought the scale back to neutral.

But of greater concern is the low number of youths registered to vote, on top of convincing those already registered to even take the trouble to cast their ballots on polling day, he said.

'Hundreds of thousands not registered'

According to a recent Bernama report, some 300,000 of the 980,000 registered voters in Sarawak are youths, with an estimated 450,000 more yet to register.

"I can't say for sure why, but I can only guess... probably because they see what is going on around us, they end up being disinterested," he said when asked about the lack of interest i9n politics and governance among the youth.

NONE "They may see both sides; government and opposition, to be below their expectations. They expect leadership, governance, a country that is well run, fair bureaucracy and maybe even less of that.

"We have got to make politics attractive. Not in the sense that everyone would want to be a politician, but so that the youth will want to participate in the process.

"When they are interested, they will play an important role in deciding how things should be done properly," he said.

Alexander, now a PBB supreme council member, said the BN could expect its support base in the rural areas to remain largely intact due to the higher ratio of elderly voters, who he said tend to vote for BN as "they are already used to" voting for BN.

However, he expects the youth to "put more thought" behind their votes, a phenomenon that could spread out of the urban centres - where the opposition is strongest - and into the surrounding areas at least.

"The youth are much broader in their political outlook. It's not easy to convince them. They will ask 'why are you the best? Why do you think you are better?' So, we should be prepared to prove why we are better," he said.

Sibu 'miracle' a warning sign for BN

Asked about the opposition's chances in Sarawak, Alexander admitted that it does have a few things going for it in the bid to shake BN's hold on the country's largest state.

Not least on the list is DAP's slim victory in the Sibu parliamentary by-election in June last year, which Alexander attributed to the unprecedented strength of the Pakatan campaign machinery and resources.

sibu by election result dap leaders celebrating "At the same time, we cannot overlook the fact that Sibu is part of the opposition's wind of change, and that Sibu is also an urban area... (DAP's win in) Sibu might cause a spinoff, especially at urban areas," he said.

Alexander added that he expects the opposition to pounce on the numerous land issues faced by Sarawakians, especially to fuel their bid to break through to rural voters.

He does not discount the possibility that the opposition, particularly PKR, has managed to gain traction among rural voters following a string of successful legal challenges against the government over land ownership issues over the years.

"The fact (is) that they won a lot of cases in court, so we won't brush it aside. I would rather look at it very closely."

Alexander noted that one long-standing issue is the low dividends given out to natives whose land is being developed by private companies under public-private joint venture programmes.

He cited a case in Kanowit, where a public-listed company engaged to run such a programme did not hand out the dividends promised to the land owners, leaving the government to take the blame.

"I admit that the government should keep tabs on this, but it is also the responsibility of the companies to make sure dividends are paid. There is no point developing thousands of acres if people don't benefit.

"We must zoom in on where we are making mistakes... maybe (the old methods are) no longer effective. We need to upgrade now. With all the experience (in land management and issues), I don't see why not. Delivery is something we need to work on," Alexander added.