1,000-strong crowd at inclusive PTW youth concert
KUCHING: Some 1,000 people including 200 special children from five organisations attended the Paint The World ( PTW) concert held at Civic Centre here yesterday.
The special children are from the Sarawak Association for the Welfare of Intellectually Disabled Children ( Perkata), Kuching Autistic Association, Dyslexia Association of Sarawak, Baiturrahmah Hidayah Centre and state Welfare Department.
They had fun and enjoyed the performances staged by students of Technology College Sarawak and Limkokwing University of Creative Technology Sarawak as well as members of PTW Malaysia.
Founder of PTW Malaysia Aziza Aznizan said: “This programme is for the youths. We want to unite the youths through charity.”
Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, who launched the concert, said he had always wanted to be part of the programme, which reached out to the less fortunate of society.
“This is the first time a PTW concert is done in Kuching,” he said, adding that the first two similar events took place in Miri.
Abdul Karim opined that programmes like the PTW concert must continue in the state to cheer up the less fortunate.
“It’s our wish to see all go well in our society. There are children who are born with disabilities and there are those born facing difficulties in life.
“There are those who do not have parents and also those born into a family faced with poverty, or born with illness or are handicapped.
“We need society to help out and bring a smile to the faces of these young children and their families,” he said.
He said he fancied the message brought forward by the PTW group, adding that it marked the third time he has attended their concerts.
Abdul Karim even stressed: “I sent my assistant minister to Kuala Lumpur for the Matta Fair just because I want to be here.”
Describing Aziza as a talented and incredible lady, he said he hoped to see more youngsters emulate her in helping the less fortunate in the state.
He added that more young Sarawakians ought to come forward to help ‘bring colours to the lives of the less fortunate’.
“I want to see more of such programmes so that we can help society.”
Abdul Karim believed that the less fortunate deserved to lead a life ‘just like everyone of us’.
“You all should come forward to make sure that our society is a place that is able to bring cheer to the less fortunate,” he added.