PUTRAJAYA, Dec 6 — New Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh said today that she will not introduce new programmes or policies to the ministry but instead work with what it already has.

She said she first intends to listen to briefings from ministry officials this week and next week she will make plans to meet the country’s athletes, she said at a press conference after clocking in at the Ministry of Youth and Sports here.

"People usually feel that if there is new leadership there will be new programmes, but I don’t wish to introduce any new programmes.

"I want to listen and I want to find a way to empower the programmes that [the ministry] already has,” she said.

She also said that she wishes to focus on making sports accessible, ensuring that athletes have safe spaces and the welfare of athletes.

Besides that, she hopes to work on restoration and rehabilitation for youths, saying that there are paths for youths to develop themselves outside of academia.

"I don’t want there to be youths to feel that there is nothing for them in Malaysia if they’re not gifted at their studies,” she said.

On the other hand, she said that the aspect of youths includes 17 other ministries and that there needs to be cooperation between all of these ministries with her own to ensure continuity between them.

"So I need to have a lot of engagement with these other ministries to ensure continuity, that we are not working alone but cooperating together,” she said.

She also said that she did not expect the appointment to lead the ministry and she has seen criticism of her age, that she was too old to lead the ministry as a 43-year-old.

"But if previously ministers older than myself can be picked to lead [the ministry], then I should not have any issues,” she said.

The ministry was previously led by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu, also known as Peja, who turned 52 in June.