PUTRAJAYA, July 5 — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today officiated at the pairing of 111 youths to Cabinet ministers and corporate CEOs under the 2019 Perdana and Corporate Fellows internship programme for undergraduates and graduates.

Seventy-six Perdana Fellows were paired with 28 ministers and the chief secretary to the government while 35 Corporate Fellows were paired with 19 CEOs of large corporate companies.

Up to 60.2 per cent of the participants of this year’s programme come from the B40 group of the bottom 40 per cent of households by income.

The ministers present at today’s function included Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin.

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The Perdana Fellowship Programme enters its seventh year this year. It was introduced in 2013 by the Youth and Sports Ministry to train youths with potential into acquiring the highest level of leadership skills through direct emplacement with Cabinet ministers.

Identified youths undergo several phases of a selection process and are exposed directly to knowledge of government administration related to policy development and implementation of the national agenda.

All participants of the Perdana Fellowship Programme this year are required to prepare a policy paper that contains proposals for improvement at the respective ministries. The Corporate Fellowship Programme participants have to suggest improvements for the respective companies.

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The Corporate Fellowship Programme was triggered by the success of the Perdana Fellowship Programme.

The inaugural Corporate Fellowship Programme sees the participation of 19 companies, among them Permodalan Nasional Bhd, Malaysia Airlines Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd, AirAsia Bhd, Ernst and Young, Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Telekom Malaysia and Petronas. — Bernama