KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob expressed hope that youths will be more knowledgeable and concerned about the parliamentary democracy system and their role as young voters with the implementation of Undi18 ahead of the next general election.
He said youths play a big role in shaping the nation, especially in electing national leaders in line with the amendment to the Federal Constitution that guarantees their right to vote.
The number of youth voters, aged 21 to 40, in 2020 is 6.2 million people, which is 40.8% of the total of 15.3 million registered voters, he said in a message in conjunction with 2022 National Youth Day, themed “Ini Masa Kita” (This is Our Time) which was broadcast on local television stations yesterday.
“On March 12, 2022, the country created history when youths were first given the right and mandate to vote in the Johor state election which recorded an increase of about 28% with the addition of almost 750,000 voters aged 18 and above, out of a total of 2.6 million registered voters, following automatic voter registration under Undi18,” he said.
He said the increasing involvement of young people in the country’s political arena was a positive sign and needed to be expanded widely, Bernama reported.
Ismail Sabri said the involvement and contribution of the younger generation were very much needed in strengthening the spirit of the “Malaysian Family”, and for that, the government always recognised the contribution, achievements, efforts, resilience and voice of all youths.
“Furthermore, the government is always sensitive and concerned with issues that affect the youths, especially in reducing the unemployment rate,” he said.
The Prime Minister said there were more than 20 initiatives that could benefit youths directly or indirectly under Budget 2022, including the provision of more employment opportunities.
Apart from that, the JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia initiative and the JaminKerja Keluarga Malaysia Career Carnival launched last Feb 19 aim to help strengthen the youth economy while JaminKerja committed to creating 600,000 job opportunities with an allocation of RM4.8bil.
The government is also offering PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia (the Malaysian Family Student Device) initiative to supply a tablet to every B40 student in institutions of higher learning at a cost of RM450mil starting in June.
On the theme of this year’s National Youth Day celebration, Ismail Sabri said it was to remind youths that this was the time for them to come forward through various opportunities provided in line with the “from youth to youth” concept.