It’s clear that what we have right now in the way of a political system isn’t working for our evolving demographics. As Gen Y comes of age, having grown up in a world defined by terrorism and warmongering and a shift away from racial boundaries, it will begin to look at what has worked and what hasn’t worked in the past 30 years.

However, as of now, Gen Y appears, by and large, to be tolerant of the political status quo even though there are clear moves further and further towards the right. Perhaps until there is gross abuse of power, we will continue to shrug off excesses as “isolated cases” and as a price to pay for a free society.

But are we really a free society when mocking a leader earns one a three-year travel ban?
Nevertheless, it must be clear by now that change cannot merely be the replacement of one political party for another for the job of ruling the nation. Power ultimately corrupts, and a new power elite can remain honest only for so long. Ask the Americans, and they’ll tell you that changing presidents don’t necessarily mean changing certain crucial policies, especially regarding campaign finance and the way corporations can donate money in absurd amounts.
What needs to change is the way we do things.

This has to start with Gen Y forming its own kind of politics. We’ll soon be seeing the leading edge of Gen Y coming to the fore, but under what ideology? More of the same divide-and-conquer policies are out of the question for most young people. We’ve grown up to see the full extent of the damage such policies have done to our unity as a people. While there will always be outliers, the majority of Gen Y Malaysians will likely reject the idea of race-based politics as a crucial element in our voting choices.

It is time to move past the hot pot that was Umno/BN, PKR, PAS, DAP, and all the rest in between and begin thinking of alternatives that will work for Gen Y.

Very soon, members of Gen Y may find their friends, neighbours or cousins – or maybe even themselves – running for office. When that time comes, they’ll have the opportunity to apply the lessons they have learnt from 50-odd years of mistakes and decide how they may fix the broken system.

So, young people, what kind of country do you want Malaysia to be?