Perak Youth Assembly, Youth Debating in the Actual State Legislative Assembly

It has been etched in the history of Perak that the state government approved the establishment of the Perak Amanjaya Young Leaders Consultative Council (MP2MPA) in July 2015. The establishment of MP2MPA is one of the six initiatives under the fifth KRA of the Gagasan Perak Amanjaya, which focuses on a participatory young generation and societal harmony.

Have you, as loyal readers of orangperak.com, ever heard of this Perak Amanjaya Young Leaders Consultative Council (MP2MPA)? Here, allow us to explain a little about the purpose of establishing the MP2MPA so that you know its function within the state of Perak.

The main purpose of establishing the MP2MPA is to discover and hone new talents in state leadership as future successors. Furthermore, it enhances effectiveness in providing a channel for youth to contribute input and information so that all efforts related to youth development in Perak can be highlighted. The MP2MPA platform in Perak consists of youths selected to represent various segments of society in the state. They come from diverse backgrounds and sectors, without any political affiliation. Some are highly educated, some are from rural areas, some are successful in business, and others represent various youth movements, non-governmental organizations, and more.

What is interesting about the Perak Youth Assembly is that its members debate among themselves, voice their views, discuss, and generate new ideas by proposing anything related to youth development. All discussion input will be brought and channeled to the State Government to be discussed, directly improving implementation opportunities and related policy-making. For your information, loyal readers of orangperak.com, one segment of the MP2MPA members comes from the Perak Youth Assembly, which consists of 60 youths from various fields. They will convene twice a year in the actual State Legislative Assembly, following real assembly ethics such as the presence of a speaker, mace, standing orders, and others. Motions brought by Youth Assembly members during debates to voice the opinions of youth or local youth will be brought to the State Executive Council (MMK) meeting. If it needs to be brought into the actual State Legislative Assembly (DUN), it will be tabled by assemblymen, as has happened previously in 2016 and 2017.

2017 marked the second intake for the MP2MPA. The owner of the orangperak.com project went to the selection camp and would like to share his experience with loyal readers about what happened in the camp. This might serve as a reference for youths for future selections and open the eyes of other youths to the existence of the Perak Youth Assembly.

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Assalamualaikum, greetings, and a warm Perak Amanjaya salute to all my beloved readers. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all readers for always supporting the efforts of the members of the Perak Community History Lovers Association, who never tire of searching for materials and publishing new articles for public reading. With the publication of this article today, I, as the owner of orangperak.com, would like to share my experience during the selection camp and interview for Perak Youth Assembly representatives from August 11 to 13, 2017, at the Rakan Muda Complex in Kampar, Perak. Before I start telling you about my experience there, allow me to briefly introduce myself. I am a 29-year-old youth. I am not a university graduate, and I am not someone great in academics. I am just a Community College graduate with a big heart for educating and instilling values of tradition and community into the hearts of the public because I believe a successful nation is filled with citizens who know their country's origins. Thus, the orangperak.com web project was born as a small effort to achieve a big dream. Returning to my story about the experience at the selection camp and interview for the Perak Youth Assembly representatives. I arrived at the Rakan Muda Complex in Kampar as early as 3:30 PM, dressed in a neat shirt. Because the weather was dark with heavy rain, I waited in the car until 4:30 PM to register at the registration counter. At exactly 4:30 PM, the rain had not stopped. Without wasting time, I took my file and important documents and ran to the registration counter through the rain. At that time, not many people had arrived, and I was the 3rd individual to register for the selection camp. After registering, I went straight to the accommodation and waited for the next event after Maghrib. While resting in the provided room, one by one, people came to fill the room I was staying in. We introduced ourselves and quickly became friendly. We could all laugh and joke together even though we had only just met a few hours ago. The registration counter closed at 7:30 PM, and we all performed the Maghrib prayer together at the mosque. After the Maghrib prayer, we were all asked to gather in the hall to carry out the provided activities. There were many "ice-breaking" activities conducted to make the participants feel comfortable with the environment and everyone around them. That night, 8 small groups were formed from all the participants, and I was appointed as the group leader for group 8. The first day passed with smiles and laughter. When dawn broke on August 12, 2017, a new episode in this selection camp began. The morning activities were filled with casual chats to get to know our group members better. What was important in the morning activity was that we were all taught how to speak in public in various types of situations. In the afternoon, participants were required to give a speech with provided text in requested situations. It was difficult to speak in situations regarding unrelated text, where in my case, I got a text about the Jalur Gemilang and was asked to speak in a birthday party situation. In the evening, the event was more difficult. We were asked to choose a topic related to youth and were asked to give a speech in front of other participants. At the same time, the speech was recorded using the participants' own phones. This was my first time and a new experience for me in speaking in front of a crowd. Luckily, I managed to finish the speech even though feelings of nervousness and fear almost consumed me. The program did not end there. After all participants finished speaking, we drew lots for the preparation of the night's speech test. In the draw, the speech topic I had to discuss was about 1 Youth 1 Skill. The difference for the night test was that the speech would use a microphone and would be watched by more participants. Alhamdulillah, even though this was my first time speaking using a microphone in front of a crowd, I managed to complete the test even though I knew my speech was not as good as the other participants. It never crossed my mind to be involved in such a good program. To some extent, it gave me a lot of exposure and new knowledge about public speaking. On August 13, 2017, the last day was the interview test. At exactly 9 AM, I was already in front of the interviewer's room door. I was the first person to arrive, and I immediately checked the list of participants who would be interviewed in the same room as me. Unfortunately, I was the 10th participant, which was the last in the group scheduled to meet the interviewer. I had to wait until my turn. On average, an interviewed participant would take 30 minutes. I waited for more than 4 hours at the interview room door for my turn. Finally, at exactly 1:30 PM, it was my turn to meet the interviewer. For me, talking to the interviewer was not as difficult as speaking in front of a crowd, and I felt I could do my best for the interview test. After the interview ended, I felt I was the last participant to leave the Rakan Muda Complex area in Kampar. I packed up alone in the room while looking at the surrounding area, which was empty, just like when I first registered on August 11, 2017. This is where I gained new experiences and met great new acquaintances. Finally, I wish all the participants of the Perak Youth Assembly Representative Selection Camp and Interview the best of luck! To all loyal readers of orangperak.com who are young and interested in participating in the Perak Youth Assembly, wait for announcements if there are new selections in the future on the official Facebook page of the Perak Amanjaya Young Leaders Consultative Council (MP2MPA) facebook.com/mp2mpa Thank you.