MP SPEAKS | A recent Merdeka Center National (Youth) Opinion Survey found that despite being highly dissatisfied with the BN government, the youth in the country are also dispirited with the political system as a whole.

The Merdeka Center asked youths how satisfied they were with the performance of the BN federal government, to which two-thirds – 67 percent – answered that they were dissatisfied. Only 24 percent said they were satisfied with the government’s performance.

High dissatisfaction rates were registered by respondents across race, urban and rural divides, as well as between those registered to vote and those unregistered.

The survey, which looked at perceptions of youth towards the economy, leadership and current issues, also asked respondents about their attitudes towards politics, and found that an overwhelming majority (70 percent) were not interested in politics, while a similar number (71 percent) felt they did not have any influence on the government of the day.

Another key finding from the poll was that some 40 percent of respondents were not registered as voters despite being eligible, saying they did not have time to register, or they felt that voting did not make a difference.

The Pakatan Harapan youth wings from DAP, PKR, Amanah and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) should brainstorm to encourage greater youth participation and leadership in affecting the greatest political change in the nation’s history with the election of a Pakatan Harapan federal government in the 14th General Election to replace the UMNO/BN coalition.

I remember that when I was first involved in politics at the age of 24 at the end of 1965, the DAP was a political party for the youths.

In the first batch of 13 DAP MPs in the 1969 General Election, three MPs or 23 percent were below 30 years old, eight MPs (62 percent) below 40 years old, and two MPs (15 percent) below 50 years old.

This was why DAP did not form a youth wing until some five years after its formation, for the founding DAP leadership was very youthful.

Tunku Abdul Rahman’s cabinet in 1957 was a fairly youthful one as well when compared to today’s Cabinet. The average age of Tunku’s Merdeka cabinet was 43.3. Tunku at 54 and finance minister HS Lee at 57 were the two oldest members, while education minister Khir Johari at 34 and deputy prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein at 35 were the youngest...