Sharifah Hasidah (left) in a discussion with a police officer during the meeting.
KUCHING (Dec 3): Efforts to combat drug abuse among youths in Sarawak are yielding promising results, judging by the decline in the number of students testing positive for drugs.
According to Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development Sarawak Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, who is also the Sarawak chairman for the Malaysian Anti-Drug Association (Pemadam), the number of cases involving the youths has dropped significantly to just 35 cases this year.
This was highlighted during the Pemadam Sarawak Coordination Committee Meeting 2024, held at a hotel here today, where Abdul Karim’s speech was presented by the deputy chairperson Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, who is Deputy Minister in Sarawak Premier’s Department (Law, Malaysia Agreement 1963 and State-Federal Relations).
Moreover, Abdul Karim attributed the success to Pemadam’s partnership with the Sarawak Education Department, which facilitated targeted awareness programmes in 194 secondary schools in the state.
“The collaboration between Pemadam and the Sarawak Education Department has been pivotal.
“Our efforts to integrate the Drug Education and Prevention Programme (PPDa) into schools are meant to ensure that students are educated early on the dangers of drug abuse.”
Abdul Karim also acknowledged the vital role of Pemadam’s partnerships with various agencies and organisations including the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Royal Customs Department, National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK), Pengasih Malaysia, Sarawak United National Youth Organisation (Saberkas) and Centre of Technical Excellence Sarawak (Centexs), as well as various sports associations and parent-teacher associations (PTAs).
“These partnerships have strengthened the delivery of our anti-drug message and allowed us to reach diverse segments of the community,” he added.
It is informed that this year to date, Pemadam Sarawak has conducted 88 awareness programmes, covering 45 districts, with the seminars, workshops and exhibitions all targeting and involving students, parents and educators.
Abdul Karim also called upon all Pemadam district-level committees to continue their collaboration with groups such as Saberkas and One-Stop Committee (OSC) to overcome challenges arising from limited resources.
He added: “The ‘Break Off E-Sports Challenge’ programme, organised by Centexs Santubong and my ministry also made a contribution by engagings youth in positive activities.
“The programme, which combined gaming competitions with drug awareness talks, was hailed as a success, leading to plans for a larger initiative, ‘Break Off Edu 2025’, set to take place in Debak, Betong, run in collaboration with the Sarawak Social Development Council.”
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