Zahid: Youth leaders must be under 30 from 2018
Published on: Tuesday, May 17, 2016
SERDANG: Youth will be defined as those under the age of 30 from 2018 under the new National Youth Policy that will be presented to the cabinet on Wednesday. Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid said the move was aimed at getting more youths to be involved in youth organisations and economic activities when they left school, attend institutions of higher education and upon graduation. Zahid said it would also encourage and provide opportunities to younger youth leaders, as they were a vital element in the government's process to inject youth into all levels of society and governance. Previously, the government's definition of youth was those aged between 18 and 40.
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"This means that the youth leadership of the country will be handed over only to those under the age of 30," said Zahid. The deputy prime minister also proposed a RM500 million grant for the Youth and Sports Ministry to reactivate the National Youth Entrepreneurs Fund. He said this was to drive the economic involvement of youth under the New National Youth Policy, which would take effect in 2018."This will mean that even if the funds are held by financial institutions, the empowerment that the Youth and Sports Ministry as the umbrella body for all youth organisations would provide to the youth would be significant. "Young entrepreneurs have to be established. We want them to be involved in the business and industrial community to move forward.
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We know that jobs for them are limited. We hope with this injection of funds through the ministry, the development of youth entrepreneurs will be intensified to establish more of them throughout the country.Zahid announced that next year's carnival would return to Putrajaya, citing the need for a bigger participation.
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Present were Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, his deputy Datuk M. Saravanan and National Youth Council president Muammar Gaddafi Jamal Jamaluddin. Zahid said the government understood that the shift in venue was due to the lack of funds, thus, an allocation of RM10 million over the next two years for NYC was announced. "NYC should draw up programmes to ensure that all state Youth Councils and their affiliates can receive funds to conduct their programmes." He said in enacting the New National Youth Policy, the government should also address content and features that met the needs of youths under the age of 30. "The Youth Index introduced by the ministry under the National Youth Development Plan last year was a new, but effective benchmark for us to gauge the countrys awareness and effectiveness in dealing with youth." Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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