KUALA LUMPUR: Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today announced 10 more new faces to strengthen the existing fleet of TN50 youth ambassadors.
The 10 newly appointed ambassadors included Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) deputy president Arthur Joseph Kurup, ABIM executive officer Jufitri Joha, founder of International Persons Certification (IPEC) Bureau Juliana Lim, humanitarian mission leader Dr Esther Michael, musician Gabriel Fairuz Louis, fatwa expert Datuk Izhar Afiff, fine arts artist Anniketyni Madian, science and marine activist Nadhirah Mohd Rifai, and celebrity Noor Neelofa Mohd Noor.
According to Khairy, 30,000 aspirations from 700,000 youths have been gathered since the launch of TN50 in January.
“With the appointment of these youth ambassadors we hope to reach out to more youths and to ensure that TN50 is not another ‘talking shock’.
“They represent different fields and backgrounds where through them we can achieve a more holistic reach,” he said.
When asked if there are ‘too many’ ambassadors on board, Khairy asserted that there is no such thing as having too many.
“We need as much manpower as we can find because even with the 23, they do not cover every field out there.
“We are still in need of more talents to help gain more traction and at the same time we also need people who are peers and can be examples to the youths,” he added.
During the dialogue session held at Bookmark APW, Jufitri said that through this platform he hopes to redirect the number of ‘frustrated’ youths, which is increasing of late.
“These are youths who have chosen to take up arms to join the Islamic State (IS) movement because they have lost hope and they can’t see their future in this country.
“Working with TN50, we hope to restore their mindsets and hope to give a sense of belonging in the country.
“We want to listen to them voice issues, take action and involve them in problem solving processes. I believe that by doing so, we will reduce the number of frustrated youths and social problems in the country,” he added.
As for Lim, she said that there is a need to ensure sustainable human capital in the country.
“There are many jobs that phasing out and we are working to enable and identify jobs that would be futuristically relevant.
“Human certification is still very new and underutilised in the country. There is much room for this to grow to help each individual grow and stay relevant in their respective fields,” she said.