Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia youth chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman has expressed hope that at least 30 percent of the party's candidates for the 14th general elections would comprise its members are below the age of 35.

Syed Saddiq told a press conference in Subang Jaya today that this was based on discussions with Bersatu deputy president Mukhriz Mahathir.

"As of now we are not aiming for a specific number (of candidates), but what I can report is that he (Mukhriz) is very keen to field a lot of youth candidates.

"We are looking forward to have a minimum 30 percent of candidates from Armada and Srikandi, the Women's wing," he when asked about Armada's preparations for the next elections.

"The reason why this is particularly important is to give young people the platform to lead because we are not just the leaders of tomorrow, but also of today."

While noting that there has been no formal decisions yet, Syed Saddiq said the verbal assurances given were encouraging.

"Regardless of what happens, we will be behind our party leaders to go door to door and ensure that the message of change is delivered," he said.

Youth outreach

Among others, Syed Saddiq said their target areas would include Umno strongholds and seats where Pakatan Harapan parties had won with a slim majority.

"We will be doing a roadshow throughout Malaysia, but it won't just be about political speeches or one-off programmes.

"We will go down to meet the youths and hold entrepreneurship courses, play rugby, play football, go to cyber cafes... All this to ensure we remain close to them and understand their concerns," he stressed.

Syed Saddiq added that Armada has also set its sights on engaging students from local public universities, despite being prevented from entering its premises.

Earlier, he revealed his line-up of 21 exco members and 12 state chiefs who took their oath of office, in the run-up to Bersatu's official launch on Jan 14.