The DPP is encouraging its young members to participate in political activities by organizing the "Outspoken Generation" debate, which begins today, a party official said.
DPP Youth Development Department director Juan Chao-hsiung (
"In addition to traditional campaigns, we hope to provide a different way for young people to challenge, speak out and show off what they can do to contribute to society," Juan said.
A total of 37 teams from different colleges nationwide will participate in the contest from Monday to Thursday at Shih Hsin University. More than 150 college and graduate students will discuss whether the Legislative Yuan should decrease its number of seats to half the current figure. There should be 225 legislators in the house but there are currently 219, due to some lawmakers being assigned to government posts.
"A debate event like this is very important for the DPP," said Lawmaker Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄). "Most DPP politicians are not good at debating. We usually choose to keep silent when somebody is arguing with us because most of us think everything will be fine if we do not start the fire."
Shen said the DPP needs training courses like this for the next generation so young DPP members can to speak up in the future.
"While the DPP wants to help young people train themselves for future challenges ... through debate contests, an event like this is actually going to help everybody clarify some misunderstandings about politics and maybe inspire politicians with some fresh ideas," said Chang Yu-shao (張宇韶), chairman of the Chinese Debate Research and Development Association.
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