Telugu youth convention lights up PWTC

Around 3000 people recently flocked the Putra World Trade Centre as the Malaysian Telugu Association held its inaugural Telugu Youth Convention (TYC).

Filled with in-house awards, performances, motivational talks, and also an education fair, the event was officiated by Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

The event comes hot on the heels of TAM’s celebrations of 150 years of Telugu heritage in Malaysia, which drew a record crowd of 15,000 to the Putrajaya International Convention Center (PICC) last October.

“The president (of TAM) challenged us (Telugu youths) during the event last October that we should successfully hold a youth convention in the near future, and I am glad we managed to organize such an event,” said TAM’s youth chief Mahendra Rao.

The event was held in conjunction with the government’s national youth day celebration- which started on May 15 and will culminate in a gathering of a million Malaysian youths in Putrajaya next weekend.

“Even though this event was not in the calendar of the youth day celebration nationwide, I consider this an important highlight of the whole celebration,” said Shabery Cheek in his speech.

He also urged Telugu youths to set up a booth and event of their own during the massive youth gathering in Putrajaya next week.

The event started with the launching of the TAM foundation early in the morning.

The foundation will be aimed at financially helping educate needy Telugu youths.

TAM president Dr Achaiah Kumar Rao later revealed that the foundation is expected to receive a further RM100,000 in financial aid from Masterskill Group CEO Edmund Santhara Ramanaidu within the next week.

Santhara, who is also a Telugu, also plays the role of being the national advisor of TAM, and had helped organize both the heritage celebration event and the youth convention.

Popular motivator Prof. Dr. Kader Ibrahim also gave a talk during the event.

Outside the event hall, an education fair took place for the whole day, where the Telugu youths were briefed on educational prospects.