KUCHING, Aug 30 — The National Youth Consultative Council (MPBN) will discuss issues and problems encountered in the process of youth development at both national and state levels, said Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.

The Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Minister said at the same time, the council will also explore new dimensions in the youth development agenda in line with the current changing scenario.

"Youths are the leaders of our future and as such we need to discuss and look at what issues and aspirations they hope to achieve.

"This is so that we can establish a strong foundation and move towards building a better tomorrow for our future leaders,” he told a press conference after chairing the state-level MPBN meeting here yesterday.

Other objectives of MPBN, he said, included strengthening and improving the relationship between organisations and the government in an effort to produce dynamic and competitive Malaysian youths as well as to come up with an action plan to deal with any youth development issues as a result of the current economic recession.

Abdul Karim said the state-level MPBN meeting yesterday saw the presentation of working papers by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) and National Entrepreneurial Group Economic Fund (Tekun) on the various opportunities available for youths.

"We also had presentation of proposals by youth leaders on issues, hopes and aspirations of the youths which they want to mediate with the government and agencies.

"We will look into the proposals and if we can address them here at this meeting, we will do so,” he said.

He commended the youth leaders who presented the proposals at the meeting, describing them as insightful.

"When they presented their proposals, I noticed that a lot of them have good quality and they are not from ‘coffee shop talk’.

"These are proposals that need to be refined and looked into by the government as well as bodies or departments which look after the youths,” he said, noting that the proposals included the suggestion to establish a State Youth Legislative Assembly similar to the Malaysian Youth Parliament.

He said the proposals showed the maturity of youth leaders of today who know what they want and the aspiration they hope to convey.

"They are qualified and MPBN is a good platform for them to voice their views,” he added.

On a related matter, Abdul Karim said youth programmes organised by both federal and state governments have been well received and supported by the youths in Sarawak.

"Whether the programmes are held in urban or rural areas, the events have attracted the attention of youths.

"In fact, I just came back from a programme in Sibuti, Lambir and Bekenu and usually we limit such programmes to only 300 participants but this time we had to increase to 600 because a lot of youths wanted to be involved,” he said.

Also present were Sarawak Youth and Sports Department director Lamat Nyalau and Ministry of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development permanent secretary Morshidi Fredrick. — Borneo Post Online