Gerakan Youth supports the Barisan Nasional Youth’s call to the government to allow undergraduates to be involved in politics, saying it will empower them to play a more active and constructive role in nation building.

Gerakan Youth deputy chairman Oh Tong Keong said today, as future leaders of our country, undergraduates must have a say in charting the way forward for Malaysia by taking part in political process.

“Allowing undergraduates to involve in politics will definitely bring a fresh breath to our country’s political system as most of them are dynamic, energetic and full of ideas to move our country forward,” said Oh, who is also Penang Gerakan Youth chief, in a statement.

Oh, who also attended the BN Youth meeting on Monday that made the proposal, added that being qualified as voters, it is nonsensical to say that our undergraduates were inexperienced or not mature enough to understand the people’s aspiration and the nation’s needs. “To deny our local undergraduates from taking part in politics while their overseas counterparts are free to do so is not only unfair but also borders on discrimination ,” he stressed. Only last week, when responding to a similar call from Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, Gerakan Youth secretary-general Dr Dominic Lau had stressed that such a move was essential to mould our university students to be more critical in their thinking and more connected to the society. Lau also said there were no plausible reasons to continue denying our local university students from participating in politics, while their peers overseas were free to do so.