KUCHING: The financial position of the Sarawak United National Youth Organisation (SABERKAS) is still strong as a result of the repayment of investment dividends and asset rental of the organisation.

SABERKAS President who is also Sarawak Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development, Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, said that this strong financial position has enabled SABERKAS to allocate RM1.7 million from its own funds to all SABERKAS branches throughout Sarawak.

“SABERKAS central previously channelled an allocation of RM21,000 for each SABERKAS branch for them to carry out activities.

“The money is the result of SABERKAS’ own efforts, namely the proceeds from asset rental and also from the dividends we get from our investments,” he explained.

He said this at a press conference after chairing the 58th Sarawak SABERKAS Supreme Committee Meeting here on Saturday.

Dato Sri Abdul Karim added that SABERKAS now has 82 branches throughout Sarawak, an increase from just over 40 branches previously.

Apart from the RM1.7 million fund from the organization's own efforts, SABERKAS also received an injection of RM650,000 from the Sarawak Government.

In the meantime, he said, the organisation has successfully organized 272 programs involving organising at the unit, branch and state levels.

"Of this total, 208 programmes were held by SABERKAS itself and another 64 were jointly organised with strategic partners such as the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development (MYSED), the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia (KBS), the Department of Youth and Sports, the Malaysian Youth Council, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), banking agencies and many more," he explained.

As of today, SABERKAS has a total of 55,694 members throughout Sarawak.

Also present were the Deputy Minister in the Sarawak Premier's Department (Law, MA63 and Federal-State Relations) and SABERKAS Vice President Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, SABERKAS Secretary-General Safiee Ahmad and SABERKAS Supreme Council Members. -UKASnews