Govt asked to consider forming Youth Parliamentary Institution

KUALA LUMPUR: Members of the Youth Parliament want the government to consider the setting up of the Youth Parliamentary Institution under the Youth Act or main Act.
Security, Law and Integrity Committee chairman Akmal Saufi Mohamed Khaled said the Youth Parliament should be made into an institution to ensure continuity of the platform if there was a change in policies at the ministerial level or possibility of a change in the ruling party in future.
"At the moment, the Youth Parliament is a programme under the Sports and Youth Ministry and we see a lot of benefits to members and a lot of suggestions have been brought to the cabinet to help the government to make the best decisions.
"We want to take a step forward to ensure this programme does not disappear anyhow but still needs to be run by the relevant minister under the Youth Societies and Youth Development Act, he said when tabling the motion today.
He said the formation of the youth institution was also to recognise the input from the debates and provide trainings to appointed Members of Parliament.
"It is also to recognise Youth Parliament members as mentor to Parliament students in which every issue brought up are the ideas of the youth themselves that needed to be given attention by the leaders and not merely a programme," he said.
The motion was later supported by the Perak representative, Nur Najihah Muhaimin who said, with the formation of the institution, the Youth Parliament should be given recognition on par with the Malaysian Parliament.
The proposal was later unanimously approved by the Youth Parliament.
The two-day sitting was chaired by its president Datuk Shamsul Anuar Nasarah. — Bernama