Rising political awakening of youths

(Daily Express) – Favourable present political trends towards youths have also given way to the rise of students being more aggressive on political activism in the country.

Universiti Malaysia Sabah Social Science Faculty member, Dr Ramzah Dambul, said the 2012 General Election results have seen youths rising into prominence in the country’s political demographics as they made up the most numbers in the country’s population. It is understood that youths made up about 50 per cent of the population and a significant number in the electoral roll.

Ramzah said due to this factor, the country’s two dominant political coalitions were now giving much emphasis on youths.

“Basically, the leaders now are promoting youths as the agent of change. The conflict now between Gen Y and Gen X is that when the demand of the Gen Y is not heard, they become very unhappy,” he said.

Ramzah said this during the third edition of Kupi Dialogue, of which he is a member of the three-man panel, the other two being Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Tawfiq Abu Bakar Titingan and Seed Chief Executive Officer Nelson Wences Anggang.

All three had earlier noted that the rising political awakening of youths in the country was accelerated by the social media and that many were believed to have been driven into activism on “popular” sentiments without getting in-depth with the issue.

Although they agreed that youths should be encouraged to form opinions, they also wanted them to take heed both sides of arguments before committing into any causes.

“Once we have done a careful study over such matters and ready to form our opinions, we must also taken note that we have to take responsibility of our opinions,” Ramzah stressed.

According to Ramzah, the first political fold that noticed the significance of youths in politics was Pakatan Rakyat, which actually fielded many young candidates in the recently concluded general election.

He pointed out that the Barisan Nasional also picked up the same strategy, adding that the recent Umno General Assembly had also discussed at great length on youths.

Although he described these developments as the process of maturity of the Malaysian political parties, it had also been the reason why the youths have become more “naik tocang” (hard headed).

“I’m not saying that you (youths) are not important, nor am I saying the young as having the power to determine the future of this country.

“The youths should also realise that not everything is about you, there are other generations that are also equally important,” he said.

Ramzah said the younger generation tended to overlook this, adding, “it is not right that each time the youths become vocal on political issues, they did not give much thought with those who are from a different era.”

“Those who are working hard to develop the nation,” he pointed out.

If the trend continues, he said the pleas of others would be “drowned” by their demands and pushing the Government to channel all energy and resources to manage them.

Ramzah also dared anyone inside the auditorium to challenge his views, saying that today out of 10 political issues in the country, some eight of them would be about and from the youths.

“Whether it’s academic, media and democratic freedom, including the Sedition Act, I assure it is about the youths and the young.”

“The Government is going all out to address these problems, including allocating huge amounts of money to manage them,” he pointed.