KUALA LUMPUR, 16 JULY 2009 – ‘YouthCiti’, Malaysia's first online youth social networking portal with a purpose, has been launched by the country's Internet service provider JARING Communications.
“The portal is a volunteer effort to foster educational and entrepreneurial values via networking, with support from JARING, local career development firm MyPath, and is managed by Malaysian students from international organisation SIFE [Students In Free Enterprise],” said JARING chief executive officer Dr Mohamed bin Awang Lah.
MyPath managing director Jenna Loh said: "YouthCiti is a window for youth, especially for undergraduates in Malaysia. It is a journey into a virtual world where students can learn from each other."
Loh said that besides being a place to develop career, leadership and entrepreneurial qualities, the portal also allows sharing of ideas and discussions on relevant topics. "Video resumes can also be uploaded and students can start their own businesses."
Managed by students, SIFE is an international non-profit organisation that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilise university students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders.
JARING Communications pioneered Internet connectivity services in Malaysia and has a nation-wide presence in providing broadband access through wired and wireless last-mile connectivity, Internet telephony, data centres and managed Internet security services.
Hands-off policy
The portal is managed by SIFE students at Universiti Utara Malaysia, who identify areas of interest to youths and create content as well as guidelines via a student committee. "There is no interference from non-students except mentoring where required," said MyPath's Loh. "This portal is a bridge to connect Malaysian students to the outside world and has a theme of ‘learn, share, connect’."
JARING's Dr Mohamed said the portal is not just for Malaysia but for the youth of the world. "We wanted to donate our facilities to enable Malaysian youths in particular to take advantage of this opportunity to learn new things and interact with one another to grow in maturity for their life in future. We should never stop learning."
"In data, there is a deficit of 'importing data' from external websites and we would like to encourage the 'export’ of Malaysian data to the world," he said. "This would help to create local content as well as encourage a better use of bandwidth in both directions."
