KUALA LUMPUR: A more effective youth leadership programme to replace the National Service training programme (NS) and National Civics Bureau (BTN) will be part of the Youth and Sports Ministry's wishlist for the 2019 Budget
Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said the framework for the new RM70 million programme is 70 per cent complete.
"We are engaging all stakeholders, including schools and educators to pick the best and brightest to join the programme," he told reporters after launching the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) State of World Population 2018 Report at the Alumni Association of Universiti Malaya (PAUM) hall, here on Monday.
Also present at the event was UNFPA Malaysia representative Marcela Suazo, and Universiti Malaya senior lecturer of the Faculty of Economics and Administration, Dr Diana Wahab.
The framework for the programme, which is currently operated through a partnership with Khazanah Nasional Bhd (Khazanah) and Ernst & Young Malaysia, requires operating costs and expenses of about RM70 million a year.
He said the programme looks set to be more cost-efficient that the NS.
"We are currently trying to combine all resources from NS and BTN. In comparison, NS had previously required an average cost of around RM85,000 to train a participant for two to three months.
"My law degree for four years was cheaper (compared to the cost of training an NS participant)," he said in jest.
Syed Saddiq also gave his assurance that the programme will be run on an open tender basis and be free from political interference.