‘Every Umno division Youth wing must have committee member under 25’

KUALA LUMPUR – Umno Youth has decided that all party division youth wings must appoint at least one committee member aged under 25.

Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh said the party and Barisan Nasional would try to win trust among youth, especially Malay voters.  

“In the past, it was hard to enter Umno, but now we want to woo the youth out there. We want youth to join Umno easily.

“Now we cannot follow the old ways like handing in applications. With new technology, we will look for a solution and measures to simplify the process of becoming an Umno member,” he said during a media conference after the first Umno Youth executive council meeting at Menara Dato’ Onn here today.

“Our focus is to strengthen grassroots support for Umno. We will face the 16th general election and state elections… a total of 51% of voters are under 40, and many of them are under 25. Therefore we must ensure (Umno) Youth will champion the people,” he said.

Akmal also added that Umno Youth did not object to the implementation of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) collateral for bank loans and would prepare suggested improvements.

“(Umno) Youth has never shied from the struggle. We will champion public issues, including the EPF issue.

“We do not object but we have suggested improvements that we will announce soon,” he said.

Yesterday, the fund shared some details on the mechanism as well as terms and conditions for the EPF Account 2 Support Facility that will be implemented in two stages, with Phase 1 starting this Friday.

EPF contributors aged 40 and above who have a minimum balance of RM3,000 in Account 2 are eligible for a bank loan under the scheme starting Friday, and members who fulfil the qualification criteria can apply through participating banks, including MBSB Bank and Bank Simpanan Nasional. – Bernama, April 4, 2023