Political awakening today driven by sense of dissatisfaction, says Rafizi

PUTRAJAYA: While the “Reformasi” movement sparked the political awakening among the youth in the late 1990s, today’s political awakening stems from the feeling of dissatisfaction, says Rafizi Ramli.

The PKR deputy president said in today’s age of social media and digital connectivity, today's youth have a certain level of expectations.

“It is different from our (generation). Some of us did not even have a television. Eventually, you will be dealing with a generation who will put high hopes on the government,” he said when launching the PKR’s women’s and youth wing’s congresses here on Saturday (Nov 25).

“They cannot wait long. They need immediate results, and they have very limited patience. Due to digital connectivity, the challenge you will face with this generation of youth is a group with a short attention span”.

“Unlike us, you will face a group of youth, be it men or women, whose political awakening stems from dissatisfaction.”

As governments are facing the challenge of economic changes, the Opposition will have an advantage as all the Opposition has to do is fuel the feeling of dissatisfaction,” he added.

He also noted that not many youth leaders from the first generation of PKR have remained except for himself and secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

Rafizi said he is not keen on recollecting the past, as the challenges of the present generation are different.

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“The only foundation that will help you remain in the party, and the fundamental that will help you become an effective leader with the responsibility entrusted towards you is your idealism when you’re young,” he said.

“Not many will speak of idealism these days because the party is 24 years old. We became state governments in 2008, and many from the various wings have been given the mandate and opportunity to hold leadership positions. I understand the focus is more towards that, and we don’t speak much of idealism.”

He said only idealism would propel the youth and women’s wings forward and make them strong pillars of the party.

Rafizi said there are three generations in the party, with the pioneer generation being those from the late 1990s and those whose political awakening came in 2008 after PKR formed the state government in a few states.

The third generation of the party, he said, are those whose political awakening arose after Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim became prime minister.

“If this political awakening after seeing the government and the flavour of the day, hence it is not difficult for those joining the party because they are the government to defect to another party when the government changes,” he said.

“It is not strong enough to continue the struggle. My only message to the delegates to look back at our idealism and why we joined the party,” he added.

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He said if the desire for positions drives idealism, not many would be bestowed with the opportunity, and even if they get it, not many can withstand the challenges.

Rafizi added that strong idealism will enable the next generation to withstand any challenges to drive the party forward.

Rafizi added that the focus will be on idealism and building a talent pipeline to take over the reins eventually.

“The talent pipeline will need a systematic structure,” he said.

“In the current situation, you are facing a huge challenge to win the youth (support). Business as usual is not an option,” he said.

“After this congress, my duty as the deputy president is to work with the women’s and youth wing to focus on talents so that we can attract as many talents as possible to lead,” he said.

He said this is also to ensure that the youth leaders of PKR will be seen as a reference and example by other parties and, at the same time, build a leadership team that will be able to lead for the next 40-50 years.

“If we can do that in two to three years to come, your contributions will be greater than us who are waiting to punch out in the next five to ten years,” he said.

The two-day congress will be attended by 2,374 delegates and 1,500 observers, along with leaders from the Unity Government component parties and 50 delegates from various foreign embassies.