Education key to Asian impasse
Cambodia mulling systematic reform fit for the digital age Malaysian minister says invest in youth for added value
Our focus is to reform our education system to make sure human resources are more geared toward the digital age. HUN MANY PRESIDENT OF COMMISSION 7 OF CAMBODIA’S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Just because they are young does not mean they are immature and inexperienced or that their capability should be trivialised. SYED SADDIQ SYED ABDUL RAHMAN MALAYSIA’S YOUTH AND SPORTS MINISTER
To achieve Cambodia’s ambition of becoming an upper middle-income economy by 2030 and prepare for the digital era, it must focus on developing human capital and reforming the education system.
So says H.E. Hun Many, president of Commission 7 of Cambodia’s National Assembly — that deals with education — and president of the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia.
Upper middle-income economies are those with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of between US$3,896 and $12,055. Cambodia hit its current status of being a lower-middle income country last year with a GNI per capita of $1,230 in 2017, according to the World Bank’s data.
“Under Commission 7 of the National Assembly, our focus is to reform our education system to make sure human resources are more geared toward the digital age,” he told around 500 attendees at the “Bangkok Post International Forum 2018”.
He said Cambodia has prioritised science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education while also addressing the challenge of adapting its teachers, who have been trained in traditional rote-learning, to focus on encouraging critical thinking.
They need new thinkers to support the individual development programme (IDP) and ensure the country’s industrial development will be guided in a way that diversifies Cambodia’s economic base and renders it more competitive and productive.
Mr Hun Many said “young people are able to understand young people”, but if you are in a position of leadership you need a good understanding of all generations.
“At the end of the day, you don’t serve only young people. If you are in a position of leadership, you need to serve the whole country and society at large,” he said.
Being able to balance the needs of people of all ages, and respect their various needs, will give everyone a new way of thinking and a new way of utilising technology that is “fundamental to moving society forward smoothly”, he added.
“We can’t think about one head at a time, or one angle at a time,” he said, adding future leaders should learn lessons from the past to ensure “they are not repeated”. He was referring to the genocide conducted by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979.
“The concept of nationalism has remained the same but we doubt that the experience of knowing how nationalism can turn to be good, or in a very bad way, as Cambodia has experienced,” he said.
“In order to acquire our independence, nationalism was used. In order to take over the country, the Khmer Rouge also used nationalism, so the concept did not change, but the experience ensured we don’t take it in the manner that it gets out of hand.”
He said young Cambodians must not forget the atrocities that took place.
“When we are young, we tend not to live in the past. But we should not forget who we are and what makes us this way today,” he said. Cambodian youth are becoming more tech savvy so he expects to see more debate on democracy in the country, as well as future engines of economic growth.
“I focus on the development of young people, not just to help them empower and express themselves but also to be able to balance all views,” he said.
“At the end of the day, you have to know what you are doing it for. Are you doing it just for the sake of democracy? Or do you want to take part in the process of maintaining and developing the country further?”
Mr Hun Many said that while it would be good to see Cambodians become “champions of democracy” it was also important to focus on other national pillars like national security and economic development.
“All pillars are important ... it is the responsibility of young people as a whole to move the country forward,” he added. To empower inclusive institutions in Asia for the next five years it is important to invest in young people so they are well educated and can get at least an entry-level job, while also recognising their potential for early promotion, said H.E. Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s youth and sports minister and the youngest cabinet minister in Asia.
“Just because they are young does not mean they are immature and inexperienced or that their capability should be trivialised,” he told attendees at the Bang
kok Post’s international forum yesterday. “I believe that in the next 20 years, countries which recognise the potential of young people, elevate them and open doors for opportunities, they will be the ones who will succeed the most.”
There is much more work to be done in this regard, he said, citing Forbes’ list of the world’s top 100 companies. It shows that many of the firms on the list have chairmen or CEOs aged 45 or younger, but the same trend is not pronounced in Asia, he added.
“In Asean and Asia today, for us to identify a board member who is younger than 40 is almost impossible,” Mr Saddiq said. “This is true despite the fact that there are talented people who have succeeded and can bring a unique added value to the respective country.”
He said it is vital to raise the level of political participation among young people and the private sector could play a key role.
Mr Saddiq and Malaysia’s ruling party, Pakatan Harapan, are now campaigning for more youth representatives at all levels of government. The minimum age for a village chief was recently lowered from 40 to 21.
