A fantastic crowd of around 5,000 young people from all over the state of Sarawak attented the Tabung Ekonomi Gagasan Anak Bumiputera Sarawak (TEGAS) Youth Forum held at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK).
TEGAS was established by the State government in 2012 to help school leavers, especially those from outside the main cities who for whatever reason, are unable to pursue their further education.
This forum at BCCK was one initiative by the State government to raise the profile of the State’s technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector and to give those Sarawakians who haven’t gone on to university the opportunity to participate in the growth of the State.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Haji Adenan Satem was among the panel of speakers at the forum, themed “Sarawak to be an Advanced and High Income State by 2030”. The forum included a 60 minute question and answer session where the participants had the opportunity to ask the Chief Minister questions on a number of topics.
Topics raised by participants included women’s equality, rural development, racial-based parties, English language proficiency and the age of the internet. The Chief minister noted how times have changed tremendously and youngsters today have access to more information more frequently and from more sources compared to 10, 20 and 50 years ago.
Also present at the forum were YB Datu Haji Len Talif Salleh, Assistant Minister in Chief Minister’s Office (Promotion of Technical Education), Assistant Minister of Environment, Ministry of Resource Planning & Environment and Chairman of TEGAS, Datuk Peter Nansian Ngusie, Chief Political Secretary to the Chief Minister, YBhg Datuk Dr. Pang Chau Leng, Director, Department of Skills Development Ministry of Human Resources and Abdullah Saidol and Balai Ringin State Assemblyman Snowdan Lawan.