KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Youth Parliament is a platform to train MPs of tomorrow and Tan Sri Johari Abdul wants more participation from the youth, especially school students.
The Dewan Rakyat Speaker said the Malaysian Youth Parliament is a crucial programme to train the youth, given that the minimum voting age has been lowered to 18.
“I would call it (Malaysian Youth Parliament) the incubator for democracy, and to train our future leaders,” he said in an exclusive interview with The Star last Friday.
At present, those aged between 15 and 30 can register as voters to elect youth candidates in the Youth Parliament initiative, which is a simulation of the Dewan Rakyat.
However, only those aged above 18 can run as candidates in the Youth Parliament.
To allow more young people to run as candidates, Johari said there are plans to lower the minimum age to 16.
He added that by next year, the election system of the Youth Parliament will be changed.
“So I hope this will be the launching pad for the youth to jump to the next category, which is the real Parliament.
“This Youth Parliament will help us to have a pool of young and respected leaders,” he said.
Johari said it is crucial for schoolchildren to be politically literate.
“If they are 16, they will have two years to understand the election process and what’s democracy is all about,” he said.
He said the Parliament has always actively organised school trips involving teachers and students.
“Moving forward, I want the parent-teacher associations to be involved as well.
“Change must happen within society and we must bring Parliament to society,” he added.
