KUCHING: State government is urging the young people to take the youth development in the State seriously as they are considered as its (the State’s) great asset, said Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Karim Rahman Hamzah.
According to Karim, the challenges faced by the youths today are multi-faceted in nature, ranging from economic, social, technological, and political perspectives
“With the 42 per cent of youths’ population in Sarawak out of 2.8 million (Statics Dept, 2018) they are considered as a great asset to the State, if they are harnessed and utilised in the right direction.
“In this context, the government should consider looking at the issues of youth development seriously,” said Karim in his winding up speech at the State Legislative Assembly, last Monday.
Karim also noted that the issues and challenges commonly faced by our youths, as usually highlighted by the social media are unemployment as well as under employment among our graduates and school leavers.
“These are made worse by the high cost of living, drug abuse, influences of social media, underage marriages, teen pregnancies, divorces, juvenile delinquencies, illegal racing (mat rempit), urban poverty and alcoholism,” he said.
He also pointed that his ministry will continue to organise programmes and activities for the second half of 2018 (July-Dec).
“My ministry will continue to organise the following programmes and activities namely ‘Sambutan Hari Belia Peringkat Negeri’, ‘Forum Belia Sarawak’, ‘Jelajah Belia Sarawak’, Junior and Senior Youth Camp, TedX Kenyalang ‘Outreach to the World’, Youth-Paint the World, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Communication Skills, Community and Volunteerism and many others,” he said.
Karim also disclosed that the youth transformation programme “Kawan Ku Sayang, Keluarga Ku Kenang” has been getting encouraging response from the young people in the State.
He said the programme has been proven to be very effective in terms of youth motivation, engagement and outreach.
“This programme is implemented through strategic collaboration with SABERKAS Negeri since 2014.
“As a result of this success story, my ministry will continue to implement it as a core programme, and to date, we have organised a total of 51 series of the said programme involving more than 5,000 youths throughout the state, leaving a remaining 11 series to be implemented for the rest of the year,” he said, adding, the youth development programmes will also be continued through strategic collaborations with other relevant agencies.
