Stirring interest in politics

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/1/6/focus/19921514&sec=focus

Sunday January 6, 2008
Stirring interest in politics
CAFE LATTE CHAT
ALL does not seem well with youths where politics is concerned. The National Youth Survey 2007 conducted by the Merdeka Centre recently revealed that about one-third of Malaysians aged 20 to 35 have not registered as voters. And around half felt that there was little that they could do to hold the Government accountable between elections.
A random survey by Bernama found that out of 50 young people who were approached, 31 said they had not registered as voters. Among the reasons given was that they were not interested in politics. Another reason was that it would not make a difference.
With the general elections looming around the corner, the issue of young people being interested in politics becomes very relevant as the youth are a potential bank of voters who are ready to be courted.
This session of Cafe Latte includes MCA Beliawanis chief Carol Chew, lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad, MCA Youth Public Speakers Team head Gu Gu, National Youth Association of Malaysia president Stephen Doss, and Youth for Change convenor Lee Khai Loon.
Getting youth interested
Leong: The situation looks bleak when it comes to making the young people interested. How can we change this?
Chew: Coming from Beliawanis, I have to say that women voters, especially the young ones, are worse. It is apparent that it takes even more effort for young women to be interested, or even to be aware of politics. For example, if we organise events and activities and say that it is a charity event or a self-development course, they will come. But if we say we are organising a political awareness talk, we can see the women taken aback and they say that it is not their cup of tea.
I strongly believe this has to change. This is why at Beliawanis, we are undertaking many activities to get them in, let them see and understand how politics works. Politics is not something that one can ignore because it influences every aspect of one’s life. It’s just that many of the young are not aware of this.
Lee: I prefer to ask why they feel that way. We have to see the reason and also realise that the platforms available for the young to get involved are very limited. This is particularly true in universities. For example, some universities or college universities prohibit their students, even though they are already 21 years of age, to join political parties. Non-governmental organisations are not allowed to carry out any activities to promote politics within campuses.
We also have to see the racial difference in this. The Malay students in universities, for example, are somehow more active in politics compared to the other races. Perhaps it is the influence from their families as well. In Chinese families, children are being asked to pursue a professional career, such as in engineering or medicine. They are rarely encouraged to join a political party – especially if it is the Opposition. My own parents did not encourgae me to be involved in politics.
All these factors make it harder for young adults to get involved.
And then there is talk of corruption and that there will never be any change. Such thoughts prompt the young people to be neutral and non-partisan. This is due to the fact that they feel that even if they vote for the Opposition, for example, it would be in vain.
That is why we have organised several functions, such as the Young Voters Campaign, to educate them. But this is not enough. Sometimes, when we approach universities to get eligible voters to register themselves, we are prevented from doing do. We need some form of support from the Government if we are to achieve something.
Amer: We must take a look at the system that has been instilled in the young. All their lives, they have been taught to be career-centred – how to secure a good job, get a better living and a good salary. Not much has been instilled in the application of values and rights. They have been conditioned in the way that they must follow the rule of getting a job, starting a family and that sort of thing.
How often do you see a family advocating their young to learn about how the Government works or how the country functions? All of these are missing. How then can you expect them to be closely associated with politics?
Gu: If you are talking about university students, we can safely assume that they are not encouraged to join politics because of the structure of public education. But when you talk about working adults, they know that policies and politics affect our everyday lives. They are aware of this.
But then again, when we are talking about young adults, we have to ask what we want from them. Do we want them to just voice out their opinion or do we want them to come out and vote? Or do we want them to join parties and become active in politics? These are three different things.
If you are talking about joining a party, it will not be an easy task, especially for the Chinese. It was a really hard time for me too.
And then there are people who just come out and voice their opinions. I think that there is no problem here because if you go to a coffee shop, you will hear people criticising openly and daringly about current issues.
But then when we talk about people coming out to vote, I believe it is their laziness and lack of initiative that is preventing them from carrying out their right. It is not whether they are aware of it or not. Everyone knows about the theory of voting. It has been there for many years. They just don’t care because there is no sense of belonging to politics and there is no initiative. In a way, I must say that they are selfish.
Leong: Has our country’s system ended up in a way that it hinders our youth from participating in politics?
Stephen: When I was a lecturer in a private college some time back, I found that young people were not interested in things that they deemed irrelevant. In terms of politics, they definitely know their main ethnic leaders but when it comes to ministers, even the Higher Education Minister, they are clueless. They have very little knowledge of the political scene.
All of this is not wholly caused by ignorance but because they find it irrelevant to their daily lives. It does not affect them in their daily well-being and this is why they do not take notice. But when we speak of rallying the students for a cause, it is not difficult at all because they are anti-establishment by nature. This is a worldwide phenomenon.
