KUCHING: “If I have one wish, my wish would be that the next generation of state leaders come from the Youth wing,”
Wishful thinking? Not if you feel the pulse of newly-minted Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Youth chief Miro Simuh.
The Serembu assemblyman who was appointed youth chief of the ruling coalition’s main component party during the recent PBB Triennial General Meeting makes no secret of his expectations.
And Miro, the first Bidayuh to assume the position, succeeding Datuk Gerald Rentap Jabu, an Iban, has no illusions about what lies ahead of him.
“With the position, there are heavy responsibilities that I must shoulder… I must bring something (to the table) that is on par with my predecessor if not better.”
At the same time, he expects youths to earn the necessary experience before they get thrust into the limelight as elected representatives.
New Sarawak Tribune sat down with Miro recently to get a better feel of the new youth leader in town.
NST: Tell us a bit about yourself
Miro: I am a Bidayuh. I have a Diploma in Public Administration from UiTM and my Degree in Public Management is from UUM.
I started my political journey at the age of 24 right after I pursued my degree. I was approached by my cousin who was in PBB at the time to join the Youth wing.
What were the challenges that you faced back then?
People assume politicians to be God-like figures when they are not. They expect us to look into all problems and shortcomings and want immediate actions. The other challenge is that the people in Sarawak are not matured enough yet to define politics.
But then again, we are a young nation – we need time to let our people learn and experience what politics is all about. They should know what happens in our country, the daily lives of the people, the policy of the government and many other things from politics.
The economy, the socio-economy, education, polarisation of society, it is all from politics. The decision-making in the country is all done by the politicians – people should bear this in mind.
How do you feel about being the first Bidayuh PBB Youth chief?
I thank our Premier (Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg) and top PBB leaders for choosing me to lead the Youth wing. Some people may say it is a glamorous post, but to me, no. This post comes with heavy responsibilities and a lot of hard work.
The demand of politics nowadays especially in the youth category, is quite high and unlike before, as with UNDI18, the challenge is different. That is why we must engage the youths not only in urban areas but also in sub-urban and rural areas.
Not only do we need to get them involved in politics but provide them ample experience and exposure to politics – they should know its importance in our country.
What are your aspirations for the wing?
I want to see this wing move forward. We have done so but the challenge now is not only UNDI18 but also the youth population nationwide which makes up 28 per cent of the entire population.
So, we are a young nation full of young people and they are exposed to technology, social media and a plethora of information. We need to use this as a medium to reach them. This is what we want to do.
We need to engage the youths – this is not only from PBB, but also other components in Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS). We have to work together as every party has its own set of followers. We have to collaborate.
Would you in your capacity collaborate with other component parties’ youth chiefs?
Definitely, because normal practice has it that the PBB Youth chief will be the GPS Youth chief.
It’s quite a challenge but we are all friends in the component parties, I see we are just like brothers. In political parties, brotherhood is the most important.
What are your approaches to engaging youths besides outreach programmes?
We want the youth to be involved in entrepreneurship, digitalisation and sports – those are the things we want our youths to explore. We are looking to work with the relevant ministries in this aspect.
We don’t want our youths to be too advanced in age to start their businesses – if they see the opportunity by the age of 25 or 30, it is the best time for them. We can also work with our brothers in the Chinese community who started from a very young age.
These are the experienced people that we need to bring the youths to engage with to share their experiences.
The Bumiputera youth are not timid but they probably do not have the needed exposure and experience or do not come from a business family. It’s time for us to explore new things for the youth.
We need to reach out to the rural areas as well and engage them with certain economic sector projects to increase their income.
What is the current membership of PBB Youth?
We have 40,628 members – that is the number of those who have registered, I think there are even more who are not registered.
For the new wing for members aged 18 to 28, based on our Strategic Lab, we are targeting 5,000 new members for the first batch after the new wing is gazetted by the Registrar of Societies (ROS).
With UNDI18, what will be the challenges faced by PBB Youth?
Like I said, voters at the age of 18 are not fully matured politically. Some yes, but a majority of them, no. It takes time for them to learn how politics works.
I think the most important thing is education, the syllabus in our history books, the moral subjects need to start focusing on how to expose them to politics – not to become politicians but just expose them to issues or matters concerning politics.
Politics involves social, economy and many other things – so those are the things we need to explain to the youth because they need the maturity to decide when it comes to politics.
Will the youth wing organise something like a roadshow?
We are doing that, that’s why in PBB Youth, we call ourselves Armada Pemuda PBB. This is where we do a lot of outreach programmes, normally we go to a lot of places inland – places like Ulu Kapit, Ulu Limbang, Ulu Belaga. These are the places we covered before.
Will the new Pergerakan Belia wing be under PBB Youth?
The new youth wing for those aged 18 to 28 is not parked under PBB Youth because it is a different entity, they will have their own wing but we have to work together.
After they experience politics within that new wing, when they reach the age of 28, we can tap them into either Wanita or Pemuda.
Your views on fielding youth candidates in GE15?
There is no law stopping anyone from being a candidate as long as you are above 18.
Anyone can be candidate but if you want to be a leader of the people, you must have the necessary experience.
Currently, we have nine assemblymen from the youth wing and one MP. We are looking towards that direction (to field young candidates) but it is up to the leaders.
That’s why the youth wing is created to train the next generation leaders. Our Premier is from the Youth wing as is our Deputy Premier (Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas).
Of course, we want to see more but we need to prepare them beforehand. For instance, Tellian assemblyman Royston Valentine was a last-minute pick in the last state election. But we know him very well in the Youth wing.
He is capable and was involved in a number of programmes with us, so was able to win the election.
Your views on youth sentiment in the country especially with UNDI18?
The first thing we need to look into is that we get the government agencies and the election commission to educate the young people about voting. The political parties can do it but then the people will assume that they we are doing it for political purposes.
Based on the numbers of young voters aged 18 to 21, it is not a huge figure. The greatest number are those aged 21 and above who were not registered prior to this. They are now registered due to the Automatic Voter Registration (AVR), that is why the number, in total, looks huge.
How best can we promote the policies of the government to benefit the youths?
I think the state government is promoting the policies very well, I think it is up to the youths to grab the opportunities created for them. If we the political parties are promoting it, it will create a perception of bias. But these policies are not political, it is to benefit all Sarawakians.
I urge the youths to grab the opportunity. The Bumiputeras in particular have been given a lot of privileges by the state government but how many of us have taken these up?
The Chinese youth they have less privileges, but they can compete. I think opportunities are meant to be grabbed.
Your advice for the Youth wing in facing GE15?
Youths must be the backbone of the election machinery in any election, that’s why my advice to them is to be with the party; work within the party, strengthen the party and be ready to face the challenges in the party.
We will have a retreat soon with our GPS Youth, because we want to discuss the challenges with our members.
Before this, Malayan parties used to be a strong opposition, but the new norm is that local parties have taken up this role. That is why we need to brainstorm and get ideas to face GE15.
Social media of course is a challenge, we need to train the youths on how to respond (to political attacks) and issue rebuttals. The youths are close to social media, PBB has its own team on that.
Your one wish for the Youth wing?
We are going to create more leaders from PBB Youth. As I said, the Premier is from the Youth wing, as is Fadillah (Senior Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof) and Karim (Tourism, Performing Arts and Creative Industry Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah).
We want to make sure the next generation leaders are from the PBB Youth wing.
