Youth need to voice out on policies

dumping, or do we insist on morality being the only avenue?

Or, should we make mosques a place where the poor and downtrodden can sleep by building hostels, food banks and even showers? Should we make them centres for studying by building libraries and have volunteer tutors, even a creche for parents to leave their young children, regardless of their religion?

Can I place Automated Enforcement System (AES) cameras in all neighbourhoods to stop vehicles from going beyond 40-60kph to reduce traffic accidents in these areas?

Are we going to redesign KL to the point of using water from the Klang River to clean the streets as they do in Paris?

To foster greater ties between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak, should we teach students the Malaysian Agreement of 1963? These are just a few of the ideas being put forward by Malaysians, and the youth should consider what they want their neighbourhood to be; likewise their state, and of course, their country. And honestly, I believe our youth are more creative than we will ever be. There’s a reason why Louis Armstrong sang that “babies will learn much more than I’ll ever know” because the younger generation will be immersed in new technologies, new knowledge and even new innovations that people my age at 33 and above would have missed out on.

At the same time, youth come with abject curiosity, with the belief that they can change the world, with the ability to challenge authority, and even with reckless but meaningful protests for a better world.

That, dims out when you get older.

So, the young citizens of this country should start walking around their neighbourhood, take note of what needs to be changed, try to figure out how to change it, and write it out. Look beyond the politics, look at policies, and look at innovation.

And if people my age tell you you’re wasting your time, you’re not. We are just a jaded generation, and some of us have given up due to broken dreams.

Hafidz Baharom is a public relations practitioner. Comments: letters@thesundaily. com