Minister Calls For Youths To Face Asean Community

Bekasi, West Java, Oct 28 (Antara) - Youth and Sport Affairs Minister Roy Suryo has appealed to Indonesia youths to be prepared to participate in ASEAN Community 2015. In a written statement read by Bekasi Mayor Rahmad Effendy to mark the 85th anniversary of Youth Pledge Day here on Monday, the minister said Indonesian youths should improve their capabilities as they seek to face the ASEAN Community. "The ASEAN Community requires the readiness of Indonesian youths to work hard to cooperate with various parties in ASEAN nations to face the new era," Rahmad Effendy quoted the minister as saying. Roy Suryo noted that the commemoration of Youth Pledge Day this year is a moral, social, political, and cultural movement for youths to increase their abilities and to find ways to cooperate with their peers in the ASEAN Community 2015. Meanwhile, the Bekasi branch of Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI) Chairman Nuryadi Dharmawan said, to date, there has not been as much cooperation as their might be between youths and local government because of the absence of funds from the regional budget to the KNPI in 2013. He added that youths in Bekasi have been improving their abilities independently, without encouragement from the local government.