ASEAN 2025 puts youth at the heart of its vision, but are young voices truly being heard? Beyond the talk of inclusivity, and the digital and green economy, what future do ASEAN youth really want? Catch the discussion tonight at 8.30pm
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00:00Terima kasih kerana menonton!
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01:54...of the ASEAN Development Bank Consultant from Thailand...
01:57...and we have Yuyun Wahyuningrum...
01:59...Executive Director of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights from Indonesia.
02:04Thank you so much for everyone joining us in the studio in Bukit Jalil as well as online.
02:10Nice to be here.
02:12Hi everyone and I believe Natapon is actually in Kuala Lumpur right now...
02:17...but on the bus and we wish Natapon is here to join us.
02:21But I think we'd like to start with Vichy Tribe, if that's okay.
02:26We want to just get a general idea, I guess a summary, a wrap-up...
02:30...of what we've seen with the 46th ASEAN Summit this year.
02:35Looking at some of the discussions, the achievements of the leaders gathering this year...
02:40...did any of that resonate with you?
02:42What do you make with any of the news reports that we've seen from ASEAN this year?
02:46Okay, so it definitely resonates with us as well.
02:51I think ASEAN was a very good opportunity, especially the ASEAN Youth Dialogue...
02:56...was actually a really great opportunity for us young leaders, me, Kai, even MM as well.
03:03So, from there, like we get to like, and I was like really glad that I'm glad to like represent Malaysia...
03:11...to be in the interface as well.
03:13We get to meet all great leaders who are sharing this same thinking to bring ASEAN forward.
03:20Is this your first time participating in ASEAN?
03:23Yeah, definitely.
03:24How was it like personally for you?
03:25Personally, it was really great.
03:27Okay, so like to for everyone's thing, like I'm actually in the senior youth considered...
03:34...because Malaysia is moving towards Belia 30.
03:38So, this was like the peak of my career or my experience, I would say.
03:45So, the experience was really great, especially on the summit that happened yesterday, that was really, really great.
03:55No, no, it's very impressive to see so many young people involved.
03:58For Kai Zuru and yourself, is this your first time at ASEAN?
04:01For an ASEAN Youth Dialogue, this is my first time.
04:05But for an ASEAN event, this is actually my second.
04:11So, my first one was also in Kuala Lumpur.
04:14It was ASEAN Australian Youth Leader Forum, where youth from Australia and all around ASEAN comes to Kuala Lumpur and talk about the theme of the forum that time is Future Cities of 2050.
04:30So, we talk about how, you know, urban cities around ASEAN and even Australia can go forward and being more inclusive and being more smart.
04:41So, as this is my second time, you know, representing my country, Brunei Darussalam, into the international stage, especially with this dialogue where I got to meet a lot of very great leaders like Vichitra, like MM.
04:57and it's a very, an experience that I feel like I will not get anywhere else and it's such a privilege to even like being talking to all of the delegates that were elected by their country to come and represent what their country.
05:18You've had some experience with ASEAN before. If you were to compare to this year, what do you think makes this year a bit more different, a bit more special?
05:25Right. I guess since this dialogue is in Kuala Lumpur, especially for Brunei, this, you know, Malaysia is our friend, you know, we are neighbours.
05:38So, it means a lot because, you know, geographically we are close and then for me, I am a Malay, Melayu Brunei if we call them in Brunei.
05:51So, you know, some of the issues in Malaysia does resonate also in my country. So, it is a unique platform to actually like discuss with some of the local delegates for Malaysia, not even just like in West Malaysia but also like from East Malaysia which is our friend in Sarawak in Sabah.
06:18I want to talk a little bit about the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, our shared future. This is, you know, charting a new path, a strategic direction for the next two decades for how the region wants to prepare for tomorrow.
06:31Calling for enhanced institutional capacity, deeper regional cooperation, looking at some specific industries.
06:38I want to ask you, Yun, what do you think of this ASEAN Community Vision and what, how do you yourself envision ASEAN for the next two decades?
06:49First, I would like to comment on this vision. First, this is the first time that ASEAN took 20 years because before it's 9 years, 10 years and now it's 20 years.
07:01It's a risk because if you don't do anything on something, then you have to wait for 20 years. So, but as a document, it has been integrated. It includes number of new and initiative ideas such as green economies, digitalization, you know, so, so it seems like ASEAN committed to work together toward this global challenges.
07:29But there are a number of things that are not included there. So for instance, how to protect the marginalized groups such as refugees is not included there. So it is still a question. So I would like to put here that this document is very good document. It gives us direction with to the next 20 years toward the ASEAN that we would like to see.
07:55to see. But at the same time, the document remain marginalizing some groups. Again, I mentioned about, about refugees, the protection of refugees is not included there. And the word democracy mentioned three times in the document without any action points. So this, in this point, ASEAN missed the opportunity of bringing the democratic promotion action into the document. So what would be the implication?
