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Youth urge ASEAN leaders to come back down to earth
Many young people in Southeast Asian countries have learned about ASEAN in school
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any young people in Southeast Asian countries have learned about ASEAN in school. Most, however, have no idea about how ASEAN, and “ASEAN connectivity”, could potentially benefit them.
“Before the Youth Forum and Festival, I only learned about ASEAN from my history books and ASEAN only sounded like jargon. But now I know that many things should be done. We have to socialize ASEAN from the grass roots, explaining to people what ASEAN is and how an ASEAN Community would benefit them,” Indonesian Muhamad Iman Usman said after an informal meeting with Heads of States at the 18th ASEAN Summit on Saturday.
“That is why I urge the governments to use social media and youth to disseminate this to people at the grass roots level, so ASEAN does not only belong to elites,” he said.
Iman said that youths in ASEAN should think about the ASEAN community as an opportunity. “Now that I know about ASEAN Community 2015, I know that I have many challenges ahead, but there is also opportunity, because that means that if, in the future, I want to be an entrepreneur, I will have a wider market. For students, it means a lot more opportunity for student exchange,” he said.
Leon, from the Philippines, said that the leaders showed enthusiasm in the interface with other ASEAN Youth Representatives.
“It seemed the other leaders could not wait to reach the microphone to provide us with encouragement. His Excellency Tun Abdul Razak of Malaysia said that the youth are already the leaders and the agents of change. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino of the Philippines said that the youth are stakeholders of the future” he told reporters.
Tun Tun Oo from Myanmar acknowledged that he never felt connected before in his involvement in the forum. Pulawit Wanichsetakul from Thailand said that the cultural exchange between the youth representatives during the Youth Forum had given him so many new experiences and unique knowledge.
“We share culture and exchange ideas. We respect each other and now we can work together, and it resulted in a joint-statement we addressed earlier before the Heads of State,” he said, adding that he had no difficulties in interacting with fellow representatives from Cambodia, despite the ongoing conflict between the two countries. “We are having so much fun,” he said.(swd)
