Hasni said the parties under BN were still capable of safeguarding the voices and wishes of the young group. Young people should not be influenced by the effort to set up a new party for the young as there is already a conduit for the young to have their voices heard.

“Prior to this, Muar MP (Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman) had a proposal to establish a party for the young. However, there is no necessity to follow a party which is specifically for the young,” he said.

“The voices of the young and the old should be united. It is akin to not respecting the elders if one follows a party which is specifically for the young. Ideally, the young and the old need to be together to strengthen the unity among them,” he said today.

Hasni’s remarks came when he opened the BN Youth election machinery for the Sri Gading parliamentary constituency.

Last week, Syed Saddiq, a former youth minister, confirmed that he would not be joining the new party set up by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but would establish a multi-racial youth-based party.