Gathering of Youth for Unity 1

GATHERING OF YOUTH FOR UNITY

zubedy held our first ever Gathering of Youth for Unity on Saturday, the 26^th of March. It was exciting to see so many youth come together to do it for unity. We decided to organize this event because we feel the need to engage with the youth to build up more good leaders today, leaders who know how to manage diversity and this, we believe, can only be done if they learn to embrace unity.

Seventy one youths representing business corporations and youth organizations with a common passion for unity joined us to listen, learn and discuss about what they can do for unity. We were grateful to have with us Dr. Chandra Muzaffar, Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, Jonson Chong, and Tim Fernandez as speakers.

In Dr. Chandra Muzaffar’s keynote address on the theme “Youth for Unity”, he spoke on the need to increase the quantum of youths who really understand the ethnic or religious other and look at issues of justice and injustice from a truly multi-ethnic perspective. He emphasized the need for youths to choose to be bridge-builders - to have a profound commitment to the well-being of all, regardless of ethnic or religious affiliation.

In the panel session, panelists Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, Jonson Chong, Tim Fernandez and Anas Zubedy echoed the same urgency for youths to take up the challenge of implementing a change towards unity in the areas of Media, Politics, Education and Economy respectively.

As a resolution to the gathering, the youths identified three key action points they can begin implementing in each of the four areas. Representatives of youth organizations were then presented with the book “A Plea for Empathy: The Quest for Malaysian Unity” by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar. Throughout the gathering, the most striking theme is certain – that the youths must take accountability and be the change they wish to see in our nation.