JOHOR BARU, July 9 — The Johor government will address technical issues arising from the state’s refusal to adopt Putrajaya’s new definition of youth as those under 30, Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali said today.
The Youth, Sports, Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Committee chairman conceded that Johor’s decision to maintain the classification of youth as those under 40 would lead to inconsistencies between state and federal initiatives.
Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman tabled the Youth Societies and Youth Development (Amendment) Bill 2019 on July 3 that lowered the upper age limit of youth to 30, which Parliament voted through the same day.
“We recognise that changes involving the Act will certainly affect the youth movement and includes those relating to registration of youth societies and so on.
“The state government acknowledges this and we will help coordinate state-level technical affairs with regard to the decision,” said Sheikh Umar in a statement today.
Although approved by Parliament, the amendment must still go through the Dewan Negara and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong before it becomes law.
Sheikh Umar also said the state government will support the transition until the official gazette expected on December 31, 2021.
“This two-year period is sufficient for the state government to review and expand the engagement to implement grassroots understanding of the matter.
“I would like to emphasise that this amendment is to an Act relating to legal matters. It is not just a policy like the National Youth Policy that was launched by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in 2015,” said Sheikh Umar, who is Paloh assemblyman.
Yesterday, the Johor government said it will maintain its categorisation of youths as those between 15 and 40 years’ old for its policies despite Putrajaya’s move to lower the age ceiling to 30.
Johor is the latest state to join Selangor and Sarawak in maintaining the youth age cap at 40.
