Transcriber: Magdalena Konik
Reviewer: Walaa Mohammed Good afternoon!
What an honor it is to be here today to talk about a topic that holds
tremendous value to your future, my future, and the future
of generations to come. From my childhood, I've always been
enticed by politics and even up to now, whether that is the politics of Malaysia
being Malaysia myself or the politics of countries
around the world, having been watched hours of parliamentary
sessions and kept up on recent political news, I've
come to notice something. The lack of youth participation in
politics. Let me ask you this. Are you content living in a world shaped
by politicians who do not share your ideas, views and values?
Do you really want to inherit a world governed by policies that did not
take into account your perspectives? We, the youth, are the most at stake here. 50 years from now, we will be reaping the
benefits of our active participation or we face in the consequences
of having sat on the sidelines of politics
our whole lives and saw the sidelines of politics our whole lives. We live in a world where it takes up
posts or Instagram story can make a difference, so why say it out? Which brings me to the topic of my talk
the importance of youth participation and perspectives in politics. Marin Grove, the youngest ever Norwegian
politician so ever be elected into the starting once said: “We young people
have life experience, but in a different way. We need to develop
policies for everyone in the country.” While the young people have not lived
as long as older generations and hence lacked experience, we have lived
in the quickly changing world. We are able to bring fresh ideas
and perspectives into the realm of politics. Throughout
my research for this TED talk. I had the honor of interviewing
an established politician and an upcoming politician studying
in the University of Malaya, and it will both agree with me on this. Young people do bring fresh ideas
and perspectives into politics. Being Gen Z, climate change
is a big issue for me. I believe that climate change is something
that politicians should gear their policies towards solving.
And I'm not alone in this. In fact, climate change
has been listed as the number one issue that most
Gen Zs are concerned about. However, believing a one
thing means nothing in the realm of politics without active
advocacy and engagement. Which brings me back to why it's so
important for the youth to be a part of politics. 16% . Does anyone want
to guess what that number stands for? That number stands for the 1.2 not million, but billion people in the
world from the ages of 15 to 24. Hence, making up the youth, making up
such a large part of the population wouldn’t you want to be represented more?
But how could you be represented more? How could you be more actively engaged
and involved in politics? For my research for this TED talk, I've placed a heavy emphasis on being
involved and engaged in politics. Being that you run for state
or parliamentary seats. However, I soon come to realise
that being involved and engaged in politics also means
being politically aware, voicing your political opinions or doing something as simple as voting. But how? Well, for starters, being
politically aware is rather simple. You... You can read up on political news
and happenings in your country, or you can watch parliamentary sessions
or keep up with the United Nations. Or you can even do research
on major political parties and organisations in your country
and around the world. Moving on. How can we ensure that the youth are
comfortable voicing their political opinions without the social stigma of
“Youth aren’t interested in politics” hold the youth back? Well, at the end of
the day. It starts with us, the youth. It comes down to us. If we want to
make change, if we want change, we have to make the change.
We have to be the change. It starts with us taking the first step to
step out of our comfort zone and say, Hey, we are interested in politics.
This is what we want. Have a sit down with your friends and
start a conversation about politics. Attend a peaceful rally or
even join a peaceful rally or start one and gain support. Moving on through
my research for this TED talk, including local interviews with local
politicians that have placed a strong emphasis on the
need for educational and social reforms in order for the
youth to be more actively engaged and involved in politics. One of them
being that schools need to teach political literacy and to encourage
the youth to take a part in the decisions being made that will
govern their lives for 50, 60, 70 years to come, according to a study published in 2016 titled
“The Compensation Effect of Civic Classes How Civic Classes Make Up
for Missing Parental Socialization” there is a simple solution
towards encouraging the youth to take more part in politics and that schools need to teach politics
in school. With that researchers
have also established that young people who
are exposed to politics from home, whether that is being from
a family with a political background or just having a book about politics
lying around could go a long way in empowering them
to be politically active. However, not every child has access
to that kind of privilege. Which brings me back to what is so crucial
for schools to teach politics. School systems can be changed on a
national and global scale at once, hence igniting the minds of young people
around the world and impacting the lives of generations
to come. Moving on. Constitutional change and amendments
can be passed in order to provide the youth with more opportunities
to take part in politics. According to the OECD, in 2020, Norway, Finland had the highest share
of parliament members under the age of 40 compared to any other
countries in the world. So what are these countries doing
that we can learn from? Well, there is no definitive answer
to that. There is no one solution. But according to regional Luis Marias, a professor of political science
at the University of Bergen, one of the major contributing factors to
Norway's relatively young politics, parliament is their electoral
system. In Norway several candidates can be elected into the
parliament from the same organisation, from the same district. This should
detract political parties from the fear of losing seats, hence only
sending their more experienced politicians and will encourage
them to give younger, less experienced politicians a try. Before I leave today, I want
you to imagine a world. I want you to imagine a world where
young people are more engaged and involved in politics. Because to me, that looks like the world where there
is intergenerational consideration and understanding. To me, that looks
like the world where new ideas and perspectives can be harnessed
in order to face and address issues that we face today
that we will face tomorrow and that we will face from a year
from now, at the very least. To me, that is a world with
increased civic engagement and diverse representation. Plus, who wouldn't like seeing
some fresh faces on TV?
