SHAH ALAM: PKR should conduct a study on lowering the party’s membership age, says outgoing PKR Youth chief Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.
Nik Nazmi said the party should embark on such a move in line with the government’s announcement that the voting age will be reduced from 21 to 18.
“We welcome the decision but this means we must play an important role to provide political education whether at the government or party level.
“If the minimum age to be a party member is 18, then we need to review it again. This is because if they are eligible to vote at 18, then it may be too late for them to be a party member.
“If I am not mistaken, Umno has reduced the age to 16 while Pas has set it at when one reaches puberty.
“We need to amend the party’s constitution in line with the federal level’s amendment on the constitution on the voting age,” said Nik Nazmi during his winding up speech at PKR’s 13th Annual Congress held at Ideal Convention Centre, here.
The two-day congress ends today.
Nik Nazmi added that political education provided for members joining the party after May 9 should revolve around how PKR was birthed and why it is different from other political parties in Malaysia.
“It is not the question about power or ranks but the agenda we have for Malaysia regardless of race,” he said.
Meanwhile, Nik Nazmi called for PKR members to close ranks and put their focus on how they can elevate incoming president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the 8th Prime Minister as agreed by the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
“PKR members have a big role to play to ensure there is a solid and stable team behind incoming president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and when he becomes the 8th Prime Minister,” said Nik Nazmi.
Nik Nazmi suggested that the party’s one man one vote system should be kept for top leadership posts only.
“Anwar spoke about wanting to review the system. Maybe it should be for highest positions, namely the president, deputy president and vice-presidents, to be chosen based on the one man one vote system. The other positions can remain with the delegate system.
“It becomes impractical when there are too many votes to count. For me we are a brave party to carry out the one man one vote system. I do not see any other parties choosing their top leaders through that system and I do not see other parties as brave as PKR,” said Nik Nazmi.