Khairy taking a selfie with participants at the forum
KUALA LUMPUR: Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has urged young Malaysians to take part in politics so that they can "shape policies for the future."
“Please have a stake in the future of this country. The discussion on what happens after 2020 is too important for it to be left to politicians.
"Young people drive the discourse. You drive the direction of this country,” Khairy told over 2,000 young Malaysians at the closing of the National Aspiration and Leadership Summit (NALS) 2016.
The day-long forum held at the Putra World Trade Centre here saw Malaysians from various backgrounds engaging with prominent speakers from diverse fields.
The event, themed ‘Understanding Malaysia: The Legacy, The Mentality, The Future’, featured personalities such as Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek and celebrated academic Tan Sri Prof Khoo Kay Kim.
In his keynote address, Reezal said Malaysia, on the cusp of Vision 2020, should not become complacent.
“We must strive for continuous improvement, which means never-ending effort. We must also strive for excellence in whatever we are doing.”
This was echoed later by Khairy, who said that while Malaysia had marked achievements such as diminishing hardcore poverty to 0.6% last year and increasing GDP 20 times over from 1970 to 2010, the nation was still dependent on commodities like oil, gas and mining.
“We need to move away from this and more towards knowledge and other service industries. If not, we are in trouble when oil prices go down,” he said.
“We need to start ensuring that we can grow other services industries and not be reliant on commodities. We need to inculcate an entrepreneurial spirit, especially among young people.”
Khairy urged youths to seek alternative ways if they felt they were better-suited for them, stressing that there was nothing wrong with being “a welder or a chef”.
“University not the single pathway for a person to succeed in life,” he said.
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