KUANTAN: The Malaysian Youth Parliament’s role should be expanded to provide a platform for developing the nation’s future leadership.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said that while the Youth Parliament aims to engage the younger generation in discussions about youth and national policies, its approach should be aligned to cultivate the nation’s future leaders.
“At present, the Youth Parliament’s objective is merely to cultivate youth leaders. I hope that one day, God willing, they will also become actual MPs and eventually lead the country,“ he said.
He spoke to reporters after attending the Leadership Discourse programme at the Astaka of Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah (UMPSA) at the Gambang campus today.
He added that the Youth Parliament should also learn about various democratic systems practised globally to consider alternative models that may be more suitable for Malaysia.
“The system we have now is ‘first past the post’ and constituency-based. Perhaps in the future, the youth themselves will evaluate and choose to advocate different systems,“ he said.
In addition to the Youth Parliament, Johari said his office has also introduced the Parliament School programme in collaboration with rural secondary schools. The aim is to cultivate a generation of future leaders who have a better understanding of the legislative body.
“We organise this programme to broaden their minds. When they visit Parliament ... we want to instil confidence in them that if they work hard to become leaders, the opportunity to advance is indeed there,“ he said.
