PM: Youth not being left behind

PETALING JAYA: The youth are not being left behind in Budget 2022, says the Prime Minister, reiterating the government’s commitment to implement Undi18 on Jan 1.

The budget, said Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, was inclusive and covered every layer of society regardless of economic status, race, religion and even age.

In his speech during Hari Belia Negara 2021 in Kuala Lumpur, the youth, he said, would benefit from 25 initiatives across different ministries and agencies.

“I saw some responses on social media saying that the government is not allocating funds for the youth.

“Actually, there are a number of initiatives dedicated for the youth across different ministries and government agencies,” he said.

Among these are JaminKerja, an initiative to guarantee 600,000 job opportunities, as well as 80,000 contracts under MyStep to provide job opportunities for school leavers and university graduates by the government and government-linked companies.

“While some initiatives are not cash incentives, the government is committed to assisting the youth in terms of job creation, with the introduction of JaminKerja, MyStep and Perantis,” he said.

Perantis is an initiative to encourage employers to hire fresh graduates and school leavers aged between 18 and 30 by offering RM900 per month, an increase of RM100.

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Ismail Sabri said the Youth Development Model 2030 would be launched in March as an effort to develop the younger generation in producing Masyarakat 5.0.

Masyarakat 5.0 refers to a society that is empowered physically and virtually through digitalisation.

He said to address mental health issues among the youth in Malaysia, the Mental Health Matters campaign aimed to train 1,000 young counsellors through the Rakan Muda Comfort Room.

“The programme, which is in collaboration with non-governmental organisations, provides various platforms for emotional services and interventions to those in need,” he said.

The government, said Ismail Sabri, was also committed to implementing automatic registration of new voters under Undi18 from Jan 1.

The decision, he said, was in line with Kuching High Court order and would involve over four million new voters aged between 18 and 30.

“The Election Commission has said that it would need time until September 2022 to prepare for the automatic registration due to management and administration reasons.

“The government could also file an appeal to the court to postpone it.

“However, as a gesture of appreciation towards the youth, the Cabinet has agreed to proceed with the court order,” he said, adding that the age for election candidates would also be lowered to 18 under Undi18.

“This is our commitment to give the voice to the youth,” he added.

During the event, six youths were awarded the Anugerah Belia Negara 2021 for their achievements.

One of the winners is Boccia coach Aiman Hafizi Abu Bakar who oversaw Chew Wei Lun’s unexpected gold medal success in the field at the Tokyo Paralympics.