KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 (Bernama) -- Twelve political parties in universities have been set up so far under the Youth Parliament system aimed at being a platform to introduce the proportional representation (PR) system to develop national youth leaders.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said the approach is meant to test the effectiveness of the system as an alternative to the first-past-the-post system currently used, and that under the PR system, political contests are focused on parties and manifestos, enabling parties to choose the best candidates to represent the people after achieving victory.
“Proportional representation works with parties being set up in campus … parties will campaign and after they win, the parties will choose their candidates to serve as Members of Parliament,” he said as a guest on Bernama TV’s Ruang Bicara entitled ‘Democracy School: Parliament Shapes the Future Generation of Leaders’ broadcast tonight.
The system also has the potential of raising inclusivity in Parliament, including involvement of women, minorities and representatives from Sabah and Sarawak.
“… for voting, we are managing it with the National Registration Department to allow voter registration to be done automatically for those between 18 to 30 years,” he said, adding that voting will be done online and is expected to be accessed from March.
The proportional representation system in the Youth Parliament is also aimed at providing practical exposure to youth so that they can assess the system’s effectiveness before determining the direction of the country’s democracy in the future, he said.
The Youth Parliament is a vital effort to expand the involvement of youth in democracy, providing early exposure to sittings and training them to deliver ideas and suggestions in an organised and responsible manner.
The initiative is also in line with strengthening the culture of democracy and nurturing a future generation of leaders who are mature, he added.
-- BERNAMA
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