BY TANIA LAM & JACINTHA JOLENE
KUCHING: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) plans to reactivate PRS 30, a unit for members below the age of 30.
“PRS used to have PRS 30, meaning below 30. We wanted to follow UMNO which has its Puteri wing.
“Also, under PRS 30 last time, we used to have a sub-wing called Angels,” recalled PRS secretary-general Datuk Janang Bungsu in an interview on Tuesday (Jan 11).
He was responding to a question on whether PRS would follow Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu’s (PBB) footsteps in setting up a new wing to cater to youths aged 18 to 28 years.
Janang noted that PRS acting president Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum had stated earlier that the matter would be discussed at the party’s supreme council meeting on Jan 22.
“Undi18 has started to come in and it has become more relevant for the party to rebrand itself. We have to reset ourselves and look at what our weaknesses are.
“We might do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis on what happened to PRS 30. And then after that, we will probably re-strategise,” he said.
Janang said PBB had not named their new wing yet but PRS already had a name for theirs if it were to reactivate PRS 30. In this case, he said they would probably focus on those between 18 and 30 years old.
“There are a lot of other qualified Dayaks out there, some are young lecturers in UNIMAS or UITM,” he said.
Nevertheless, he said it was not so much about academic drive per se but rather to seek those with fresh ideas to join the party.
“Come and join us, we welcome with open arms those who want to be involved. Let’s do it together,” he said.
Asked if he expected Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to form a similar wing under the coalition itself to cater to this age group, he said this would be discussed in the next GPS Supreme Leadership Council meeting.
“This is one of the issues that we will bring up in the near future together with the GPS Youth wing headed by Datuk Gerald Rentap Jabu,” said Janang, who is part of the council.
He said the future of the state lay on the younger generation, expressing his belief in the wisdom of the government to allow Undi18 to be implemented and that this would expedite transformation in allowing the voices of people aged 18 and above to be heard.
“In a way, this has pressured political parties to be more relevant. We have to evolve, otherwise we will be left behind,” he said.
Commenting on the impact of Undi18, he said the opposition may think that people below the age of 30 all supported them but this was not necessarily the case.
“Some of them support the government. So it is a fair field out there. Undi18 is the catalyst for the transformation of the nation in allowing younger people to be involved in politics,” he said.
Janang said this young group would have an impact on the coming general election but believed that GPS had its own strategy to reach out to them.
