CALD Youth hones Political Academy

JAKARTA, INDONESIA — After the success of the celebrated pilot event of the CALD Youth Political Academy (CYPA) that was held in Hong Kong last March 2017, CALD Youth concludes a yet another event not just to look back to, but to bring more ideas and people to along with a bigger, stronger, and bolder platform that is CYPA.

The youth wing convened in Indonesia last 17-22 October 2018 for the much-awaited spinoff of CYPA with over thirty delegates from the CALD network, carrying the theme “The 3Is of Leadership: Imagine, inspire, innovate, for the environment.”

“Life is too short not to live your dreams. Find your passion and make it happen,” CALD Secretary General Khun Kiat Sittheeamorn urged the youth delegates during the visit at the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle or PDI-P’s Headquarters in Jakarta. Sittheeamorn graced the event with utmost joy, enthusiasm, and optimism about the youth’s vital role in shaping a more progressive CALD as the network embarks into its twenty-fifth anniversary next month.

PDI-P Secretary General, Pak Hasto Kristiyanto convinced the delegates that the Indonesian youth has largely become norm entrepreneurs in bringing the party into the limelight of progress and innovation. “PDI-P has dedicated itself to change, innovation, and creativity. That’s how we became the most popular party among the millennials,” explained Pak Hasto. “We are the oldest [political] party in the country, and yet we have been the most digital,” he added. The promising development that the party has shown over the years amazed not just the delegates but the CALD SecGen as well. “We do not have to go far to look for a successful party management, just go to Indonesia, and visit the PDI-P headquarters,” said Sittheeamorn.

These kinds of advancements help the youth arm of the network to work harder on the things that they can still do and improve in helping CALD embody its goals and aspirations, most especially when they venture into the deeper stages of their political and professional careers in the years ahead

Remarkably, this year’s CYPA delegates had the opportunity to visit the Indonesian House of Representatives and were able to meet some of Indonesia’s young entrepreneurs. This experience helped them see how the youth can bring change in a very competitive society with a clear vision, effective communication, and most especially innovative techniques. However, the highlight of the entire summit was concentrated on the training sessions of the programme where the participants enhanced their knowledge and skills in leadership to become actual agents of a greener cause.

According to Ivanpal Grewal, the previous CALD Youth Chair, “CYPA was a monumental event for CALD and CALD Youth as we managed to get participants from all corners of Asia. By choosing the environment as a central theme, CYPA will go a long way in creating awareness on the seminal challenge of our lifetime, not only on our localities, but in the region as well.” Furthermore, his predecessor, former CALD Youth Chair and now United Nations Development Programme (Mongolia) Communications Officer, Bulgan Bayasgalant said, “I believe that the main obstacle in tackling environmental issues rests in people’s behaviours. For several days participating in CYPA, we might have inspired some influential regional youth to become stronger voices that can be further echoed in their respective spheres.”

The intense workshops on strategic visioning, effective communication, and sustainable management led to a fruitful discussion on what they can do to magnify the ideals of CALD Youth in its journey to becoming a more environmentally sensitive organization. Hence, they were able to develop and formulate concrete project proposals to start working on for the next two years. To have started on something is already a breakthrough, and this basically gives the hint of ending this event hopeful than ever.

CALD Program Officer Francis Miguel Panday said, “for over four years of being part of the CALD Secretariat as a project assistant, now a program officer for youth and climate change, I never felt this determined to actually work harder on what the liberal youth can do to bring real change in an imaginative, inspiring, and innovative approach.” “CYPA is a special platform where young leaders are trained not just to fish, but to become the big fish themselves,” he added.

New officers take over

Originally, there were only two positions that occupy the CALD Youth leadership: the Chairperson and the Secretary General. The decision to add two more positions — Vice Chairperson, and the Public Relations Officer — was finalized unanimously, and was later successfully adopted during the 36th CALD Executive Committee in Bangkok, Thailand.

As a result, new officers take over the leadership. The delegate from the Democrat Party (DP) of Thailand, Siripa Nan Intavichein won the highest position, which is the chairperson, followed by Leo Chu from the Democratic Party of Hong Kong (DPHK) as the Vice Chairperson, Jeremiah Tomas from the Liberal Party of the Philippines (LP) as the Secretary General, and Mengbunrong Seng from the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) as the Public Relations Officer.

The new set of officers were equally enthusiastic and optimistic of what they can do to continue the endeavours that their predecessors have built. They initiated the implementation of a regular online meeting among the CALD Youth officers and its members in order create an atmosphere of a more intimate and committed set of liberal youth across the network; this was also a way of tracking the ideas and developments for future CALD Youth activities.

These are just among the many platforms that the new officers target. On the upcoming 25th Anniversary Conference of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats in Bangkok, the CALD Youth Chair is set to propose to the Executive Committee the project proposals that came out of this year’s CYPA.