Chief Minister urges ministry to recognise outstanding youths in the state, moots award for them
KUCHING: The Social Development Ministry should come up with an award for outstanding youths in social organisations, suggested Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.
He said such an award would inspire youths to be involved in social work and activities that promote greater social interaction.
“This award will encourage our youths to be more involved in activities that bring them together in exchanging ideas and discussing with one another,” he said at the launch of the state-level Youth Day 2013 celebration at Le’Park here yesterday.
Taib pointed out that youths nowadays tend to be too engrossed in the Internet, which he acknowledged as the most powerful instrument of communication today.
“They tend to cut themselves off from normal social interactions, stuck in their own world.
“Schools, parents and the society at large have to encourage them to take part in social interactions through activities with peers of the same interest or of the same ambition.
“We must get the youths to be more active socially as they are our greatest assets.
“I hope the young people will start the movement today so that we will have a much more cohesive society in the future, with greater social interactions together,” he said.
Taib said young people should be allowed to enjoy their youth for as long as they could, free from worldly worries.
“We should not burden them with problems of nation building even though it concerns them.
“However, they must be made to understand and aware of what awaits them in the future.
“They need to understand in terms of choosing the right course or training, so that they can tap the potential of the future,” he said.
Taib added that to stem the flow of young people moving out of the state to find jobs elsewhere, the state government was finding all means to provide for job opportunities for young Sarawakians within the state.
“We have to consider our resources that can be developed into job opportunities.
“We have to broaden our minds to other fields besides agro-based sector. We found potential in producing electricity through our dams and in intensified industrialisation through SCORE.
“These will engage the young people in technical and more lucrative jobs. Therefore, they should no longer follow the old ways but must think of what is needed to get those jobs,” he said.
During the event, Taib was presented with a surprise birthday cake from the Ministry in conjunction with his 77th birthday celebration.
Also present at the launch were Taib’s wife Puan Sri Ragad, Social Development Minister Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom and other state cabinet ministers and dignitaries.