PKR's national Youth wing has welcomed the call by Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin for more youths to take part in politics, but it first wants him to champion freedom of speech and the academia.

Its national deputy Youth chief Dr Afif Bahardin reminded Khairy of the Institute for Youth Research Malaysia's Malaysian Youth Index (IBM2015) last year, which revealed that 46.34 percent of youths are unsatisfied with their political socialisation domain.

"While I welcome Khairy’s call, I would like to invite him to champion the voices of those who want more freedom and spaces to be granted for youths.

"I also welcome him to put an effort to end the culture of fear among the youths and all Malaysians," Afif told Malaysiakini .

"The freedom of speech, freedom of the academia and freedom to think, are the motivators for the involvement of our youths in politics," he added.

Afif was responding to Khairy’s statement on Sunday that there is a need to increase youth participation in the political process to better shape government policies.

"No matter what you feel about the political system, it is still the (platform) to make change," Khairy told more than 2,000 participants of the National Aspiration and Leadership Summit 2016 at the PWTC in Kuala Lumpur.

Afif ( photo ) said Khairy should fully utilise his position as minister and chief of the Umno and BN Youth wings to speak for youths who want a bigger space, free from threats of all kinds of draconian legislation that prevent them from participating in politics.

He said the attitude of the authorities who continue to use draconian laws, such as the Sedition Act, and their plan to strengthen the Official Secrets Act, are examples of “cruelty and effort” to prevent youths from thinking and speaking freely.

“Khairy should oppose such conditions that have been placed on the youth of today,” added the Penang state executive councillor.

Afif also called on the BN-Umno government to drop, withdraw or end whatever charges under the Sedition Act or the Public Assembly Act, including charges under other draconian laws, against the majority of activists in the country.

Let the culture of freedom flourish in this country, in line with the principles of democracy and constitutional monarchy in Malaysia.

“I believe that Khairy, who was a graduate of philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford, would surely agree with me that for a real and vibrant democracy to exist, freedom of speech and media freedom must be allowed to flourish,” the Seberang Jaya assemblyperson said.

“I am sure he would agree that in his alma mater, he would not have come across students or graduates who were detained or punished for their dissenting views, opinions or even criticism of the authorities.

“Academic freedom must be restored in all institutes of learning in this country,” Afif added.