Abdul Karim (right) and Sharifah Hasidah interact with the emcee during the townhall session.

KUCHING: Youths in Sarawak will get the chance to organise and run events as the Youth and Sports Ministry pledges to provide them with the financial assistance to do so.

In pointing this out, the minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah says the key objective is to nurture and groom today’s youngsters into becoming the future leaders of the nation

“The ministry will fully sponsor any programme, as long as it is being properly planned, and is set to benefit youths in the area.

“You can choose to organise and run whatever activity that you like – be it arts, sports or cultural (activities),” he spoke during a townhall session, held in conjunction with the ‘Jelajah Belia Sarawak 2020 – Samariang’ event at Kampung Semariang Batu multipurpose hall near here yesterday.

Abdul Karim also said the plan would encourage the youths to take on more leadership roles.

“All youths will be leaders in their own capacity, including as husbands or as wives, leading the family institution.

“We want them to be successful leaders. To do so, they must be brave, not timid.”

Later, Abdul Karim announced an allocation of RM20,000 meant for SMK Tun Ahmad Zaidi to fund its activities, and also a RM10,000 sports grant for the Samariang Entrepreneurs Incubator Programme.

The two-day ‘Jelajah Belia Sarawak 2020 – Samariang’, which concluded yesterday, recorded some 1,000 visitors.

Aside from the townhall session, the event also conducted a singing contest, netball and futsal competitions, e-sports challenge and a medley of cultural shows.

Assistant Minister in Chief Minister’s Department (Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring) Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, who is Samariang assemblywoman, was also present yesterday.