KUALA LUMPUR: Maintaining fitness has become a popular lifestyle among youth and now they can exercise and practice to cast their votes on a mobile app called Rundi.
Rundi founder Tan She Yong said he hoped that the app would encourage fitness buffs to vote in the upcoming general election.
The rules of using the app is simple. Rundi allows users to cast a fictitious vote for any political party whenever they hit the 2km mark while running.
“The idea of Rundi, which is a combination of run and undi (vote), is to create a positive outlook for youths in the 21-35 age bracket towards the election," Tan said.
“As the election day comes closer, there will come a point where people will be overwhelmed by all the manifestos and campaigning, and some might think that it is easier to not vote at all.
“Exercise usually makes a person have an optimistic outlook and maybe after running, Rundi users can at least have another perspective on the election.
“With the app, we hope to remind the users to vote as it is a social responsibility to exercise their right.”
Rundi, Tan said, was not affiliated with any political party to maintain a neutral view for its users.
However, he said Rundi’s developer - BiiB - was willing to collaborate with any political party if the app encouraged youths to vote.
Tan said BiiB, which is also a mobile application for fitness tracking, had around 2,000 subscribers and Rundi’s features were similar to that of BiiB but with additional details on the users’ voting pattern for either Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan or Pas.
He said throughout the election campaign, Rundi would show graphs on vote counts received by the parties and the distance that the users had run.
Rundi brand ambassador and national tower athlete Soh Wai Ching, 24, said this would encourage those who were inclined on sporting activities to be more aware of the current issues in the country.
“We have seasoned runners who are into politics, so I think this would not only benefit their health but also remind them of their responsibility towards the nation,” he added.
Smartphone users can download Rundi at Google Playstore and App Store starting today (April 4).