KOTA KINABALU: Youths once again proved knowledgeable and capable of discussing pressing matters during the inaugural DUN Belia Sabah recently, a virtual simulation of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly.
After the success of Parlimen Digital organised by Undi18, Challenger Malaysia, Liga Rakyat Demokratik and the United Nations Association of Malaysia Youth (UNAM Youth) last year, a group of Sabahan youths who call themselves Belia di Bawah Bayu decided to organise a similar event at the state level, to provide young Sabahans with opportunity and exposure.
Over the Chinese New Year weekend, 30 Sabahans aged between 16 and 30 spoke on and debated the topic of ‘Access to Education for Communities without Citizenship in Sabah.’ This was aimed at youth empowerment on the issue of human rights and education.
The youngest participant was 16-year-old Nimexsionre Sulani, representing the constituency of Kundasang. At such a tender age, he had already developed an interest in current affairs and politics.
Based in Sepanggar, Nimex represented the constituency from which his mother hails and said the DUN Belia Sabah experience showed him there were others around his age who shared the same interests.
“I cultivated an interest in current affairs and politics because of my hobby of reading. Statelessness and access to education are sensitive issues but it’s something we need to champion.
“From this experience, I honed my debating and speaking skills, as well as my writing skills. This experience helps me raise my self-esteem,” said Nimex who was also grateful to be surrounded by supportive adults who encouraged him in his interest.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old lecturer Iskandar Zulkarnain Ramli said he was proud to witness the quality of young Sabahans who could speak on serious issues, but lacked the platform to do so.
“Each participant was actively involved and so the discussions and debates were very lively. Nobody wanted to be left behind and everyone had their ideas to contribute on an issue that is significant to Sabah. This is a healthy development for Sabahan youths.
“This event also made for dynamic debates, as people with similar experiences on the issues of statelessness and access to education came together to offer their own perspectives.
“This added variety to the discourse and it no longer looked as though there was only one solution to the matter. DUN Belia Sabah made for a good common ground for people with differences in opinions,” he said.
DUN Belia Sabah co-organiser Auzellea Kristin Mozihim of Belia di Bawah Bayu concurred that youths should be platformed and empowered because they had many constructive ideas and suggestions to offer.
“We need to show the older generation what we’re capable of so that the narrative can shift to ‘kamu orang muda, kamulah yang buat,’ (you are the youth, you should do it) so that there will be no more talk of ‘kamu muda lagi, tidak payahlah kamu cakap pasal politik.’ (you are still young, no need to talk about politics).
“We just need to keep going so that hopefully there will be more (opportunities) and using online platforms is one way for them (the older generation) to know that young people have potential,” said Auzellea.
She added that participants were very eager to speak and they took DUN Belia Sabah seriously. They did not “play pretence” and discussed the topic critically.
“Participants came from different backgrounds. They were students, working professionals, members of non-governmental organisations and political parties, and some of them were stateless themselves.
“There was representation from many voices who were either directly or indirectly involved in the issue of statelessness. That’s where the quality and strength of the event lies,” Auzellea elaborated.
Meanwhile, co-organiser Nasserruddeen Khan Nordin, who was in charge of IT and ensuring the virtual event ran smoothly, said it was definitely possible to conduct DUN sittings online even with live streaming and cross-posting to different pages.
“We used Zoom for DUN Belia Sabah and it met all the requirements needed for DUN sessions. There is a poll feature to conduct voting and speakers can be seen clearly when delivering their speeches via webcam. I don’t think there’s any problem if we do want to implement this in the real DUN session. It really is possible to do it virtually,” he said.
Nasserruddeen further called on youths to band together to create more opportunities and platforms for their voices to be heard, and their ideas taken seriously.
DUN Belia Sabah was part of a campaign by Belia di Bawah Bayu, supported and funded by the Young SouthEast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) and the US Embassy in Malaysia. The programme was organised with cooperation from UndiSabah and UNAM Youth. It was also supported by Me.reka and the Biji-biji Initiative.