Inclusive institutions are “often defined by the private sector, by the corporate world in which equity, wealth and power lies therein”, he said, adding that Malaysia would incentivise private firms to employ at least one youth representative on their board.
In order to “future-proof Asean”, suitable environments must be created to build, train and prepare the leaders of tomorrow, starting today, the youth minister said.
“If we are able to do that, the challenges our respective countries will confront will be challenges we can break down together,” he said.
“This is because not only will we have experienced leadership, but at the same time, we will have youth leaders who are ready to take over, and [leaders] who have been trained today to make sure whatever storm we face in the future will be storms we can power through together.”
Mr Saddiq, who lost his job as a lecturer for speaking up against corruption during the administration of former prime minister Najib Razak, said young people will provide the energy to power democratic development.
They played a big role in the recent political developments in Malaysia, he added.
“It was young people who queued up early in the morning to cast their ballot [in the May 9 poll that saw Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad re-elected in his early 90s],” he said.
“It was young people who posted comments on social media to show they are part of that change, and the ones who turned to Facebook when mainstream media was largely monopolised.”
In politically sensitive environments, it is generally more prudent to engage young people in debate and the decision-making process rather than trying to “suppress and trivialise” them, he said.
“Acknowledge the role that young people play,” he said. “You will not only escape the backlash ... [but] can channel their energy” for nation building.
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DE) is preparing a master plan for collaboration that echoes Asean’s theme of “Advancing Partnership for Sustainability”, which was chosen by Thailand as the theme of its chairmanship in 2019.
The plan aims to improve and facilitate further intra-Asean cooperation across five categories, namely smart city development, cyber security, connectivity and mobility, harmonisation and alignment, as well as manpower and society, said DE minister Pichet Durongkaveroj at the Bangkok Post International Forum 2018 yesterday, with the theme “Asian Transformation: The Changing Landscape”.
Mr Pichet said that the Asean chairmanship’s theme will facilitate the country’s digital transformation through the increased collaboration with other stakeholders in the region, in addition to boosting the country’s overall image in the bloc.
“Malaysian Prime Minster Mahathir Mohamad also supports the idea of advancing partnership for sustainability,” he said.
Currently, Thailand is ranked third among Asean members on the digital development index, just behind Singapore and Malaysia.
Mr Pichet said the government is collaborating with the private sector to develop an digital ecosystem that is conducive to, and in line with Thailand’s 20-year digital roadmap, which focuses on the development of infrastructure, governance, cyber security, technological development, and manpower.
Success in these five areas of would help the government accomplish three critical targets by 2020, namely the modernisation of rural areas, reduced income disparity, and increased capacity to usher in the digital age, he added.
“Currently, all countries are experiencing dynamic changes caused by digital disruptions. To cope with the changes, we need to think in a strategic manner, without the traditional mindset as we have in the
past,” he continued.
Separately, Minister of Foreign Affairs Don Pramudwinai echoed Mr Pichet and said that his ministry is also preparing a plan that echoes Asean’s theme.
He said Thailand is proposing an Asean Digital Agility Leaders’ Meeting next year, as well as improvements to the Asean-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity-Building Centre, which is based in Thailand.
In a related matter, Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana told the Bangkok Post International Forum that the upcoming general election and the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project will help boost Thailand’s economic growth.
“The general election and the EEC will transform Thailand,” he said. “The EEC and the 20-year national strategy were solely designed to improve our industry and the economy.”
Five projects along the EEC is expected to kick off in 2019 — the high-speed crossairport rail link, the third phase of the Map Ta Phut and Leam Chabang deep-sea ports, an aviation maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) centre, and U-Tapao airport.
Mr Uttama said because EEC projects will benefit the region’s economy, Asean members should work together to develop its information, digital, industry value chains so all stakeholders can benefit.
Ultimately, the government plans to connect the EEC with other economic corridors built under the umbrella of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS).
The EEC will ultimately link Thailand’s eastern promises to Myanmar’s Dawei deep-sea port, Cambodia’s Sihanoukville port, and Vietnam’s Vung Tau port.
As a part of the project, the government is expanding the country’s largest seaport, Laem Chabang, with the goal of transforming it into the Southeast Asia’s marine hub.
The government’s EEC project will be carried out under a public-private-partnership (PPP) contract, Mr Uttama said.