CHILDREN should be seen and not heard!” Fortunately, this oft-repeated mantra no longer holds true today.
With globalisation and the rapid growth of Malaysia’s ICT infrastructure, comes a corresponding increase in awareness of world issues among Malaysia’s youth, who are full of ideas and opinions on human rights, global warming, hunger and poverty, peacekeeping and infectious diseases, among others.
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| Taylors students listening intently during the "Hear Us Out!" conference. |
Wanting to make a difference about the issues confronting the world today, 55 World Issues students of the International Canadian Pre-University (ICPU) programme at Taylor’s University College in Selangor organised a Hear Us Out! conference recently.
Aptly themed, ‘Listen. Act. Make a Change’, the one-day event featured keynote speakers Youssouf Mohammad Oomar from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Andrew Tan, an exco member of the Malaysian AIDS Council.
“All the youth in Malaysia are very lucky to be able to study in school, which will open up corridors of opportunity to better and empower themselves as well as society in due course,” said Youssouf.
“The place of a child is on a bench in a school. In many parts of the world, we see children becoming labourers, being sold for sex, being abused and deprived of one of their most basic rights – the right to education.”
Youssouf urged the students to take their discussions about facilitating change a step further by promoting change in social behaviour and integration, and finding viable solutions for problems.
“What is important is how you are engaged in your own learning. It is your life. And that is the life of the whole world,” he added.
Tan showed participants videos on the history and development of HIV/AIDS in the world, and efforts by youths to boost awareness of the problem in South Africa, Ukraine, Jamaica, India and Botswana.
“Our statistics show that 30 students in Malaysia were infected with HIV/AIDS in 2007 alone,” said Tan, who urged the students to be responsible for their own health and safety by taking the necessary precautions and to avoid hanging out with irresponsible peers.
ICPU World Issues lecturer Elizabeth Christie, who mooted the idea of Hear Us Out!, attributed its successful organisation and implementation to the initiative and diligence of the students, who also put together two workshop sessions.
Among the topics presented at the workshops were biodiversity and the ecosystem, deforestation, natural disasters - prevention and mitigation, control of infectious diseases, global warming, education for all, international labour and migration, biotechnology rules, illegal drugs, terrorism, and peacekeeping.
“We managed to spread the word about what’s important and why we must act upon those issues, now. I felt the urge to do something right away,” said Eleena Toh Shu Phei, one of the students on the programmes and registration committee.
“The conference also gave a new meaning to teamwork and friendship – I realised that we can do anything when we put our heads and hands together.”
Liberata Julian Rushaigo from Tanzania chipped in: “All the restless nights and stressful days were worth it in the end. We talked about the present and suggested ways to make the world a better place. I will always remember this conference as it was organised by youths, for youths.”
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