About 80 percent or 3,796 out of 4,000 inactive stand-alone youth organisations in the country could be suspended or dissolved, Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said today.

Shabery said these organisations, which were not under the patronage of stronger youth organisations such as the Malaysian Youth Council, had also failed to submit their annual statements to the Registrar of Youth.

NONEMost of these organisations, he said, might have been set up in following a trend, without any specific objective or hoped to obtain automatic funding.

Shabery (left) was speaking to reporters after presenting administration aid cheques amounting to RM10.1 million to national youth organisations, state youth councils and district youth councils for 2013 in Putrajaya.

Of the total, six uniformed bodies affiliated to the Malaysian Youth Council received allocations totalling RM180,000 from the ministry for the first time.

Shabery also said the Harimau Malaya football squad should carry out several changes to take its performance to a higher level in every game it participated in.

Among the areas needing attention was the national football system, besides seeking private sector cooperation to develop the sport.

"We may need to resort to short-cuts by taking imported players who have been awarded citizenship, as was done in Singapore and Qatar," Shabery added.

However, he said, fielding imported players was not the best solution as Malaysia had its own strategy to improve the quality of game.

- Bernama