Youth input

Khairy: Govt to gather feedback from youngsters.

PETALING JAYA: Some 1.5 million youths around the country will be asked to define the Malaysia they want to see in the year 2050.

Their input will go into formulating a policy document that will chart Malaysia’s direction for the next three decades from 2020.

This is part of the 2050 National Transformation (TN50) discourse – which the Prime Minister will kick off on Thursday – that will see, among others, youths giving their views to the Government.

“This will be about us listening to the younger generation.

“We will also get negative and critical views, but we will accept them all,” said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin during a recent media briefing.

The overall target of TN50, said Khairy, was to transform Malaysia into a Top 20 country in the world by the year 2050 using several general wellbeing and economic indicators.

The views of the younger generation will be sought on various topics, including what Malaysia ought to do to prepare for a future economy, what changes are needed for schools and universities to get Malaysians ready for future jobs and how they define their national identity.

The feedback will be collected in various facetoface sessions such as town hall and online meetings that will take place nationwide throughout this year.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will lead the first town hall meeting on Thursday at Universiti Malaya, to be broadcast live on RTM, TV3 and Astro Awani.

Some 500 participants, comprising representatives from youth groups as well as from Sabah and Sarawak, will take part.

At the event, Najib will deliver a policy speech on TN50, followed by a dialogue during which he will ask the audience what they want and what they imagine Malaysia will be like.

“If someone were to raise the suggestion that Malaysia should be less reliant on cars, the PM may then ask – ‘so what do you want to see, what is your solu tion?’,” said Khairy.

He said while he would organise town hall sessions in each state, views would also be sought through other methods.

Citing examples, he said drawing contests would be held for primary school children and a short film competition organised for young directors to showcase their vision of what Kuala Lumpur would be like 33 years from now.

All the feedback – along with that from other groups representing a crosssection of society such as women and the private sector – will be compiled at the end of this year.

This will then be refined to create the TN50 policy document that Najib will unveil sometime between late 2018 and early 2019.

The TN50 policy document, said Khairy, would set more specific targets for Malaysia to reach by 2050 and serve as a guide for all government policies and spending.

He said TN50 would be an extension of the Vision 2020 policy whose time frame would be expiring three years from now.

Unlike Vision 2020 that saw the Government deciding on the direction for Malaysia, TN50, he pointed out, would use a bottomup approach by which the people give their input.

“Vision 2020 was a 30year mission that will only bring us to 2020. Surely, we need something to carry us forward after that.

“If not, we will not be preparing for our future,” he added.