THUMBS-UP TO SUMMIT: Some of the youths who attended YES 2009 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre yesterday

Convening over two days, from Nov 16-17 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre, over 2,000 youngsters from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, Myanmar and
Cambodia gathered for the inaugural Youth Engagement Summit (YES 2009), themed “South East Asia Youth for Change”.

Intending to serve as the catalyst for this change, organisers of the summit, the first of its kind in Asia, sought for nothing but the best in bringing together a never before seen gathering of earth-movers and shakers as well as global icons of change from every field, to no doubt inspire youths towards change.

Speakers on the first day yesterday included Twitter.com cofounder Biz Stone, Live Aid and Live 8 concerts founder Sir Bob Geldof, former World Bank managing director and Cape Town University vicechancellor Dr Mamphela Ramphele and India Formula One driver Narain Kartikeyan.

The second day, taking place today, will promise a cross with Mr You-Are-Fired himself Donald Trump, live via satellite from Trump Towers in New York, Malaysia’s own Air Asia Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandez,  world chess extraordinaire Garry Kasparov, Facebook managing director Randi Zuckerberg and 1972 Andes plane crash survivor Nando Parrado.

The summit event will even feature an economic roundtable between China’s former Trade Minister Long Yong Tu and India’s former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on day two.

Even the emcee for the summit is none other than famed international TV host and interviewer Lorraine Hahn.
In her opening speech yesterday, Hahn spoke of the challenges facing youths today, citing Sept 11 as one the events which changed the world landscape, the following economic crisis which affected millions of youths at the cusp of entering the global w   orkforce and touched on the environmental challenges which would now be left to the youths of today to solve.  YES 2009 organising chairman and Sledgehammer Communications (M) Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Harmandar Singh said the summit was inspired by United States of America president Barack Obama’s call for change.

“No one can guarantee hope but you can succeed if we try,” added Harmandar.

Meanwhile YES 2009 Youth Communities director, Khailee Ng said youths today form a new breed armed with connectivity that will help them enable change and shape their future.

Biz Stone spoke on how Twitter was a new way of communicating and was a form of social alchemy in which youths, businesses and even governments could use it to relay information, improve businesses and enact change.

Dr Mamphela, while she encouraged the use of Twitter and other such applications on the World Wide Web to unite youth around the world, reminded the audience that the human race had been hard wired to connect with each other and therefore not to take the power of “face to face communication” for  granted.

She said while some youths today are spoilt, the majority are neglected and everyone needed to help these youths to turn the issue to ensure these neglected youths can one day become all they can be. “Youths of today have the opportunity, technology and information to make the right ethical choices for themselves and not wait till they are adults, so that we can make our world more sustainable,” she said

India’s Narain spoke of him becoming an F1 driver in a country where the sport was overshadowed by cricket.

He urged youths to never give up on something they feel so passionately about and to not let stereotyping throw them off their goal.

Lastly, Geldof told youths to never underestimate their ability to create change with the accumulation of a big enough political lobby.

Just like the millions of people who attended the Live 8 concert held in 2005 to collect money and spread the message that poverty in Africa can be eradicated, Geldof said if youths can get enough people to feel strongly about an issue, they would create the political lobby to get the government’s attention.

He emulated Mahatma Gandhi’s message when he said, “if you want change to happen, be the change,” and like Gandhi he added that change must be achieved without  violence and within the confinesof the law.