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©The Sun (Used by permission)
by Kimberley Lau

The participation of young people in the political process is very limited or even restricted. Students are not encouraged to participate in political activities. They are marginalised in every decision making process. The aftermath is that they no longer take an interest in nation-building projects. How can a country progress without input from young people?” – Lee Khai Loon

PETALING JAYA: Young people are capable of engaging in public discussion on important national issues that are deemed ‘sensitive’, Youth for Change (Y4C) says.

“There are no ‘sensitive’ issues in Malaysia, there are ‘important’ issues,” Y4C convener Lee Khai Loon said.

He said the issues deemed sensitive tended to be political issues, which should be discussed by all Malaysians.

Lee said public discussions are part of the nation-building process. “We engage, we talk, we agree, disagree and we improve. Without open, rational and constructive discussion in public, ‘sensitive’ issues will be swept under the carpet.”

Y4C, which aims to expose young people to current issues, recently teamed up with the Bar Council’s National Young Lawyers Committee and the Humanity Library of Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Chinese Language Association Alumni, to organise a series of lectures on the New Economic Policy (NEP).

The lectures, held in January and February, explored the topics of Malaysia without NEP, The academic perspective on NEP, NEP: Fostering ethnic relations or otherwise? and Can NEP face the challenges of globalisation?

These were presented by academics, politicians and professionals such as social scientist Dr Lim Teck Ghee and Universiti Malaya technology and innovation lecturer Prof Rajah Rasiah.

Other speakers included Johor Baru Member of Parliament and Public Accounts Committee chairman Datuk Shahrir Samad and former Guthrie Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, who is currently treasurer of Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

The NEP was introduced as a socio-economic restructuring programme in 1971 following the racial riots of 1969.

When the programme expired in 1990, many of its affirmative action approaches were continued in the National Development Policy, which was in place until 2000, when it was replaced by the National Vision Policy, effective from 2000 to 2010.

The long-standing debate on the NEP made headlines recently when it was revealed that bumiputra corporate equity ownership could have reached 45% – higher than the NEP target of 30% and official figure of 18.9%.

This was among the findings in a report by the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute’s Centre for Public Policy Studies. Its director, Lim, stood by the report and resigned following the controversy which ensued from the findings.

Most of those who presented the lectures acknowledged the importance of poverty eradication and said the focus should be on empowering the poor across the board, regardless of race.

Lee said the organisers had expected about 100 participants at each lecture. There were 250 participants at the first lecture and 100 at the rest.

Although the lectures were open to the public, the target audience was young people, including students, young graduates, professionals and activists.

“There is a huge number of young people who are marginalised by the system. The participation of young people in the political process is very limited or even restricted,” Lee said, adding that this resulted in young people feeling disengaged and disillusioned.

“Students are not encouraged to participate in political activities. They are marginalised in every decision making process.

“The aftermath is that they no longer take an interest in nation-building projects. How can a country progress without input from young people?”

Building on the success of the NEP lectures, the organisers are planning a symposium on Malaysia’s global competitiveness.

“We would like to engage all Malaysians to think of ways to make the country more competitive globally,” Lee said.

Also in the pipeline are alternative courses on the university level Ethnic Relations module, which was released on Jan 24.

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