KUALA LUMPUR – Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican (Umno-Kepala Batas) has admitted to the Dewan Rakyat that there is some disconnect between his ministry’s Covid-19 economic plans for youths and what is actually delivered on the ground.
In his reply to a supplementary question by Datuk Johari Abdul (PKR-Sungai Petani), Reezal said that this is likely due to varied coordination with 17 other ministries to address the needs of the youth amid the pandemic.
He said he is on top of the matter and is overseeing the formation of state and district-level committees to smoothen the inter-ministry collaborations.
Johari had pointed out that even though everything looks good on paper he has received a lot of complaints from youth entrepreneurs who did not receive the assistance that was promised when they visited the agencies in question.
The minister explained that there could have been some complications due to the collaborations.
“I agree that there is a disconnect and efforts are disjointed perhaps in rural areas such as Sungai Petani and Kepala Batas,” said Reezal.
“I have formed district and state-level committees, and I hope that the synergy at the ministry’s top-level will trickle down to state and district levels. Hopefully, these agencies will provide cooperation and implement the cross-ministry agenda.
“By next year, there will also be a single landing page (connecting the Youth and Sports Ministry with collaborating ministries) on our website. You sign in with my ministry, you will sign in with all the other ministries, and the youths can use this,” said Reezal.
He also told the Dewan Rakyat that 308,668 young businessmen and entrepreneurs had benefited from RM1.1 billion allocated to them by the government through various programmes and agencies. - The Vibes, November 2, 2020.
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