The honour of Malay youths faced today requires continued commitment and planning. The orthodox approach such as surrendering the responsibility of raising Malay youths hundred percent through educational institutions is something that should be viewed in detail by society. The responsibility of raising youth should be undertaken by all quarters. Although such is necessary, it needs to be undertaken collectively so that it is far more effective.
A study conducted by Illiet Turiel, a development cognitive youth researcher, states that youth groups or peer groups are easily influenced by all kinds of positive and negative elements, depending on the existing forms. This means that if the cosmos of the teenager is always surrounded by positive matters, then the individual will act in a positive manner and likewise if he was not.
The question here is how is the process going to be undertaken in the midst of constraints involving youths? Is the mechanism to overcome social ills amongst youths undertaken by the government sufficient and effective? Or do youths today require a new approach which is collective and provides an opportunity to them, especially those who are trapped, to return to the straight path.
The government through the Youth and Sports Ministry has organised and implemented all kinds of activities in the form of developing youth. The ´Awareness Anti-Drug Campaign, National Level´, which was recently launched, clearly reveals government commitment in overcoming youth problems, involved in drug addiction. The same can be said concerning the campaign to ´Look after One´s Honour´ which was launched by LPPKN (Lembaga Penduduk dan Pembangunan Keluarga Negara). This campaign was launched to create awareness to female youths so that they would not get involved in sinful activities so that their honour would not be spoilt. This was also intended to restrain the issue of free sex and the social ill of giving birth to children out of wedlock, as a result of sex prior to marriage amongst couples.
However, in the context of developing honour amongst youth collectively, the time has arrived for non-governmental agencies (NGO) and society to play a more supportive role by supporting efforts that have already been undertaken by government. In truth, we are in dire need of more counselling centres to offer free counselling services to youths. These centres function as ´One Stop Centres´ to youths, speaking on a one to one basis from the heart with a counsellor.
The module that exists in overcoming this problem should be undertaken in an organized manner. It is pointless for the government or such agencies to spend millions of ringgit to sponsor all kinds of programs and campaigns, whose returns can be likened to ´dropping water on a yam leaf´. Therefore, it is necessary to receive additional organized input to establish the ´One Stop Centre´. Youth with problems will be attended by a counselor at the ´One Stop Centre´ and will be assisted so that all the individual´s problems faced by him can be solved. |
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