KUALA LUMPUR: Getting youth employed is the top need that must be addressed to show that the government is in touch with ground realities, said Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

“It’s no point winning Olympic medals if hundreds of thousands of youth are unemployed at home,” he said in an interview with The Edge Financial Daily in the run-up to Budget 2020.

“The cabinet has agreed that for every single cabinet paper, there must be emphasis on jobs created with every proposal or jobs lost if a programme is discontinued,” said Syed Saddiq, who is also the member of parliament for Muar.

He is also the Parti Bersatu Bumiputera Malaysia Youth chief.

To ensure that the youth agenda is given the utmost priority, said Syed Saddiq, who became the country’s youngest cabinet member last year at age 25, he had worked long and hard to convince the leadership to include youth representatives at every level of decision-making in the administration.

“After long negotiations with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir [Mohamad], for the very first time, we have had three youth representatives on the top economic decision-making council in Malaysia, the National Economic Action Council,” he said.

Among other things, said Syed Saddiq, he had been collaborating with Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan to seek the appointment of young executives to the boards of government-linked companies under the purview of the state investment fund.

The appointment of Jalil Rasheed, 37, as group chief executive officer (CEO) of Permodalan Nasional Bhd, the largest fund manager in the country, reflects the importance given to the youth agenda, he said.

“We keep on bringing it up in the cabinet and we discuss it at the youth cabinet meeting, which is chaired by the prime minister,” said Syed Saddiq.

Comparing the current economic situation with the slowdown experienced in the 1980s, Syed Saddiq noted that it was the government which then opened its doors for young people to be employed.

Back then the government was the main job creator, he noted, but currently it is the private sector that must drive job growth.

“We need a huge job stimulus for employers to take in more employees, especially those who are skilled,” said Syed Saddiq, noting that about 160,000 graduates were unemployed.

The government’s approach to dispensing aid has also changed, he said.

“The days of giving one-off ‘bantuan programme’, i.e. disbursements to help groups carry out activities, are over. It’s not sustainable,” said Syed Saddiq.

Now, the focus is on vulnerable groups like youth at risk, he said. Last October, the ministry launched the “Yellow Ribbon” campaign, which focuses on giving a second chance to youth offenders.

In Budget 2019, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced that employers who take former offenders would be given an additional tax break.

The ministry reserves up to 1,000 places for youth at risk at its 22 technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutes for them to be reskilled and upskilled so that they can enter the job market, said Syed Saddiq.

Conglomerates like Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd have taken in hundreds of youths from the target group as their employees to work in the construction sector.

“One of my fellows is going school by school, meeting with youth at risk, giving them hope that in the end they can be reintegrated into society,” said Syed Saddiq.

“We break the taboo that offenders should be sidelined by society because youth at risk is a very important group to support,” he said.

When meeting young people during the ministry’s programmes, its officers also enlist participants, such as members of the Orang Asli community, directly for its TVET courses, said Syed Saddiq.

“Even when I meet up with groups of Mat Rempit, I tell them, ‘if we give you on-off assistance, it will never help’,” he said.

“We tell them to join our course. It’s 100% subsidised and they get paid RM250-350 a month to study,” said Syed Saddiq, noting that 94% of TVET graduates find employment. This is better than the rate for some public universities," he said.

Syed Saddiq said the ministry’s engagement with youths shows that stereotypes about young people not being keen to take up these opportunities are false.

“When we meet them, they want it. They are hungry for it. They take up the opportunities and they deliver,” he said.

“No one thought the Yellow Ribbon campaign would work. No one thought that employers would have the moral courage to take in employees who have a criminal record,” said Syed Saddiq.

But when they did, these employees outperformed others, he said, noting that they worked hard because they want to prove that they are productive members of society.

“The disconnect can be bridged when we touch their hearts and give them a second chance,” said Syed Saddiq.

He said that while the ministry had traditionally been sports-focused, there was a need to break out from that approach.

“To deliver to youth the promises made to them, we can’t work in silos. We need to work hand-in-hand with the ministry of finance, for jobs, with the human resources ministry and for housing, with the housing and local government ministry,” said Syed Saddiq.

To reset social relations among the nation’s varied communities, he said, tolerance and patriotism must be instilled in the people from a very young age.

Pointing to the transformation of the National Civics Bureau, better known by its Malay acronym BTN, Syed Saddiq said he was given the task of overhauling the well-known indoctrination camp system that was previously placed under the Prime Minister’s Office.

“The prime minister gave me the task to reform BTN to make it more multiracial and train young people so that they become future leaders. In the end, they would be more tolerant, moderate, leaders of society and the community, embody what we call nilai-nilai murni, or moral values, and display enterprise and diligence,” he said.

Now, said Syed Saddiq, it is renamed as the Malaysia Future Leaders School and is being used to train 35,000 people every year.

The best participants are picked from school level, with only 35,000 out of 500,000 selected for Phase 2, a 12-day intense leadership camp.

Just 500-1,000 are selected for the final phase — which consists of eight months of training, during which the participants meet the prime minister, cabinet ministers, corporate leaders, CEOs and board chairmen. They are also sent abroad for exposure.

“They will be the influencers who will ensure that the moral fabric of Malaysia is built on multiculturalism, unity, diversity and tolerance,” said Syed Saddiq.

Compared to the old programme, the school operates at a lower cost, has a higher impact and covers a larger segment of the target group, he said. In addition, tendering processes have been overhauled to ensure integrity.

“We also need to normalise multiculturalism and unity,” said Syed Saddiq.

He attributed the ministry’s performance to its multicultural leadership, showing gender balance and diversity in its key appointments.

Syed Saddiq noted that attention was also needed in sports development, in particular, more funding for youth football.

“We need to get into the World Cup finals, but we are not investing enough. This is more than about winning trophies. It is a chance to train about 50,000 people around the country in discipline and teamwork,” he said.

A RM100 million fund for low-cost sports infrastructure development at the community level was one of the key measures that are being used for promoting sports, he said.

Syed Saddiq also pointed out that under his watch, Perbadanan Stadium Malaysia had turned a profit for the first time, after monopolies for the supply of facilities were broken up.  

To achieve national unity, he said, it was important to emphasise the place of Sabah and Sarawak, as there was a need to connect with all communities in the county.

“There is a lot of hidden talent there that has been deprived of opportunities. We make sure to visit the two states almost every month. We must visit as often as possible,” he said.