PM: Govt will see if Johor palace interfered on definition of youth

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will see if there was any “interference” from the Johor palace into the Federal Government's effort to lower the age limit for youths to 30, says Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“Well, there must be (some interference) because that is why they (the Johor state government) made the remark.

“We will see if there is any interference of not,” Dr Mahathir told reporters at the Parliament lobby on Thursday (July 11).

This comes after Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said he hoped the Johor palace would not interfere in the state government's affairs.

Muhyiddin acknowledged that the Johor royalty had given its views on the issue but said the state government should be given the space to carry out policy.

Asked on the next cause of action if the government did find there had been interference from the palace, Dr Mahathir said, “We will study and see the reasons given, if they are acceptable or not”.

Asked on the different age limits between the Federal and the Johor state government, Dr Mahathir said this could be due to the age of members in organisations.

“This is because there are youth organisations there (in Johor), and many (members) are over 30. They are no longer youths.

“They will become adults,” he quipped.

On Monday (July 8), Johor announced it would maintain its categorisation of youth for its policies as those between 15 and 40 despite the Federal Government's move to lower the age limit to 30.

Then on Tuesday (July 9), the state government changed its stand to lower the youth age limit to 30.

However, less than 24 hours later, state Youth, Sports, Entrepreneurship Development and Cooperatives Committee chairman Sheikh Umar Bagharib Ali issued another statement, saying that Johor would maintain its age limit at 40 following “advice from several parties”.