Ministry to set up own blogsite to reach youths

The Youth and Sports Ministry will have its own blogsite soon in an effort to be close to and interact with the nation’s youths.

Its minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaacob said the move was made in view of the popularity of blogs among youths as a channel of information.

He said the existence of blogs should not be taken lightly as they had been effective in influencing voters to vote for the opposition in the recent general election.

“If we continue to rubbish the blogs, I am worried that it will one day take over the role of the mainstream newspapers,” he told reporters after a function to celebrate his appointment as Youth and Sports Minister at the Rakan Muda Complex, near here Saturday night.

He said the ministry’s blogsite, to be created in accordance with the needs of youths, would be light and easy.

Ismail Sabri said the ministry would also study the status of youth organisations in the country, many of which were weak and in a state of malaise, after meeting up with the leaders tomorrow.

“Perhaps these youth organisation have modules which are no longer in tune with current developments and the needs of youths today.

“Possibly this is also why more than 70 per cent of the country’s youths are not interested in joining youth organisations.”

He said the ministry, therefore, needed to find a new approach to bring change so that youths were keen to be members of such organisations.

“We must remember that social ills involving youths are usually attributed to factors outside the home, but today these are also found within the home environment like the misuse of the Internet,” he added.

— Bernama