SRI AMAN: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) Youth apps to attract youths’ involvement in politics was launched by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg yesterday.
Youth and Sports Assistant Minister Datuk Snowdan Lawan said the application was a platform to enable youths to contribute their ideas with regards to politics as well as social and economic issues.
Snowdan said the GPS Youth apps was a suitable and user-friendly platform created jointly with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas).
“As the youths are an IT-savvy generation, they have to be attracted in a way that they are more familiar with,” he reasoned. He highlighted that programmes to involve the youths were particularly vital now that the voting age in Malaysia had been lowered from 21 to 18 years.
“This change in voting age will greatly impact the political scenario of the nation as it is estimated that the number of youth voters will increase by 7.8 million or 70 percent,” he said.
Snowdan added that although youths were often referred to as ‘leaders of tomorrow’, they could now be called ‘leaders of today’. During the roadshow, land grants were presented to numerous villages under Zone 6.