But coming back to whether our education system is hindering our students from being active in politics, I think we have to look at the underlying issues. It will not make sense to the young if they are to be involved in politics. They may find it very hypocritical. For example, how can they rally for human rights when there is no equality?
Being relevant
Leong: It looks like to build their interest in politics, we have to ensure that the young have a stake. But let us also look at building a relevant atmosphere for them. Are our politicians being irrelevant to the young?
Amer: As earlier mentioned on the findings of the Merdeka Centre, most of the young voters feel that nothing can be done. That in a way contributes to why they feel the way they do – that they are unable to affect change. In fact, the standard response from some politicians is: “If you are not happy with us, vote for the Opposition.” This seems to be the standard chorus from some politicians.
In this case, you would never engage with young voters. Similarly, let us take the Bar Council. There have been many young lawyers coming in to the council as of late. If you do not engage with them, get their opinions and listen to their concerns, you will not get them to vote within the Bar.
This is the same when you put it on a bigger scale and do not listen to the nation’s youths.
Lee: The main thing is, are we encouraging the young people to get involved? There are many ways that we can do this. When we speak of the age of youth leaders, its leaders are all above 40 years old. There is a big gap between what the leaders think and what the young think. So how do we actually engage the young people and make it relevant to them?
Let us first look at the fact that they themselves have much dissatisfaction. For example, recently in Penang, there were many youths who got into trouble with the police because they wanted to express themselves during Christmas and the New Year celebrations. And although their methods were definitely incorrect, we must be reminded that the country should provide space and platforms for the youth to speak. We have to see what sparks such anger from the youth.
Perhaps they cannot find jobs and are venting out their frustration on others by taking part in Mat Rempit activities. There are many possibilities and we have to get to the root of it.
Youth empowerment
Amer: Over the years, we at the Bar Council have advocated to get the young lawyers involved in various issues. When we talk about politics, we should not have a narrow-minded definition and we have to get them involved in a young stage.
Chew: Leaders have to hear the young people out. I have just come back from the Australian Malaysian Institute (AMI) leaders programme where we visited the Young Liberals and Young Labour (Youth wings of the two main Australian parties).
When we visited the Young Liberals, I found that their definition of youth was between the ages 16 and 30. And for the Young Labour, their definition was from ages between 15 and 26. Once you exceed these ages, you graduate immediately to the main party itself.
Empowerment of youth is important. This is because when you are aged between 15 and 26, you learn what you can and once you pass the age group, you graduate to the main body. And then you are considered an adult who is responsible for advocating policies.
Our country has not reached this stage because some leaders in youth factions who have reached the age of 40 still want to extend their tenure. This translates to diminishing the younger voices (those in their late 20s or 30s) because they have not moved up the hierarchy fast enough to be in decision-making positions.
The younger age groups should take up more responsibilities and advocate for things that they like. A lot of times, it is the seniors who advocate activities and give directives. This may not suit the younger ones.
We must also remember that politics is not only about politics. It is also about the management of our daily lives and resource mobilisation. It is therefore important for politicians to set up a community-based platform to encourage a “sense of community” for the young. When they find things they want to fight for or change, they are indirectly already involved in politics.
Leong: Various political parties, in fact, all, have openly said that they want young blood in. Are we actually able to do it?
Gu: Let me first pose a question to the panel here. Do you think the level of interest in politics among our youth is getting better or otherwise over the past few years?
All: It is getting better.
Gu: Then, we have to understand why it is getting better. Is it because more youth organisations or associations have been formed? Or is it because more room is being given to the young to participate in political parties? If we are saying that the youngsters are keen to be in politics, what is the motivation behind it? There must be something there.
Therefore, I think we are moving in the right direction. Youth organisations are increasing, and the young no longer just listen to one side of information to make their stand. They know how to evaluate from various sources, such as the Internet and news. It may take time, but the good thing here is that political parties are indefinitely giving more opportunities to the young.
Lee: When you want to empower the young people, you have to include them in decision-making. We can have programmes and consultations. But without their involvement, we will never truly get their approval. Only through the knowledge that they can change the future through their decisions will they be motivated.
Chew: Lately in Selangor, there have been Young Village Development Committees set up where the leadership is only open for those below the age of 35. And six of the Beliawanis have been appointed to several of these positions. Such things are a start to empowering young people and they are responsible for taking charge of making change and decisions for the good of the community.
Not just party politics
Stephen: One of the biggest problems we have in this country is that we do not have enough alternatives for the youth. For the last 50 years, we have only had one Government. True, they have done a great job developing the country but we must also look into other possibilities. In some countries, there are political parties based on environment conservation, or on feminism. These can be incorporated as alternatives for our youth.
