By Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah
Youths should be exposed to politics and their participation should start at an early age. The question is, does this happen? If it does, how effective is it?
The question of the importance of schools to conduct education on political participation is not new and has been widely discussed in developed democracies – but in Malaysia, it is not discussed widely and may also be ignored.
But this does not mean that the element of political participation does not exist at all – rather, the term ‘political participation’ is not used. It exists through several subjects that do not emphasise participation, for example in Civics, History, and General Studies as well as associational activities. The issue is that its effectiveness is not evaluated properly and often raises question marks.
From the existing subjects currently, the goal is to instill a spirit of love and loyalty to the King and country, belief in certain values, systems of government, democratic institutions, laws, and certain ways of life as well as the need to defend and improve them. It also teaches students to be good citizens, neighbours, employees, business people and family members.
However, there are no or fewer elements that lead to an understanding of the meaning and concept of full and active participation in political and democratic affairs. What is taught is ‘passive democracy’ – which is narrow, unimaginative, elitist and far from the ordinary life of the people.
In universities, there are more specific fields of study, courses and subjects; for example, Political Science and certain courses/subjects in the departments of History, Social Science, and so on. However, it is only taken by some students and does not necessarily lead to active participation.
Meanwhile, beyond schools and universities, there are various courses, seminars, forums, and talks that directly and indirectly emphasises participation.
For youths, what is needed is education, training and exposure to political participation in a democratic system. That is, participation is done with the awareness and responsibility to choose the government and in turn influence the way the government works – to ensure the upholding of responsible democracy.
We further need to address important issues in education, training and exposure to youth political participation. What is the best method to ensure that youths participate fully – through planning, implementation, evaluation and improvement? What about youths who do not go to schools or universities and/or are not involved in youth political participation activities?
Most importantly, how do we ensure that youth political participation will end with them playing their role to the fullest in a democratic system?
