LETTER | Last Sunday, the National Congress of the youth wing of the largest opposition party in the country, the Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (Dapsy), was held.

There was no media coverage. The silence, as they say, is loud.

If the media had stayed (there was free lunch), they might have found one motion particularly interesting. It proposed that the top three Dapsy office bearers be automatically made members of the party's powerful Central Executive Committee (CEC).

Prior to Sunday, there were talks within Dapsy inner circles about this motion. It is something special about DAP, that elected reps would talk directly and personally with younger members. They had some reservations, some doubts about the viability of the motion.

Reasons were provided. There is a need for young people to be directly involved in central decision-making. This is because while youths are the leaders of tomorrow, they should be trained today.

Dapsy has long been the backbone of the party machinery: members could be found on the ground during party activities such as ceramah and fundraising dinners, serving as stage emcees, program directors, security personnel, and volunteer salespersons of party merchandise.

In short, Dapsy has been faithful managers of party programs. It is now time to train us to become leaders, at the central decision-making level no less.

With a relatively young coalition in Pakatan Harapan, it is now more urgent than ever for Dapsy to master the art of collective decision-making: from proposing ideas, arguing one's case, negotiating, compromising, managing disagreements and finally, deciding. These top three Dapsy leaders would then return from the CEC, better equipped, and ready to introduce what they have learnt at the youth level.

Why three? Because one is a token, two a minority, but three brings about cultural change.

This idea of having youths represented in an “adult” committee is actually a Leftist ideal: adequate workers representation. For instance, workers constitute 50 percent of a company’s board of directors in Germany. The reason is simple: people should have a say in the management of affairs relating to them, otherwise known as codetermination.

Anyone paying attention to our politics will agree that significant change of the political culture needs to happen. At a time when most youths feel invisible and voiceless, it needs to happen more urgently. The more disenfranchised the leaders of tomorrow, the less there is to look forward to.

As old names and tired faces are being recycled again and again, switching allegiances and alignments, I remember a remark by the Slovenian philosopher, Slavoj Zizek, on the ways of the world today: the more things change, the more they remain the same.

This cycle has to stop. Dapsy members have been rolling up their sleeves in serving the party during its activities and programs. If we believe in changing our future for the better, then it is only logical for tomorrow’s leaders to be at the table.

The motion was one of the many ways of pushing for this change. It was unanimously passed.

Congratulations, Dapsy.

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