People need to be smart in choosing their leaders

SHAH ALAM- Malaysia has yet to reach political maturity if voters were to choose leaders who practice party hopping or those who were more concerned about their own welfare than that of the people.

Political analyst Dr Hussain Yusri Zawawi said maturity should be measured based on the choice people make on the leaders who would be leading the country.

He said if people were still choosing leaders who act irresponsibly and those who do not have a firm political stance, then the country would not be able to achieve that maturity.

“I think the young people nowadays have the answer as they have sufficient mass media exposure to determine the political direction of the country.

“The media display politics in the country in a way that young people could easily comprehend.

“When we talk about political maturity, we can see that today, we are not there yet,” he said at a Rasuah Busters programme called “Undi 18 Jadi Rebutan, Jangan Sampai Sogok”, on Wednesday.

Hussain also said people have widely discussed the attitude of the political figures in the country to the point that it invited many negative perceptions towards them.

“We can see that today, party hopping issues are a norm whenever the elections are approaching and this is not a good example to be set for the future young leaders.

“The politicians have been blaming each other since a long time ago. They are not prioritising the people but instead focusing on matters that should not be discussed in Parliament, so what is the political direction of the country in the future?

“I think the young people are able to analyse the situation and the Parliament sittings need to be streamed live so that people could see the progress of the politicians that they have chosen," he said.