Joint effort needed to guide youths into right path
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Hj Sumadi Sukaimi.

The positive development of youths can only be secured through collaborative effort made by all parties.

This was observed by Hj Sumadi Sukaimi, the Special Duties Officer at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports during an informal discussion workshop in the 'Thursday Club' held last week at Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).

He outlined two 'cultural mission' towards the positive development of youths.

"The first mission is to culturally develop people - individuals and communities - to become mentally-active in positive thinking and to have a good heart.

"This mission will develop productive youths (to be culturally-rich and be sharp thinkers). These traits are the basic ingredients towards becoming an active and intelligent person.

"If our (Brunei's) youths have these positive characteristics, then we would be able to get them involved in any role concerning either local or international agendas," he explained.

Hj Sumadi also touched on the National Cultural Policy (NCP) and its relationship with the development and progress of youths.

He said the NCP strives to produce healthy youths - physically, socially, mentally and emotionally.

"The NCP aims to produce good-mannered and religiously-inclined youths who understand the relationship between God and human beings, people-to-people relationships, and even the environment.

"To develop youths, all parties are involved such as the parents or guardians, education-system, mass media and government agencies.

"It must be stressed that our youths must love their own culture and have a sense of self-belonging," he said.

The informal discussion was chaired by Mohd Zefri Ariff Mohd Zain Ariff, a lecturer at the Malay Literature Department, Faculty of Literature and Social Science, UBD.

It was attended by more than 70 people including penghulus, teachers, embassies' representatives, UBD undergraduates and invited members of the public as well as the Dean of Students Dr Ampuan Hj Brahim Ampuan Hj Tengah and Dr Mataim Bakar, the Deputy Dean of Faculty of Literature and Social Science cum the Deputy Chairman of UBD's 'Thursday Club'.

The discussion facilitator Hj Sumadi is no stranger in youth's development and progress being the current President of Brunei Youths Council (MBB) as well as a government officer with responsibilities towards culture development.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin