Listening to budding leaders

YOUTHS submitted ideas to improve the public transportation system through the Malaysia Public Policy Competition (MPPC) 2014.

MPPC was set up as a platform for budding leaders to help draft public policies and out of 239 tertiary-level students studying locally and internationally, 80 were chosen to take part.

They were divided into teams of four during the competition held at Sunway University from Aug 22 to 24.

MPPC is a yearly competition which started in 2011 and is organised by the International Council of Malaysian Scholars and Associates (ICMS).

The students went through several brainstorming sessions before presenting their practical policies on public transportation.

Representatives from Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD), and Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd were the judges for the competition.

It was sponsored by the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation.

Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) founding president Tunku Zain Al-’Abidin Ibni Tuanku Muhriz raised several issues for the contestants to reflect upon in his opening address.

“As easy as it is to plan public transportation systems from scratch, the reality is any policymaker will inherit a situation that is far from ideal.

“Not only will they have to encounter problems of physical infrastructure but also address residents’ objections.

“One of the recurring concepts we see across all sectors is decentralisation in terms of policy-making and in other areas, so think about who would have responsibility over the various forms of transport in the different states,” he said.

Pemandu director Mohd Azharuddin Mat Sah gave a progress report of several ongoing and upcoming public transportation projects.

“Some of the challenges that need to be considered is getting the community to support taking public transport by changing their perspectives.

“In a developed world, it is not that poor people have cars, but that rich people take public transport,’’ said Mohd Azharuddin, quoting a tweet.

ICMS chief executive director Lee Jia Lok spoke of his experience as an MPPC contestant in 2013.

“This competition gives participants a part to play in shaping the country,” said Lee.

Sunway Group corporate advisor and Centre for Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam advised that when creating policy, implementation must not be taken for granted and continuously monitored.

The winning team received RM5,000 for the case-based competition and the prospect of having their ideas incorporated into future public policy.

Sunway Group sponsored the venue, while partners included Maybank, TalentCorp Malaysia and Ernst & Young.

For details, visit ww.icmscholars.org