KUCHING: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) has a longstanding tradition of open contests within its party hierarchy.

In stating this, its Youth chief Datuk Snowdan Lawan said open contests will rejuvenate the party.

He was asked if the party which is due to hold its Triennial Delegates Conference (TDC) next year, will consider open contests for party positions.

He said the party’s core value is to remain loyal to the party and move in the same direction of the state.

“It is also to maintain unity to gain harmony. With that we align ourselves with our tagline, ‘United we bargain, divided we beg’,” he said.

Reflecting on PRS’s 20th anniversary this year, he said since its inception in 2004,  the Youth wing, along with the Women wing have loyally abided by its constitutional objective which is to be a strong ‘guardian’ to the party’s struggle and well being, just like other political parties.

Snowdan, who has been the PRS Youth chief since 2016, said PRS has 39 divisions throughout the state, with every division having their own Youth wing.

“We coordinate and collaborate with these divisional youth wings to organise activities such as membership drive, awareness campaign, dialogue session, sports, visits, gatherings, government project launching and strengthening ties with other Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) component parties.

He said as Sarawak is moving fast into the digital mainstream and green economy, this demands the youth to be equipped with necessary technological skills.

“We foresee the need for continuous TVET and other vocational training to produce professionals such as engineers, skilled and semi-skilled workforce in the next 10 years. These will be high income employment opportunities for our youth,” he said.

He also said with those aged 18 and above being automatically registered as voters, PRS is committed to ensure the youth are active participants in shaping the future of the state.

“These young voters must be made to understand their voting right responsibility and to have objective considerations rather than basing them on emotions.

“They have to understand issues rationally and think of the ‘nation’ first,” he said.

Looking forward to the next 20 years, Snowdan said there will also be plans for the PRS Youth.

“Beside the Youth wing, we have established another wing known as Pewaris PRS, which is meant for members aged 18 to 28.

“We recruit them and make them ‘inherit’ our party’s struggle in coming years as they grow and mature in every aspect, politics, social, education and economic undertakings,” he said.