KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — The application period for the Sidang Belia Wilayah Persekutuan (SBWP) (Federal Territories Youth Assembly) participation is extended to May 31, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa.

She said the two-week extension from the original closing date of May 17 is to allow more youths to participate.

"So far, we have received 200 entries even though we will only be accepting 65 youth representatives.

"This is a commendable achievement, so we want to welcome more applications so that we can select youths from various backgrounds to join this session,” she told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory-level National Youth Day 2024 celebration today.

She said the newly established SBWP involves 13 parliamentary constituencies, including Putrajaya and Labuan, with each constituency to be represented by five youths.

The programme targets local youths between 18 and 35 residing in all three Federal Territories (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan), with its first and second meetings to be held in July and November, respectively.

Applications can be submitted to http://sidangbeliawp.my.

Commenting on the action to be taken against private landowners who refused to maintain trees posing risks, Dr Zaliha said the department and Kuala Lumpur City Hall would look into the matter.

She also assured that existing guidelines for addressing ageing trees will be improved to prevent the recurrence of uprooted tree incidents. — Bernama