By SHARMILA NAIR

KHAIRY Jamaluddin wants to change Malaysia, and if you listen to him long enough, you’d want to tag along for the ride. He envisions an environment where young people can fulfill their potential, and dares to dream of a day when race will not be a marker in this country.

For starters, Khairy, or KJ as he is popularly known, is embarking on a project to “take a temperature of what young people are thinking in Malaysia today.”

The BN Youth Lab is inviting young people to do their part by sharing their thoughts and views, and KJ has promised to present these concerns “unvarnished”.

“I’d tell him (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) exactly what the youths are saying without sugar-coating it – even if it was about him,” said the 34-year-old Umno Youth chief, and BN Youth chairman.

KJ spoke frankly and at length with R.AGE on a wide range of topics – from his role as a youth leader and his take on young people, to politicians and leadership, and finally, to ethnicity.

He also sportingly took part in a rapid-fire question session with us.

Khairy Jamaluddin believes that the success of a country depends on how one moulds its young people.

On his role as BN Youth chairman
As BN Youth chairman, I have to hold together a coalition of 13 parties with very, very different interests and sometimes different approaches.

My mandate would be to try and speak their language, to understand them and try to represent them properly.

His view on youths
When you talk about Malaysian youth, it’s such a big group of people. It’s also about young people in rural areas, and young people in Sabah and Sarawak who have a completely different world view from urban youths in the Klang Valley.

I believe strongly in young people and I think that the success of a country would depend on how you mould them. I think it is one of the important things to carry and raise – issues for young people.

What are these issues?
When we did surveys in the BN Youth Lab, young people think a lot about bread-and-butter issues – jobs, salary, cost of living and things like that.

That’s the same across the board. But there are many other issues; from the ISA (Internal Security Act) to ethnicity, to religion.

We are very divided, even within the young generation. So, it’s difficult for me to bring a unified voice for the young when young people themselves, by nature of the fact that this is a very plural society, have different expectations and interests.

Education is a paramount issue because that’s the building block of young people, whatever they end up doing.

On the potential of young Malaysians
The worst thing that you could have in Malaysia is when young people are not able to fulfill their potential. Whether it is because of structural issues or policy issues, talents go to waste.

KJ believes in youths and their ability to lead the nation towards a better future. No, really, he does.

For me, the most important thing is to create an environment of society and the Government in which young people can thrive and reach their potential.

I think we have some way to go because I still feel young people are not getting the correct building blocks in terms of solid education foundation. The culture and environment of creativity, creative thinking and innovation is still a little bit lacking in Malaysia, and that goes a long way in sapping energy from our young people.

It also leads to young people leaving the country.

Leadership and apathy
Leadership doesn’t come from politicians only. Leadership comes from so many other places. They (young people) should have their own community leaders – young people leading them in the arts, sports, education and business.

However, there’s no real emergence of a young vanguard of people who want to change things that is visible at the moment in Malaysia.

They should take an active interest in stuff that is going on. Young people have their stuff to do, their interests, but they should care about where this country is going. They should get involved, be politically active and politically conscious and actually understand what’s happening.

I think that apathy to not just politics but to what’s going on in the country is the worst thing that a young person can have because he or she determines the future of this country. The moment they’re apathetic, it means they don’t care and that’s the worst thing to me.

Freedom of expression
I think we should allow young people to express themselves more. This is very important, not just in a cursory manner but to open as much space for young people to discuss things.

Education is a paramount issue that today's Malaysian youths face.

I always thought the more space you open up, the better for us in the long run because the level of tolerance increases, the level of empathy is increased and you create a better society that way.

If you say what you want and it’s fair comment, I don’t think that the Government would come down on you. Whether by design or default, over the last five years or so, we’ve seen an opening up of Malaysian society where people are able to speak and debate without the fear of recrimination or persecution. I think that’s important.

Look, the Government can’t stop it. You can’t stop the Internet, you can’t stop social media. Whether or not you want to embrace it, that’s the question. There are politicians out there, on both sides of the house, and I hope I’m one of them in Umno and BN who are willing to fight for their freedom to say what they want without being scared about it.

Malaysia’s future
The Malaysia I envision for my kids is a country that is confident about its own collected identities. We are made out to be something more than mediocre. Hopefully, by the time my kids are older, they will live in a country that has finally fulfilled its potential.

My hope for young people is that they fulfill their potential, and that is my hope for Malaysia as well. This depends very much on what we’re willing to do from today onwards. If we’re willing to make tough decisions, and whether politicians are willing to be national leaders as opposed to just politicians.

Leadership comes from so many places; youths should have their own community leaders.