State Govt urged to establish Sabah Youth Enactment
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Youth Council (MBS) is urging the State Government, specifically the State Youth and Sports Ministry (KBS), to immediately establish the Sabah Youth Enactment.
Its president, Abqaree Fawwaz Abekan, said this considering the lowering of the youth age limit from 40 years to 30 years which will come into effect on January 1, 2026, as he feared it would kill the youth movement in Sabah.
“MBS sees that this implementation will slow down the growth of youth organisations in Sabah.
“Through a joint agreement by the MBS Supreme Council, we are of the stance that lowering the youth age limit to 30 years is not suitable to be implemented in Sabah based on several factors.
“This matter needs to be resolved before it reaches its enforcement date as MBS believes that if it fails to be implemented before that date, then our youth in Sabah will have to comply with the Youth Societies Act (Amendment) 2019 (Act 668) which lowers the youth age limit from 40 years to 30 years,” he said this when speaking at the MBS Annual General Meeting 2023 at Pacific Sutera Harbour, here last Sunday.
Abqaree added that in the Sabah Youth Enactment, the issue is not only focused on the lowering of the youth age limit.
“In fact, the Enactment also allocates full power to the State Government through KBS to manage youth governance as a whole in this state,” he explained.
He also said that the existence of the Sabah Youth Enactment will help ensure better planning for youth movement in the state.
“The Sabah Youth Enactment will help ensure that the youth movement in the state of Sabah will be more organised and we will be able to provide new youth leadership of our own moulding,” he stressed.
Abqaree said there are two issues involving the youth in the enforcement of the Youth Societies (Amendment) Act 2019 or Act 668, which are related to youth organisations and individual youth.
He explained that based on the provisions of the Federal Constitution, youth are individually contained in the list of state jurisdictions.
“This means that nonunionised youth are not subject to Act 668, instead they are under the state list. For that reason, the State Government has the right to determine the direction and future of youth at the state level,” he said.
Abqaree stressed it is not a matter of not being ready to adopt the provisions of the act related to the youth group, but it needs to take into account the situation in Sabah which is different from other states.
He said Sarawak also did not apply Act 668 in its state even though it had been enforced for a long time.
On Nov 23 last year, Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh informed that the Federal Government has set the effective date for the Youth Societies and Youth Development (Amendment) Act 2019 (Act A1602) on Jan 1, 2026.
Hannah said that among other matters, the amendment involves lowering the youth age limit to 30 years, setting the age limit for youth organisation leaders or office holders, which is 18 to 30 years, and limiting the term of youth organisation leaders to four years only.