Saudi Arabia Impressed By Malaysian Scouts, Intends To Emulate Syllabus

By Badrul Aini Sha'ari

KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 (Bernama) -- The Saudi Arabian Scouts Association (SASA) intends to emulate the syllabus used by by the Scouts Association of Malaysia (PPM), after having been impressed by the achievements made by the local uniformed body.

SASA Acting Secretary General Dr Mohammed Al-Sayed said PPM exemplifies prudent spending of Riyadh’s sponsorship through the Messengers of Peace (MoP) initiative aimed at disseminating the mesage of security and peace all over the world through dialogue, awareness campaigns, and humanitarian programmes organised by the world scouts body.

“Malaysia’s effectiveness at making use of the fund channelled a decade ago has really inspired us.

“We intend to repeat the success in Saudi Arabia,” he told Bernama after an MoP dinner on Friday.

Saudi Arabia allocated US$27 million in the first phase of the global implementation of MoP for the 10-year period of 2010-2020.

Meanwhile, National Chief Scout Major General Datuk Prof Dr Mohd Zin Bidin welcomed SASA’s intention to emulate the syllabus and programmes conducted in this region, especially those from Malaysia.

“Saudi Arabia recently approved the allocation of fund amounting to US$50 million for the period of the coming decade, following the success of the initiative,” said Mohd Zin, who is also Chairman of the Asia Pacific Scouts Committee.

He also expressed his intention to strengthen the existing collaboration between the two scout bodies, in consideration of SASA’s role in supporting haj pilgrims from around the world during the recent haj season.

Also in attendance at the event were representatives from the World Scout Foundation (WSF) and the World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM).

-- BERNAMA