Federal Budget 2027 hoped will boost youth, sports funding

KUCHING: Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development, Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, hopes Budget 2027 will provide a substantial allocation for the development of youth, sports, arts and culture nationwide.

He said the allocation should support the development of sports facilities and athletes, particularly as Sarawak prepares for a busy year in 2027, including its role as co-host of the SEA Games.

“Being the counterpart in looking after youth and sports, I hope that the Prime Minister would allocate a substantial budget for the building up of sports facilities and the upbringing of sports athletes,” he told a press conference on the Sarawak National Sports Integrity Conference (SNSIC) 2026 at Baitulmakmur Building II here today.

Abdul Karim said the allocation should not be limited to the Ministry of Youth and Sports but benefit all states, given the wider role of sports in developing disciplined youth and strengthening national unity.

“Not just for the federal government, not just for the Ministry of Youth and Sports, but also for all the other states because through sports, we will be building up more disciplined youth, and apart from that, it is also a unifying force,” he said.

He said sporting events had demonstrated how Malaysians could come together regardless of race or religious background to support national athletes.

“You can see that whenever we have got a sports meet, whether it is soccer or any other tournament, the Malaysians who are in the stadium, they don’t look at the athletes from their race or religious belief. They only support them as Malaysian athletes,” he said.

Abdul Karim said sports therefore served as an important platform for fostering unity, particularly amid what he described as increasingly toxic discourse in the political sphere.

He also called for greater attention to youth development as well as arts and culture, which he said could similarly bring people together.

“We should try to build up youth and sport, art and culture because art and culture is another area which personally I see is also good to get people to be together,” he said.

He said Malaysians should look beyond racial or ethnic distinctions when appreciating arts and culture, and instead view the country’s diverse cultural heritage holistically.

“All of us are very, very proud of our culture, very, very proud of our art, and if it goes beyond how we look at it from the racial perspective, this is a Malay art, this is a Chinese art. If we look beyond that, if we look at it holistically, we are trying to build up all kinds of art and culture, all athletes of different religions and ethnic backgrounds,” he said.

Abdul Karim said he therefore hoped the federal government would provide substantial funding for these areas under Budget 2027.

“I think we are on the same end and then definitely we will have, that is why I would expect, I would hope that the Prime Minister will give a substantial budget for the development of youth, sport and art and culture,” he said.

Budget 2027 is scheduled to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat by Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, on October 9, according to the official parliamentary calendar and the Ministry of Finance.