I have thanked Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali our Deputy Chairperson of Persatuan Mencegah Dadah Malaysia (PEMADA) Sarawak branch for chairing this morning’s meeting for the state coordination committee members on my behalf.
I am president of PEMADAM Sarawak and was unable to chair the coordination meeting because of my travelling engagement at the ongoing World Textile Conference 2024 in Baguio City of the Philippines.
Datuk Sharifah Hasidah is also our Deputy Minister in the Premier of Sarawak’s Department (Law, MA63, and State-Federal Relations) and she had also conducted the press conference after the meeting was concluded. Our appreciation to all media friends who attended the press conference which had highlighted the use of “Instant Visual Drugs Detection Device” (IVDD) in our combat against substance abuse throughout Sarawak. There are a total of 50 units deployed by the Police and it costs our government almost RM1.5 million to acquire them.
Efforts to combat drug abuse among youths in Sarawak must be continued and we are indeed delighted with promising results, judging by the decline in the number of students testing positive for drugs. In fact, the number of cases involving the youths has dropped significantly to just 35 cases this year and the success was attributed to Pemadam’s partnership with the Sarawak Education Department, which had facilitated targeted awareness programmes in 194 secondary schools in the state.
The collaboration we have with the Sarawak Education Department has been pivotal and 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 drugs and substance abuse. This also include the joint efforts and collaborations
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).
The strong partnerships with the rest of the stakeholders have strengthened the delivery of our anti-drug message and allowed us to reach diverse segments of the community. In 2024 alone, Pemadam Sarawak has conducted a total 88 awareness programmes, covering 45 districts, with the seminars, workshops and exhibitions all targeting and involving students, parents and educators.
Thus, 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. The “Break Off E-Sports Challenge’ programme, organised by Centexs Santubong and our Ministry of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development (MYSED) had also made a contribution by engaging youths 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.
