The prime minister’s wife Rosmah Mansor has revealed the inspiration behind a Permata programme aimed at helping 'Mat Rempit' youths.

The patron of the child development and youth leadership initiative recounted that she became concerned about 'Mat Rempit' youths after she and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had difficulties sleeping due to illegal motorcycle races near the couple’s private home in Kuala Lumpur at night.

“Najib was grumpy, he said it was too noisy and he could not sleep, so from then on, I became concerned about this issue,” she said during the Permata Perkasa Youth Day programme in Kuala Lumpur today, as reported by Free Malaysia Today.

That is why, she said, she was moved to create the Permata Perkasa Camp with the co-operation of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and the police.

The police had agreed to hold courses for Mat Rempit youths after discussions with UKM, she said.

“I said, do not force people to become participants. Let them come voluntarily, even if we get 33 participants out of 33,000, it’s okay to start with a few,” she said.

The programme, she said, turned out to be successful in re-integrating 'Mat Rempit' youths back into society after a two-month rehabilitation program.

These youths, she said, have now become useful members of society who could look forward to a brighter future than before.

“Now they realise, there are some who want to start a business, open a motorcycle workshop, and even some who said they want to become police officers so they can catch their friends who are still ‘Mat Rempit’,” she said.

She also related a story of a crying mother who thanked her for her son’s repentance after participating in the Permata Perkasa Camp.

“That is one of the satisfactions I get from this program. My hope is, aside from helping these youths, I also plan to secure places for mothers to study religion,” she said.

She explained that the Permata Perkasa Camp does not just focus on 'Mat Rempit' youths, but also provides opportunities to learn other skills like cooking, photography, education and beauty.

“My hope is to see youths having a direction in their lives, I want to see them become useful people to their families and the country.”

“I always tell our prime minister that we need to take care of our youths from now onwards, instead of neglecting them.(Otherwise) we can build beautiful roads and buildings, but we will not have anyone to take over.

“So if we do not take care of our youths from now onwards, what will happen in the future to the developments being carried out by the government now?” she said.