Youths give Najib their views on various govt policies

United youth: Some of the participants of the Barisan Nasional Youth Lab Report presenting Najib with a Hari Raya greeting card in Kuala Lumpur Friday. Looking on is Khairy Jamaluddin (fourth from right).

KUALA LUMPUR: Youths have spoken, and they are not mincing their words.

From amending the Internal Security Act (ISA) to the rights of university students, they want action to be taken without delay.

A host of suggestions were presented to the Prime Minister during a townhall meeting yesterday via the Barisan Nasional Youth Lab Report, which was presented by Barisan Youth chairman Khairy Jamaluddin.

More than 7,500 youths from various backgrounds had been engaged in formulating the ideas since March.

The idea was first mooted by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in February this year.

Suggestions were also obtained via focus groups and social media networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, Khairy said.

The lab focused on the economy, quality of life, education, national unity and democracy.

In presenting the report, Khairy said there was a need for more freedom of choice of study subjects and a change in the way students were streamlined for their studies to add value to job requirements.

An independent commission should be set up to look into sectoral minimum wages and for job advertisements to state salary scales to enable better choices, Khairy said.

Reproductive education, he said, should also be enhanced in schools.

On the ISA, Khairy said lab results showed that youths wanted it amended with more power being given to the Detention Advisory Board instead of the Home Minister.

The Board, he said, should also have the power to take cases to court if they disagreed with the Minister.

In rejecting two-year renewals of detention, he said: “Set a maximum detention period and once reached, the detainees should be tried or released.”

On the Universities & University Colleges Act 1971, Khairy said it must be amended to allow university students to be active in politics as they must be “free to choose”.

Speaking to reporters later, Khairy said a website would be set up to monitor how many suggestions were implemented by the Government and its rate of response. - The Star