Fadillah (seated centre) talking to the media, as others including SUPP Youth chief Tan Kai (seated third left) and PBB deputy Youth chief Gerald Rentap Jabu (seated second left) look on.
KUCHING: Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak (Teras) and United People’s Party (UPP) are being left out of an upcoming State Barisan National (BN) Youth Conference.
State BN Youth chief Datuk Fadillah Yusof said the conference, to be held next month, would be attended by top Youth leaders from the current four components, namely Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).
He did not give reasons for not including Teras and UPP, but it is believed it is because both parties have not been admitted into BN yet.
“We, at BN Sarawak, at the Youth level comprised PBB, SUPP, SPDP and PRS as component parties. One of the aims (of the upcoming conference) is to make sure our young leaders remain with Barisan Nasional.
“On those who have left the component parties, we will have to accept the fact. But for those Youth leaders who remain, we now should focus on not just staying in BN but also to get more members to be with BN through the current four components,” he said.
He elaborated that efforts are focused on ensuring the support for BN would not be affected by the current political developments, and at the same time to strengthen the current four State BN components.
He pointed out that as far as State BN Youth was concerned, the focus was to get more young people to be with BN.
Fadillah, who is also PBB Youth chief, was earlier asked by the media whether the State BN Youth are affected by members and leaders quitting the BN components to join Teras and UPP.
On the upcoming State BN Youth Conference, he said the main purpose was to address issues relating to the young generation as one of the strategies to gear up preparations for coming state election, which could be held sooner than 2016.
“We want to learn what are the issues affecting youths in Sarawak be it politics, economics and social, and bring it up to the attention of authorities at the national level. Their concerns could be regarding equal opportunities for Sarawak youths, which we aim to resolve,” he said.
He added that a national-level BN Youth Conference would be held in Miri next year to tackle the issues on a bigger platform.
“The national level BN Youth Conference in Miri next year will be attended by all the current components of BN. We want to develop our youths so that they can play bigger roles, and be international players,” he said.