Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman at a press conference at the Parliament in Kuala Lumpur August 13, 2018. — Picture by Miera Zulyana

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — 1Malaysia 4 Youth (iM4U), the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government’s initiative to encourage volunteerism among youths was actually used as a platform to promote its leader, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said today.

The youth and sports minister added that funding for iM4U had also been diverted towards the Najib administration’s “I love PM” programmes, which was why the entire platform needed to be revamped.

“Throughout it has been abused unfortunately as a platform for ‘I Love PM’.

“I kid you not. You can check. A lot of funding has been used in that direction as well,” he told reporters at Parliament here.

Syed Saddiq said the overhaul would be aimed at ensuring the focus of 1M4U remains at encouraging the youths to take part in volunteering programmes, and not as a political tool.

He said his ministry is evaluating candidates to lead the initiative.

“Appointments will be made based on merit and those already active in the world of volunteering (will get priority), but we are still going through a process of selection.

“We want to ensure that 1M4U focuses on one thing: not to strengthen political agendas of some leaders, but to make sure the youth embrace the spirit of volunteerism,” he explained.

Syed Saddiq conceded the initial goal set my 1M4U was good in theory, but said the programmes were poorly executed.

However, the minister added that he would like to continue fostering the spirit of volunteerism as contained in the initial programme, saying this would help create more well-rounded leaders of tomorrow.