LIMBANG: Sarawak will continue to maintain the youth age limit between 15 and 40 years as per the State Government's existing policy which is deemed more suitable to the reality and needs of youth development in the state.

Sarawak Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development (MYSED), Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said that although the Federal Government has set the youth age limit to 30 years starting January 2026, Sarawak is not bound to follow it.

"We are not bound by what is proposed at the Federal Government level because youth and sports are matters under the concurrent list. But such a proposal, we are ready to agree.

"I was also present at the meeting and it was discussed at length by the exco-exco and NGOs present. Some agreed, some disagreed. Some say keep it at 35 or 40 years,” he said in a press conference after officiating the BeliaGoBiz @Limbang 2025 Programme at the Limbang Civic Centre, here, on Saturday.

According to Dato Sri Abdul Karim, setting the age limit at 30 years will affect the eligibility of youth to participate in various development, financing and entrepreneurship assistance programmes being implemented by ministries and related agencies in Sarawak.

“Every other ministry and industry has programmes to help them. If the age limit is set at 30 years, how can we help them?

“Because if we look at the age of 30, many of them have just graduated from university. They are in their 20s, and then they want to get married. After getting married, they are no longer in that group and are not eligible to receive funds and so on,” he explained.

He added that the flexible approach as practiced by the Sarawak United National Youth Organisation (SABERKAS) should be continued because it has proven to be successful in the Sarawak context.

“If we look at the largest Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Sarawak, SABERKAS is quite unique.

“In SABERKAS, 30 percent of the management can consist of those over 40 years old, while 70 percent must be 40 years old and below.

“It was announced in the meeting and it became a very good formula for Sarawak. A good formula, we keep. If the formula is bad, maybe we adjust it a little,” he said.-UKASnews