We’ll continue to support the youths, says DPM
KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional will raise the standard of living of youths via various platforms, says Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
The Deputy Prime Minister said Barisan would ensure that the aspirations and needs of youths, especially in career, house ownership and funding as well as skills training, would continue to be given attention.
He said one of the platforms would be the BN Youth career carnival, which had entered its 38th session since 2011.
He said Barisan’s efforts to translate youths’ aspirations and needs into reality were not merely on paper nor were they seasonal.
“These have been proven time and again. If given the opportunity, we will continue to give such support,” Dr Ahmad Zahid said at the opening of the BN 2018 Youth Expo at Putra World Trade Centre here yesterday.
Also present was Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who is also Barisan Youth chief.
The two-day expo, which began yesterday, is offering more than 50,000 employment opportunities by more than 200 exhibitors.
These exhibitors comprise government agencies and government-linked companies.
According to Dr Ahmad Zahid, the Barisan manifesto, which promised three million jobs in five years with the target of 600,000 employment opportunities each year for youths, would not be difficult to be implemented as this had been meticulously planned through structured programmes such as the
1Malaysia Training Scheme and Technical and Vocational Education and Training.
This also took into consideration online businesses, he added.
“In this regards, we hope funding by financial and banking institutions will think about the flexible loans that would not burden youths,” he said.
Apart from that, Dr Ahmad Zahid said Barisan would also give attention to the youths’ house ownership by providing various schemes, including funding facilities.
He also called for the setting up of a secretariat to coordinate and provide uniform skills training by various government agencies to ensure no overlapping of such efforts.
He proposed that Khairy chair the secretariat. He also said Barisan Youth should be given more opportunity to contest.
“I am very confident that if given the opportunity, they will be able to display a better performance than those who have previously been given the opportunity,” he said. — Bernama