Abang Johari (centre) trying his hands at winnowing padi, as Abdullah (third left), Sagah (fifth left), Dr Abdul Rahman (second right) and others look on.
KUCHING: Housing Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Abang Openg says he is ready to step down as president of Sarawak United National Youths Organisation (Saberkas).
The Satok assemblyman hinted this during the ‘Saberkas Gawai Night 2015’ at Kampung Tijirak on Saturday night.
He, however, was tight-lipped about his successor.
“Just like Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub had passed the post to Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, who then passed it to me, I’m now ready to pass Saberkas presidency to another individual – but I shall not tell you who it is.
“What is definite is that we in Saberkas strive to groom future generations of leaders who can help Sarawak achieve a highly reputable status by 2020,” he teased those present at the event.
On Saberkas, Abang Johari said it had always been the youth body’s objective to help train today’s youngsters to become caring and responsible leaders of tomorrow.
“About 70 per cent of members in Saberkas are from the under-35 age group. This is our uniqueness.
“We want to train capable and responsible leaders who are liberal and not too narrow-minded, because we want to build Sarawak as a highly reputable state.
“We should train the younger generation so that we would have a good human resource pool. As a result, we could be better than Singapore and Japan, because by then we would already have the resources that they lack,” he said in his speech that night.
The organising committee of the Gawai gathering was chaired by Tarat assemblyman Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn, who is Saberkas deputy president. It involved Saberkas
members from the parent body and Tarat branch, together with those from Kampung Tijirak Women’s Bureau.
Other distinguished guests were assemblymen Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi (Pantai Damai), Abdullah Saidol (Semop) and Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali (Samariang).
Dr Abdul Rahman and Sharifah Hasidah are Saberkas secretary-general and vice-president, respectively.