KUCHING: Sarawak needs to have a specific roadmap for training youth and women to be future leaders.
Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said the ministry held a Women Leadership Training programme last year as a pilot project.
“At present, we haven’t reached the 30 percent of women in decision-making level especially in politics.
“At the civil service level, we have made progress. We have a number of women who are head of departments and even community leaders.
“But as politicians, there are only a handful of us right now. So we need to have a specific roadmap in order to have more people with the potential, to be trained,” she said after receiving a courtesy visit from Australian high school graduate Alyssa Lai at her office in Baitul Makmur building here, yesterday.
The 17-year old will be enrolling for a one-year Mandarin Language course in Fudan University before pursuing her double degree in Environment and Sustainability and Politics.
The visit was to inform the minister of Lai’s achievement and her intention to return to the state to serve the community.
“At the end of the day, if you want to be in politics, you have to be visible,” she advised Lai.
“People look at the potential candidates through your visibility either in your community work and the position that you hold.
“In terms of leadership skills, you have to be engaged in a certain project in your own area and gain experience. Then, people will have confidence (in you),” Fatimah added.
Fatimah said not many youths are interested in politics despite the many leadership training programmes organised.
She said the reason for this lack of interest are many, among which are parents’ disapproval, the misperception that only the old people can be in politics, and many see politics as a boring profession.
“These are among the reasons we got from engaging with the youth in a workshop session.
“With this kind of feedback, we at the leadership level are able to plan actions to ensure that we can nurture the young ones to be future leaders,” she said.
