Enlarging opportunities for Indian youths through Youth Ministry

Dato Salim Parlan, Deputy Secretary General charing the meeting at Putrajaya

At the last SITF Meeting held on Dec 9, 2010, the Ministry of Youth & Sports presented their paper on Indian youth participation at programs organized by the Ministry agencies. It was very clear from the presentation that the participation of Indian youths were very low. Therefore SITF decided that a special meeting between the Ministry officials and Indian youth organizations be held.

Special Dialogue session

Therefore on Jan 10, 2011 the Ministry hosted a frank discussion with the objective to chart out a course of action which will ensure that the Ministry will on the one hand target more strategically Indian youth and that Indian based youth organizations will play a grassroots role in mobilizing the youths.

The discussion and dialogue was chaired by the Deputy Secretary General, Dato Salim Parlan. Also present was the Deputy Director General for Rakan Muda Puan Wasitah Haji Mohd Yusof and other officials representing various sections of the Youth and Sports Ministry.

Five organizations also attended this meeting being representatives from four main youth organizations namely MIC Youth wing, Malaysian Hindu Youth Organization (HYO), Malaysian Indian Youth Council (MIYC) & Malaysian Bell Club.  In addition YSS was also represented together with Datuk Dr Denison Jayasooria and SITF staff Ms Premala Ravi.

Ministry Report on Indian participation

The Ministry revealed that in 2010:-

·        4 youth organizations receive an annual grant of RM160,000 to cover their organizational needs

·        22 youth organizations received RM96,500 as grants for programs

·        25 youth clubs received RM75,000 as grants for Rakan muda programs in estates

·        6 youth organizations received RM90,000 for Rakan Muda programs at the Parliamentary level

The Ministry also informed the group that there were skills training opportunities and for Jan 2011 out of the 440 Indian youths who applied 48 % or 213 secured paces for skills training. Ministry officials encouraged the youth organizations to play an active role in future recruitment programs especially the campaign period in April for July 2011 intake.

However one matter was fully acknowledged by and that is the low participation of Indian youths in programs organized by the youth agencies. Some indicate that this is caused by low level of awareness among Indian youth due to weak publicity but others say that the programs are not relevant to Indian youths and not meeting the needs of Indian youth or their interest.

Specific Decisions & Follow UP

In the discussions which followed between the Ministry officials, SITF and Indian youth based organizations the following matters were discussed and which require further action and strengthening in the next ten months.

First, that on Jan 29, 2010 at 9.30am The Ministry will host a special awareness on the Industrial Training opportunities available through IKBN institutions. It was agreed that all the Indian youth organizations will send 10 to 20 youth leaders to understand the provisions of government. This will enable the youth leaders undertake promotional work especially for the July 2011 intake which will start in April 2011

Second, Youth Ministry officials will present details of the 2011 youth programs to be organised at the grassroots and request Indian youth organizations to pick the programs they would like to support and promote.

Third, Ministry will be open to receive proposals on youth based social programs targeting specific Indian concerns such as issues pertaining to gangsters and high risk Indian youths

SITF agreed to work with the Indian youth organizations and the Ministry-agency units to target Indian participation in the programs and projects of the Federal Government. Over the next six to nine months we will see some major improvements at the level of Indian youth participation.