Church backs Youth Parliament in Penang

The Church in Penang has lent its support to the first-ever Youth Parliament held in Malaysia.

The Dec. 6 Parliament chaired by Penang State Assembly speaker Abdul Halim Hussain aimed to conscientize young people on social issues affecting them and to promote democracy and justice.

Twenty-nine college and university students from various organizations and political parties took part in the event, which passed six resolutions covering the political, social and education fields.

As there is a possibility that the General Election will be held soon, the students from the Campus Ministry Office in the Diocese of Penang, took on the initiative to register voters from some of the parishes in Penang.

They started off with the Church of the Immaculate Conception on 7 and 8 August but due to the short notice, manage to register only 5 voters. However during the Feast of the Assumption at the Church of the Assumption, they managed to register 14 voters.

A voters’ registration booth was set up in front of the Assumption Church. Ten students from USM and one Campus Ministry Officer, Liew Man Lee were involved in the voters’ registration exercise. The volunteers were helped by two Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) representatives.

On the 5^th of Sept., the Campus Ministry Officers, Anne Beatrice and Liew Man Lee, together with 3 USM students went to the Church of St John Britto.  They were assisted by  Mr Martin Lim, SPR representative and managed to get 18 people to register as voters.

All together, the students managed to register 37 voters.

- by Maureen Chua