Introducing YOUTHPHORIA, a sanctuary for our youths

I remember reading distinctly, "If we do not care for the youths, we destroy our future."

Youths have become a Malaysiakini priority. As almost 50 percent of our colleagues are made up of youths, we find that the need to provide a viable platform for youths to be heard, be seen and to be engaged is growing in importance.

This morning as I was buzzing around my table thinking about the massive number of minute details to look into before we launch our youth newsletter 'YOUTHPHORIA', my youngest team member cautiously approached my table.

Just as I was churning out a list of things for her to do, I was shocked to see her face - it was filled with grief. I bolted out of my chair and went to her.

Part of me was at war. Attend to kid in need or do work first? Of course, kid in need wins. I've learnt the lesson of the frailty of life. Work never ends. When the younger generation demands your attention - it's best to be sharply available. 

We have no idea the immense suffering they sometimes carry in them. People have such a hard time listening these days.

I let her pour her heart out. Then I shared with her some tools she could use to cope mentally with her situation. The anguish is far from over. An hour and a half later, I told her that we will keep talking until we find a resolution to her situation.

I have 10 members on my team, all between the ages of 20-29 and caring for their mental and emotional fitness is a full-time job. Early in January, we lost one kid in a car crash - Harry's passing caused immense disruption to my being. 

My greatest preoccupation was did I miss any signs that something was wrong or was this an unavoidable accident? I don't have an answer but the growing urgency to embark on youth content practically escalated to a point that Malaysiakini as a whole can no longer ignore that this tango needs to begin.

Youths need a platform where they are seen, heard and respected. Malaysiakini needed to create one.

Just a few days ago, 17-year old Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam who exposed her teacher for allegedly making lewd jokes in class dropped by the Malaysiakini office. SItting on the office bridge, I could hear her songbird voice chirping cheerfully away showing our CEO how she uses TikTok to air her societal concerns.

Our journalists then whisked her and her dad along for their interview before they took some pictures around the office. Clad in a simple red top and black mask, she really looked like an innocent 17-year-old who was simply uncomfortable with her teacher's actions. She wanted to speak up.

To learn and understand

We decided to publicise her story as we do all other key Malaysiakini stories. We created a banner for Ain's story and uploaded it to both of Malaysiakini's Facebook English and BM pages. I checked the banners and was truly unprepared for what was about to happen next. 

I knew Ain would be in trouble for whistleblowing on her teacher and prayed she would be able to take the heat, but even I who am in the media was unprepared for how people reacted to the banners and to Ain for standing up for what was right.

Our executive editor sent me a text regarding Ain's banners, "Lynn, boleh tolong ...," he asked. I looked at the banners again and actually did not know what was wrong with them. So, I went on to Facebook and read the comments. It took such self-control for me to explain to my team that we needed to change the banners and remove the photo of Ain.

I told them, they needed to be really careful when posting pictures of women online, and especially to look out for ways people can sexualise and objectivise a person.

The team was stunned as we read the comments ranging from body shaming her to the fact that she was not wearing a tudung and therefore unfit to tell people how to behave. They went the extra mile indeed to make her feel ashamed of speaking truth to power. But her intention was simply that other students did not need to be subjected to similar situations.

For reasons like these, we developed YOUTHPHORIA. The young need to be heard, seen and respected. They need a platform to air their concerns in a safe space.

The youths are our future. To know that they struggle with a world we have created and do nothing about it is detrimental to our future. Hence the creation of YOUTHPHORIA which is basically youth content created by and for youths. 

We are embarking on a journey to explore their personal stories, indulge in how they see the world, allow for a sharing of mental and emotional fitness, skill and personal development and also news created specifically for youths.

We hope that YOUTHPHORIA will start as a newsletter and morph into a community which youths feel they can trust and rely upon for credible information. We hope that the content of YOUTHPHORIA will help build up the resilience and capacity of our remarkable youths. 

But most importantly, we hope to learn from and understand their radically new ways of thinking. It's time for us to learn to listen.

Subscribe to YOUTHPHORIA today for our first issue out on Monday.

And do share this piece of news with your children and youths that you know. And together, let's build the leaders of tomorrow. 

LYNN D'CRUZ heads Malaysiakini's Membership Department.