Unfortunately, in Malaysia, political parties are based on race and religion. We need to break out of this. Unless and until we change this, I don’t see any reason why the youths would be interested.
Amer: In years to come, we would need to get new, young leaders to govern the country. I’m not talking about partisan politics but more on issues that affect our lives. This is one way to get them involved. We cannot stereotype the type of politics.
Because of the lack of choices in political parties, the young may shy away but when you involve them in issues that matter to them, that affect them, it would surely create awareness and they would be interested. Slowly but surely, they will be exposed to other issues as well.
Lee: When we recently held the Young Voters Awareness campaign, we invited representatives from various political parties to come. It was great because we managed to have policy discussions and get young people involved. This will create a healthier political culture.
Leong: Is it a losing battle then to get young people interested?
Chew: No, it’s a continuous, but winning, battle.
Stephen: I feel, however, that democracy is a choice and that the Government should allow groups with issues to form their own associations and then offer their services in helping the public. More of such things should be done.
Chew: Young people are an idealistic lot. It’s very important because their ideals bring hope and it’s important for them to channel their views to the right places. Young people in general want to make a change; they want to make an impact on issues.
They want this community to be a better place to live in. So to have them champion a cause such as climate change or human rights – if they can make a change – they will naturally find their calling. And when we want to invite the young people for talks, we should break away from traditional party speakers so that other speakers from other parties can shed a different light on various issues.
It creates greater understanding and also promotes racial integrity.
Gu: I think like it or not, when we talk about policy change, it is ultimately the main political parties that decide and effect it. I, however, feel very happy that we are having a positive trend in roping in the youths but I must add that it is not yet up to expectations.
Yes, there are always grouses and complaints of this and that from the young. But don’t just say it – do something about it. Take action rather than just talk.
Amer: We have to break from the mould that society has created and the young should not limit themselves. There are many causes they can fight for.
Lee: I still think that political parties are just one of the many options to get the young. The young want something new and we should provide them with new dreams that will come true. If we can open up more opportunities for those under 35, in the local council, for example, such as those in Hong Kong, then they will be more involved in the community.
Leong: Letting the young to be interested in politics is difficult, but certainly not a losing battle. To involve young people in politics, you must see politics in a broader scope, one that is more community and issues-based. They will have to see that they need to be to make a change. We need more alternatives and more platforms to argue. This way will be more in tune with the young, rather than the strict format of DAP, Barisan Nasional and PAS, for example.

Leong Shen-li, 37, is The Star’s news editor. He left practice for journalism in 1996 and has covered extensively in the fields of transport and infrastructure development, environment and politics in his 11 years of journalism. Leong holds a law degree from Melbourne University, Australia.
Carol Chew, 28, heads the Beliawanis (Young Women’s Bureau) of the MCA. The double degree holder from Queensland University was talent-spotted by Wanita MCA chief Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen. Ng, who is also Deputy Finance Minister, appointed Chew as her private secretary.
The Petaling Jaya-born Chew also organised the National Beliawanis Convention attended by 800-odd participants in April 2006. Amongst her many duties of this multi-tasker is project co-ordination, emceeing, being a trainer and speech writing.
Lee Khai Loon, 29, is the convenor of Youth for Change, a youth organisation which he established in 2006 with the objective of empowering young people to participate actively in building a multi-racial Malaysia. He is also the current regional secretary of the Hong Kong-based Asian Students Association (ASA), an umbrella body for 54 national student and youth organisations from 31 countries across the Asia-Pacific.
Lee holds a degree in property management from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
Amer Hamzah Arshad, 35, recently made headlines for getting arrested when he participated in the “People’s Freedom Walk” – which the authorities declared illegal – to mark World Human Rights Day.
He is deputy chairman of the Bar Council’s Human Rights Committee. Amer also volunteers his services to the Bar Council Legal Aid Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
The graduate from Leeds University is a partner of law firm Zain and Co. He actively handles criminal and civil litigation. He is a strong advocate of human rights and has been a defence counsel in several cases related to Internal Security Act detentions and refugees.
Victor Gu, 31, is a graduate from Universiti Malaya whose love for debating and speaking saw him shoot to fame as an NTV 7 television host, broadcast journalist and newscaster for the Mandarin news.
Last year, MCA enlisted Gu as part of the party’s plan to bring in young blood. MCA immediately put his talent to use by appointing him as the chief speaker for the MCA Youth Public Speakers Team.
Stephen Doss, 37, is the head of research and development for Yayasan Budi Penyayang Malaysia. He is also the National Youth Association of Malaysia president. He has a Masters in Civilisational Studies from Universiti Malaya. A Gerakan member, he was the pioneer of the National Students Consultative committee which drafted the National Service Programme.