Lee (third right) and youths raise their hands to signify the ‘50’ sign during a group photo.
MIRI: Youths are urged to take advantage of the tools available on the Internet to tap into various lucrative online industries.
Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Lee Kim Shin made this call yesterday, saying youths might be left behind if they did not participate in this digital era.
“There are so many things you can learn online. Even businesses can be done online. Simple things such as selling cotton can also be done online as long as you take advantage of the available tools,” he said.
Lee said this during the National Transformation 2050 (TN50) Dialogue held at Institute Kemahiran Belia Negara (IKBN) Miri here yesterday.
Lee and over 200 youths from various youth organisations, clubs, higher learning institutions, government agencies as well as teachers and individuals participated in the dialogue.
“For those of you who are good in computer programming, perhaps you can create apps or games which you can sell online.
“There are so many people who became successful by taking advantage of tools and apps that are available online, including China’s tycoon Jack Ma, the owner of the Alibaba website,” he said.
Lee noted that in order for this to work, high speed Internet must be put in place.
“In fact, the government has set aside millions of ringgit to provide high speed Internet access to everyone. We hope to have this infrastructure in place as soon as possible and running smoothly by 2050,” he said.
The session also provided the opportunity for attendees to ask questions as well as give suggestions that could help the government map out the future direction of the country.
It aims to provide a platform for youths to voice out their aspirations for Malaysia as well as describe how they can help the government achieve these aspirations.
Present at the function was Miri Youths and Sports Officer Mohamad Syukri Drahman, who was also the moderator of the dialogue.