Youth Ministry to return programmes to others, reduce redundancy

 

PARLIAMENT | Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said her ministry will no longer run any programmes that could potentially overlap with existing ministries or government agencies.

This comes after she was accused of “Christian evangelism” due to the “Projek Artikel 11” handled by Impact Malaysia under the Youth and Sports Ministry.

“I’ve heard some say it would be better if such a programme was handed back to the Unity Ministry. I know that such programmes are also being implemented by the Unity Ministry.

“So, to prevent such a matter from being played up a second time, I have told all Youth and Sports Ministry agencies that if there exists another ministry out there that specialises (in the programme’s topic), we will not run that programme anymore,” Yeoh (above) said in her speech in the Dewan Rakyat today.

For example, she said, her ministry previously ran youth programmes on various topics, such as entrepreneurship, agriculture, and unity.

However, since there is an Entrepreneurship and Cooperatives Development Ministry, an Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, and a Unity Ministry, Yeoh said they will let those ministries run the relevant programmes for youths in the future.

“Starting today, all youth programmes, if there is an existing ministry with the specialisation, we will not touch it and we will return it back to them,” she said.

While this move appears to be a reaction to the allegations of evangelism against the Youth and Sports Ministry, the problem of overlapping responsibilities among the ministries has been a long-standing issue.

For example, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) programmes are under the jurisdiction of a number of different ministries.

Former human resources minister M Kula Segaran had last month suggested that all TVET-related programmes be placed under one ministry for better coordination and more streamlined policies.

It was also reported last year Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the government was trying to look into reducing overlap between government agencies and bodies in an effort to reduce costs. - Mkini