KUALA LUMPUR (July 10): The 30-year-old age limit for youth in this country, which will come into effect on January 1 next year, will be implemented after being postponed twice, said Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh.

She said the Ministry of Youth and Sports (KBS) had clarified the matter through several engagement sessions in addition to providing funding support to assist in the implementation of this age limit transition.

"KBS will propose a working paper to the Cabinet so that all ministries continue to continue with existing assistance and support, according to their respective age groups for a certain period," she said at a press conference after the National Youth Consultative Council (MPBN) meeting at the International Youth Centre (IYC), on Thursday.

Earlier, several delegates expressed concerns that youth associations, especially in rural areas, were not ready for the implementation, while some wanted the age limit to be set at 35 years.

Hannah in November 2023 said the enforcement of the Youth Societies and Youth Development (Amendment) Act 2019 will begin in 2026, which is an amendment involving setting the age limit for becoming a member of a youth organisation between 15-30 years, the age limit for leaders or office holders of youth organisations to 18-30 years and limiting the term of office of the leader of a youth organisation to four years only.

According to KBS, there are 8,272 youth organisations legally registered under the Registrar of Societies (ROS) with 53,535 (54%) office holders being under the age of 30.

Of that total, only 865 (10%) youth organisations have made constitutional amendments in preparation for the 30-year age limit, including the Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS) and the Majlis Belia India Malaysia (MIYC).

Meanwhile, MIYC president Dhanesh Basil when met by Bernama said the youth age limit should be set below 30 years, thus empowering the role of this group to shoulder responsibility and play a more important role in leadership.

“It is also in line with policies in other countries which set the youth age at below 27-30 years, while we still consider those aged 40-50 as youth. Most Asean and other developed countries have implemented this,” he said.

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