Youth Parliament: Nominations end February, voting in March

The nomination of candidates for the Malaysian Youth Parliament (PBM) will take place at the end of February and the voting process to pick its 119 members will be in March. Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said 200,000 youths, aged 18 to 40, had registered as voters and the voting process would take a week. "The first sitting of PBM is expected to take place in April," he told reporters after delivering the keynote adress at the 'Second National Aspiration and Leadership Symposium' here, on Saturday. He said the selection of members of PBM was based on the youth population distribution according to states and that every PBM member must find five supporters. "I hope many candidates will contest, especially youths who have never been involved with any association. Use this medium to develop leadership," he said. PBM is an initiative announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak three years ago. It is to train and turn out a backup lineup of young leaders of calibre and competence in line with the current and future needs of the nation. Meanwhile, in his speech, Khairy said, currently, only 20 per cent of youths were involved in associated bodies. Therefore, he said, the implementation of the Malaysian Youth Parliament would be an opportunity to other inactive youths to give their opinions. "We want to provide a platform for youths to be involved practically in the law-making and administrative process of this country. "We also need as many people as possible to take part to ensure the best ideas possible are gleaned for implementation by the government," he said.