KUALA LUMPUR: To live and grow in a fair, sustainable and happy Malaysia. That is what the Government is hearing from youths around the country over and over again, said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (pic).
“Young Malaysians want a sustainable country, in that they don’t want development at the expense of our lives. They also want a fair country with distribution of income and quality of life,” he added.
Khairy said over 20,000 specific aspirations were collected under the TN50 initiative since this was launched two months ago.
Other aspirations by the youths, added Khairy, include wanting Malaysia to have more balance in food trade; no to smoking and the sale of cigarettes, fight against obesity and for each state to have two specialist hospitals.
“They also want Malaysia to have a civilisation, such as the arts and values,” Khairy said to the audience attending the Global Transformation Forum 2017 here yesterday.
He was part of the Delivering Transformation: The Malaysian Case Study panel, which also included Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan; International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Ali Hamsa.
To a question from the floor, Khairy said Vision 2020 was a general statement of intent while the TN50 document, once completed, would have specific milestones.
“It would be an implementation document,” said Khairy, adding that this would then be handed over to Abdul Rahman, who is in charge of Economic Planning Unit.
He added that whoever was in the Government in the future years were duty bound to see the aspirations through.
“This is the collective voice of the people,” he pointed out, adding that a “bottom up” initiative would insulate the document from political interference.
Mustapa said it was also important for youths to define the political model they wanted under TN50.
Earlier, he said despite recent challenges such as Trumpnomics and Brexit and economic uncertainty, Malaysia remained committed to openness.
“We are one of the biggest beneficiaries of open trade. We will continue to push for globalisation,” he said.
Malaysia, he said, had become big overseas in that its investments abroad were now larger than the foreign investments in the country.
The Global Transformation Forum is an event organised by Pemandu and the world’s single platform to share and discuss transformative actions and experiences at three distinct levels: governments, businesses and individuals.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/03/23/khairy-youths-want-sustainable-fair-malaysia/