KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — The Umno Youth Wing has decided that all Umno division youth wings must appoint at least one committee member under the age of 25.
Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh said they would try to win the trust of youth, especially Malay voters, to Umno and Barisan Nasional.
“In the past, it was hard to enter Umno, but now we want to woo the youth out there. We want youth to join Umno easily.
“Now we cannot follow the old ways like handing in applications. With new technology, we will look for a solution and measures to simplify the process of becoming an Umno member,” he said during a media conference after the first Umno Youth exco meeting at Menara Dato’ Onn here today.
“Our focus is to strengthen grassroots support for Umno. We will face the 16th general election and state elections.
A total of 51 per cent of voters are under 40, and many of them are under 25. Therefore we must ensure (Umno) Youth will champion the people,” he said.
Muhamad Akmal also added that Umno Youth did not object to the implementation of Employee Provident Fund (EPF) collateral for bank loans made by contributors and would prepare suggested improvements.
“(Umno) Youth have never shied from the struggle. We will champion public issues, including the EPF issue.
“We do not object but we have suggested improvements that we will announce soon,” he said.
Yesterday, the EPF shared some details on the mechanism as well as terms and conditions for the Second Account Support Facility that will be implemented in two stages, with phase 1 starting on April 7.
EPF contributors aged 40 and above who have a minimum balance of RM3,000 in Account 2 are eligible for a bank loan under the scheme starting April 7, and members who fulfil the qualification criteria can apply through participating banks, including MBSB Bank and Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN). — Bernama
