KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — The Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) will raise the issue of drug abuse among youths, especially during concerts, at the weekly cabinet meeting tomorrow.
Its minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the matter had to be highlighted to the cabinet to ensure the unfortunate incident where six people died due to drug overdose during the Festival Future Music Asia (FMFA) 2014 at the Bukit Jalil Stadium here recently would not happen again.
“We will not only look at concert organisation but also basic issues like awareness and education on drug abuse which must be given to the younger generation, especially when combined with entertainment events.
“We do not want to stop any concerts but I hope this (drug abuse) can be curtailed,” he said.
He was speaking to reporters after opening the third session of the 2013-2014 National Youth Legal Council at the International Youth Centre here today.
In the incident which occurred early Saturday morning, six locals, including three women, aged 19 to 28 years, died from drug overdose at the FMFA concert at the Bukit Jalil Stadium while 14 others were hospitalised.
The three-day concert which started last Thursday has since been cancelled.
In a separate development, Khairy said the ministry would give a RM2,000 incentive to any youth organisation which was successful in getting the five-star accreditation based on assessment made by the Youth Organisation Registration Office.
The youth organisation registration system was introduced last year and was an assessment of all youth organisation registered under the Youth Association and Youth Development Act 2007.
“In the future, we will apply the same system to any youth organisation which shows good performance, and they will get incentives in the form of additional allocation to strengthen the association and conduct programmes,” Khairy said.
The one-day conference was attended by delegations from the KBS, the Malaysian Youth Council, and the Malaysian Cooperative Commission. — Bernama
