Mawan presents a prize to the winner of a competition held in conjunction with Family Day as (from left) Sylvester, Alex, Henry and others look on.
SARIKEI: The flow of MRP funding is unabated to groom youths who are not only important stakeholders in the government’s development agenda but also assets to take over the country’s leadership in future.
“The youths have to be continuously reminded of the high expectations placed on them, hence the government is duty-bound to ensure they receive proper guidance, education and other positive inputs which I believe are all included in our human capital development module,” Social Development Minister Tan Sri William Mawan Ikom said during a ‘Membara’ cum Family Day activity at Rumah Gandun, Sungai Rian, in Balong near here on Saturday.
To ensure they do not miss out on the numerous development programmes drawn up by the government through its agencies to ensure youths were adequately groomed to take over the reins, Mawan advised rural youth to get organised to enjoy optimum benefits.
As an elected representative for Pakan, he is duty-bound to allocate minor rural project (MRP) funds for local youths to carry out meaningful activities which are complimentary to the government’s human capital development agenda, Mawan stressed. In that respect, he has allocated RM5,000 to youth sections of every longhouse in Pakan constituency, Mawan announced.
However, to facilitate disbursement and systematic management of the fund, Mawan advised the youth sections to organise themselves first.
He might consider allocating additional fund to youth sections of certain longhouses if there are special reasons to do so, Mawan said, citing participating in prestigious competitions and attending workshops as examples of deserving cases.
Mawan also extended similar privilege to the women sections in every longhouse in Pakan whereby he announced the same amount of grant for them to carry out their activities.
He hoped the women would use the fund to organise training workshops to upskill with knowledge to supplement their families’ income, Mawan added.
Apart from the fund for the youth and women sections, he also continued to disburse allocations to longhouses separately, Mawan assured, adding, depending on the number of beneficiaries, the amount allocated to longhouses was RM10,000 and above.
The people should consider the fund as ‘part of the returns’ from the votes they had ‘invested’ in the Barisan Nasional (BN), Mawan said, while expressing hope that the youths and women who make up the majority of voters to rally on behind the BN government to ensure continuity of development flowing into the rural areas.
During the function Mawan also announced an additional grant of RM25,000 for SK Balong’s new multi-purpose hall project. Previously, Mawan had contributed the same amount (RM25,000).
About 400 residents from several longhouses in the area took part in the activity jointly organized by Special Affairs Department (Jasa) and Divisional Welfare Office.
Jasa also distributed food items to less fortunate families during the function. Among those present were Pakan District Officer Alex Liau, P.209 Julau Jasa liaison officer Sylvester Embuas, Sarikei Divisional assistant Welfare director Sharifah Hanimah Hashim, a representative from Resident’s Office, SAO Henry Gimong, community leaders and longhouse headmen.