Call to give youth more job opportunities

Chini constituents have high hopes that the next assemblyman for the state constituency will give more attention to the development of public infrastructure and the creation of more job opportunities, especially for young people.

Felda Chini 5 Youth Council chairman Mohd Fadil Ismail, 33, said the area could do with sports and recreational facilities that would allow for the scouting of new talents among Felda youths and enable them to venture into sports professionally.

“I believe it will encourage young people to spend their time more beneficially and at the same time, reduce their involvement in social ills,” he said.

A resident in Felda Chini Timur 1,

Jamilah Md Isa, 58, expected more housing development for the second generation of Felda settlers, besides efforts to improve clean water supply for the local people.

She said many of the second generation of Felda settlers were still living at their parents’ house as they could not afford to have their own.

A resident in Felda Chini 5, Sarjuni Konting, 62, called for more job opportunities to boost the local economy.

He suggested the Felda Terapai project here, which is being carried out by hired workers, be open to the second generation of Felda settlers to create more job opportunities for the locals.

“If it is impossible now to give 4ha each like my generation received, maybe 2ha each will do,” he said.

In Pekan, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said Barisan Nasional candidate Mohd Sharim Md Zain had numerous advantages to help the local community if elected.

For one, the 41-year-old is the Kuantan Felda Youth Council chairman, representing the youth, and acts as a bridge to the older generation, he said.

Sharim also represents the Felda settlers (second generation) who made up the majority of voters in the Chini constituency, said Ahmad.

“As for the third factor, Sharim has the support of two governments, namely the state and federal, to assist him in developing Chini,” he said while accompanying Sharim in his walkabout session at Bandar Dara near here yesterday.

The Chini state by-election on July 4 is a three-cornered fight between Sharim and two independent candidates, namely Tengku Datuk Zainul Hisham Tengku Hussin, 64, and Mohd Shukri Mohd Ramli, 49.

The election came about following the death of the incumbent Abu Bakar, 60, on May 6 from a heart attack. Abu Bakar was first elected the Chini state assemblyman in the 11th General Election in 2004.