Malaysian Student Leaders Summit

i had the opportunity to attend the Malaysian Student Leaders Summit over the weekend, the first of many more to come. basically it’s a convention where Malaysian students who are studying all over the world congregate back here in KL to listen to speeches about the state of affairs in our country, and then discourse with the speakers about those topics in open mic sessions. over 350 students attended, and 16 speakers from very diverse fields came to address us.

haha i must admit that i love conferences and summits like this, what more when the list of speakers include the likes of ministers and corporate bigwigs, and we’re allowed to ask them all sorts of questions! furthermore the students who attended all came from good schools and were intelligent and concerned about the country, so the post-session dissecting over coffee and MICE food were very interesting. it’s always so very heartening to encounter young malaysians who have fought against the dumbing-down of the malaysian education system and have emerged victorious. ya screw pendidikan moral and all that KBKK crap; one day we are going to take over the world! and it wont be because we hafal-ed 30 nilais the night before our exams.

so this conference was quite good! definitely the most exciting panel of speakers i’ve seen so far in all the summits i’ve been to. most (but not all as you shall soon be told!) of the sessions were very informative, and the Q&A sessions that followed usually had the whole floor sitting up and leaning forward. a lot of the questions were damn interesting, and some were outright challenging. but then quite funny also lah got some sesat questions like when one girl demanded to know why the government charges for SPM, when padahal the fees were actually abolished some time back. haha. i think she was from a private school.

the sessions are as follows :

The Army and Leadership
Speaker : Laksamana Tan Sri Dato Sri Mohd Anwar (Former Chief of Defence Force of Msia)
okay this one was quite bad, quite possibly the worst of the 12 sessions. the Laksamana mostly talked about the army and naval forces of malaysia, and didnt correlate either to leadership, which was what his session was supposed to be about. it was really one big Pro-Army evangelistic talk that lasted way longer than it should have. the Q&A part saved it lah i think, because some people asked about Nuri, as well as offense/defense policies, and recent army/navy purchases. he took the questions well; his answers were quite satisfactory. haha and then there was a University of Toulouse student who asked him something, and he answered back in French wtf.

Malaysia’s Economy
Speakers : Prof Emeritus Dr Mohd Ariff Karim (Director of Msia Institute of Economic Research)
Justin Leong Ming Loong (Head of Investment, Genting Group Bhd)
i was really really really looking forward to this particular session, but it was quite disappointing overall. the Professor’s presentation was basically slide after slide of regional macroeconomic data and how Malaysia is doing in comparison; while quite informative, it was really nothing new. it got better when he outlined issues that Malaysia has to overcome in order to prosper economically, such as decreasing private consumption, jobless growth, brain drain, intraethnic income disparity, dan lain lain lagi. he touched a little on how these issues can be resolved, and i wished there had been more of that than the graphs and statistics!! Justin Leong from Genting is damn young and a damn good speaker who commands your attention right away, but there wasnt much to be gleaned from his speech. actually i dont really remember what he talked about, but he did speak about economic crises and also about the recent flourishing of msian economy. it was good rhetoric, but once again i wish there had been more substance and opinion rather than a fact-based speech. the Q&A for this session had to be cut short drastically, because Mr Navy from earlier spoke over his alloted time. only 2 questions could be asked :( which was a shame because this was such a good topic.

Corporate Governance & Transparency in Malaysia
Speakers : YM Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim (Former Prez Transparency Msia)
Dato Zarinah Anwar (Chairman of Securities Commission)
i really liked this session! they were both so passionate about their cause against corruption, and their zeal was contagious. not only were they so aware of what problems we face in regards to transparency and corporate governance, they also knew how what should be done about it. and they shared this with us. it was a very inspirational session overall. such likeable speakers :)

Corporate Challenges for the Young and Bright
Speakers : Dato Johan Raslan (Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers Msia)
Dato Tony Fernandes (Group CEO of Air Asia Bhd)
Dato Azman Mokhtar (CEO and MD of Khazanah Nasional)
haha i think this was everyone’s favourite session. Johan Raslan (sigh, so handsome! why are all the Raslan brothers so hot!) gave a very good speech that was very relevant to the audience. he expounded on What’s Hot and What’s Not in the corporate world, basically what to chase after and what to avoid. then gave us a 5-point checklist on how to succeed in the new era. sigh i am believing anything he tells me, really. Tony Fernandes was up next, and like Johan Raslan, he engaged everyone in the hall from the moment he stepped up to the mic. he mostly told his famous story of how Air Asia started and how They Did It, with the underlying message that we should all come home after our studies to make this country better. well you know how this reverse-brain-drain message can sometimes get very plasticky? with Tony Fernandes it was not like that at all. it was in fact very impelling and sincere, and it was very nice to hear the story of the Little Guy who went against the Big Guy and came out on top. fills one with so much hope and determination :) i think at the end of his speech, everyone wanted to start an airline. Azman Mokhtar was up next, and he gave a short and frank piece about how we should come back to serve the country, but it is important to pick the right time and be optimal in applying ourselves. very very good advice, i thought, and so honest too.

