Develop culture of maintaining health, Yudhoyono says

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Coinciding with the 79th Youth Pledge Day, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called on the people, especially the youth, to develop the culture of maintaining health and the habit of doing physical exercises in order to be able to win the global competition.

The president in the company of First Lady Ani Yudhoyono made the call at a function launching the Movement of Indonesian Healthy Youth here Sunday.

"The youth and teenagers should keep doing physical exercises, maintaining health, being creative, maintaining harmony among them, avoiding narcotics and violent acts as well as averting free intercourse to safe the future, make them leading young generation and develop the nation, the president said.

The president said the government would continue to carry out programs to make the Indonesian people remain healthy by providing funds needed for the purpose.

On the commemoration of the Youth Pledge Day, the head of state called on the younger generation to maintain the spirit of the Youth Pledge in order that they and the Indonesian people in general would be leading in the globalization era towards the prosperous future.

Meanwhile, Youth and Sports Minister Adhyaksa Dault said the launching of the movement was a strategic momentum to improve the condition of the Indonesian young people.

He said the effort to invite young people to have the pattern of living healthily still faced some problems including the fact that many plots of land which should be made as public facilities and sports activities were converted into shopping centres among other things.

The minister expresed hope the Indonesian young people should have physical strength and good performance so that they would be able to win the global competition towards better future.

The function was also attended by Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari and Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo.