Change Is Coming The Mamdani Way

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 The lesson from New York City is clear – younger voters mobilise when a bold message on housing, wages and justice is rooted in real policy and not PR.
From Charles Santiago
In New York City, 33-year-old democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani recently defeated a party insider in the mayoral primary. His success was powered by young working-class voters fed up with a system that ignores their everyday struggles.
He didn’t just win his base but built bridges, even sweeping traditionally conservative Jewish districts with over 70% of the vote. His victory wasn’t about identity politics. It was about survival.
Malaysia is facing its own affordability crisis, yet most political parties cling to the same tired economic playbook.
The lesson from New York City is clear – when a candidate speaks boldly about housing, wages and justice, and when that message is rooted in real policy and not PR, younger voters mobilise. And they don’t need mainstream permission to do so.
Malaysian youth are not apathetic. They are alert, angry and increasingly organised. From campus protests to mutual aid networks, they’re stepping into the political vacuum left by stale leadership and safe slogans.
The appetite isn’t just for representation, it is for redistribution of opportunity, wealth and dignity.
Leaders who ignore this will soon find themselves speaking to empty rooms. It’s time to stop treating bold economic proposals as political suicide.
In a country where the cost of living outpaces wages, and owning a home is a fantasy for many, demanding rent control, free education or public housing isn’t radical, but responsible.
The parties that survive the next decade will be those that stop playing defence and start offering a vision worth fighting for.
Malaysian political parties face a choice – keep managing the crisis or transform it.
TikTok propaganda and youth wings won’t cut it. Young voters are smart. They know branding from conviction. And if the system doesn’t speak for them, they will build one that does.
Change is no longer a question of if but who will lead it, and who will be left behind. - FMT
Charles Santiago is a former MP and a political economist.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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