Malaysia’s Foreign Policy
Speaker : Dato Seri Jawhar Hassan (Chairman of ISIS)
this guy was very wise and knowledgeble, but unfortunately he has no rhetoric, so it turned out to be quite a slow session. he led us through a little history lesson of Malaysia and how we’ve dealt with external forces in the past - general stuff you should already know. then he spoke about challenges in putting ourselves forward, cohesive action, the muslim community and all that. the irritating thing about this session was that you could tell this guy had such a huge brain to pick and that he knew so much, but he just couldnt get his points across well. it was only during the Q&A that he did himself any justice. his answers were damn good and were clearly the mark of a learned man.

South Johor Economic Region
Speaker : YAB Dato Haji Abdul Ghani (Menteri Besar of Johor)
i was actually looking forward to this talk, because i have so many questions when it comes to the IDR. unfortunately it was a really bad session. a good portion of it was dedicated to telling us why the IDR is without a doubt an excellent government project. aiyah a bit lazy to listen lah, so we all skipped out on this one and went for dinner. i dont actually know if it got better, but i do know that this guy cant speak.

Environmental Governance in Malaysia
Speaker : Karam Singh Walia (TV3 Environmentalist)
i missed this one cos i left early. biiiiiig mistake. apparently it was one of the best talks of the entire summit. GRR.

Challenges & Prospects in National Building
Speaker : DYTM Dr Raja Nazrin Shah (Raja Muda of Perak)
oooh the crown prince of perak came to speak to us! this guy’s like an Oxford and Harvard graduate. i dont remember much of his speech, but i remember thinking that he had good content despite bland execution. he told us that we should look to Tun Dr Ismail as a role model. haha damn cool. he also said, ‘get a copy of the Federal Constitution if you havent already!’. then he told us what to do to contribute to national building, but i dont remember what he said. and unfortunately there was no Q&A for this session, for obvious reasons. aiyah okay lah nevermind.

Unity in Diversity - Myth or Reality?
Speakers : Prof Emeritus Dr Khoo Kay Kim (Historian, Universiti Malaya)
Datuk Rafiah Salim (Vice Chancellor, Universiti Malaya)
this was a strange session that fell short of addressing the issue at hand. Rafiah Salim went first; she gave an unmemorable speech that was really eclipsed by the horrific manner in which she handled her Q&A session. how typical of someone from a local university to deny the fact that our universities do not provide a platform for students to speak up and be heard. someone asked her if she thought students produced by local unis were going through a system where they are not taught to voice their concerns and opinions, and she replied with ‘there is no such thing!’. umm yah right lah. anyway she got booed and table-pounded when she said that, the first and only of such an occurence in this summit. and then she went like, ‘har see see behaviour like this is why you students will never be heard! all you want to do is protest! do you think protesting will get people to listen to you?”. another horrific thing she said was how there should be only one education system in this country and made uniform to all. ya allah thank god that is not the reality. Prof Khoo’s speech was more graceful and enlightening; the reach of his knowledge is so vast it’s almost scary. he cleared some misassumptions about racial disharmony in malaysian history, and spoke a little on colonialism and how it was our downfall, but ultimately it was a rather lacklustre speech. to me lah, at least. lots of people liked his speech, but i had hoped for something more powerful.

Higher Education
Speaker : Dato Mustapha Mohamed (Minister of Higher Education)
nothing too great about this speech. the best part of the session was the Q&A do, and that was when Dato Mustapha really flexed his intelligent muscles. he was asked a lot about the state of local universities and how are we supposed to level with other international institutions, and also about the competitiveness of locally-produced students, and i must say that he fielded the questions rather well.

National Economic Policy - is it still relevant?
Speaker : Prof Dato Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin (Prof of Anthropology, UKM)
haha and here comes the session on NEP, the #2 Isu Sensitif Yang Tidak Harus Dibangkitkan! the Prof referenced the Constitution a lot in his speech, and pointed out how unfair the ‘peculiarities’ were when it comes to special rights of the majority in return for ’special rights’ of the minority ie citizenship. he was very frank most of the time, and made many good points, but he hedged as well in giving direct answers when asked for his opinion. tried to be PC lah i suppose which is understandable. maklumlah, we were discussing isu-isu sensitif.

Education in Malaysia
Speaker : Tan Sri Wan Zahid Nordin (Former Director-General of Education)
this dude had a speech with damn a lot of content, and quite good one at that. he basically gave many recommendations toward the improvement of education in our country, in the form of ‘pillars’, among which were Autonomy Pillar, Pedagogical Pillar and R&D Pillar. very substantial speech with extremely good recommendations which i hope to see put into effect for the sake of our students. Q&A session was alright although he didnt answer the questions pertaining to the UCA.

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and that was the end of our 2 day long summit. during the summit, we were also split up into about 10 groups to discuss certain issues such as democracy, education, environment etc. i got media in malaysia, which i was glad to be put in. at the end of the 2 days, each group had to come up with 5 declarations that would be compiled and then forwarded to the government. it was very interesting listening to each group’s 5 declarations. twas one of those Proud To Be Malaysian moments.

okay this post very long. but i will still put up 2 pictures of Andrew and Wai Kin sleeping during the summit :

Comments August 7th, 2007