08:24It means by the implication, it means by the next 20 years, we may not have initiative action toward the promotion of democracy, we may be at the same level as we are now in the next 20 years, in 2045. So, so there are, there are a number of things that is very forward, and there are still move lag behind.
08:51Okay, okay. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I think you want to add some points.
08:54Yeah, I think I would add a point with, from Miss Yuyun. So like she said, in the Asian community 2045, they have not added the marginalized group in the statement. But however, during our Asian youth dialogue, where we actually have our youth statements, where we brought out, bring that all to the delegates, especially to all the 10 countries. So we did mention over there, like we would be
09:21I would recommend if the policy should have vulnerable group, like we have generalized it to be vulnerable group instead of marginalized. So we do hope that they do add in into the community vision soon.
09:35Yeah, yeah. So it seems like on the youth dialogue level, there is greater focus on marginalized groups or vulnerable groups, as you mentioned. Yes. Do you think that maybe then there's a, maybe I'll ask this to you, Yun, maybe do you think that there's a disconnect that between what youths of ASEAN are discussing officially as well, in the youth dialogue forum, but it seems as though on the leadership level, on the actual official document, there's,
10:04there's a bit of a disconnect, do you think?
10:06I agree, because I believe that youth group has been raising the issues very much on climate change. Some of the issues have been included, I saw because a number of contemporary words, I mentioned the contemporary word because we don't use it before. And now we use it today because of the COP discussion and so on and so forth.
10:31I think, I think, I believe those words came from the advocacy from the youth. But this document has been discussed for more than four years.
10:41Yeah.
10:42So the task force had been discussing from one place to another, consulting different groups. Of course, they have to come up with the consensus among themselves. Some issues may be sensitive for others.
10:57So usually at the end, they will go to lower denominator to arrive at the consensus. So I support what the speakers earlier mentioned, that youth has been offering their views, their ideas, their suggestions, but remain not yet be in the document right now, because the document is already adopted.
11:25But I think now the problem is on implementation. How we can have a nuance from what youth has been envisioned to be included in the process of implementation of any action in the ASEAN Vision 2045.
11:44Natapon, what do you think? What do you like and what do you think is missing from the ASEAN Community Vision 2045?
11:53I actually do agree that we do missing a lot of the action words that say, okay, what we are going to do next. That's what happened to when we document something. And when we said, like, we are supporting, we are, like, empowering, but then maybe those action words, it's what we needed for. And also, just like Ms. Busita said that we actually, we actually were taught.
12:22We actually were taught in the dialogue about the wicked problem that we actually facing right now. And it's involved with something that is like about the marginalized group that cannot be accessed to other facilities, such as like educations or healthcare.
12:41or healthcare. That's why I guess like, before we kind of like go into like, like, like the like to solve some problem, maybe we have to find a good cross and also kind of help on that. And just just like also Ms. Busita said, in the UNICEF session, a lot of the groups that would like to present the problem, about five or seven groups about the marginalized.
13:10group that we think that we need to fix this before we actually, you know, just like I said, go to the action.
13:19How do you think is the right way to move in trying to fill in this sort of disconnect, this gap between what the youth are discussing at the youth dialogue and what the actual, the leaders, the highest leadership of ASEAN are discussing?
13:37how do you think is the best way to sort of create that connection?
13:40Like in my opinion, by right, because ASEAN youth dialogue is bringing all the youths from 10 countries and now we are bringing in our observer who is Timo Leste as well.
13:52they do, they do, they do came to this ASEAN youth dialogue as well. So when, while we are discussing as we are discussing on pain points of each and other ASEAN countries, we wish that the leaders would also have the time to also speak to us, like indirect, like they do have the dialogues together with us.
14:13So that way they do see what are the problems that the youths are actually raising and what are the solutions that the youths can come up with.
14:23because according to like what Miss Yuyun said, like they have already discussed it among the leaders themselves so but we are not sure if whether they have brought it to the youth especially and per se, maybe in my opinion why the marginalised group matter was not up in the community because all the pain points or all the vision that was in the Asian community
14:53in 2045 is what all Asian countries resonate. So in marginalised groups like we do have our neighbour country Singapore, they do not really resonate to this marginalised group per se.
15:08Maybe you want to add on Kai?
15:10What are your thoughts on the ASEAN community vision? Is there anything that you like or if you envision for the next two decades, what do you think should be maybe top two or top three priorities that ASEAN should consider in their sort of
15:22strategic direction for these 20 years?
15:25Yeah, so I believe hopefully you know the youth statement that we come up recently you know has been reviewed and has been taken into consideration because I believe the points that we've made in the youth statement covers a lot of what the current youth all around ASEAN are trying to push forwards.
15:46So if this statement, how you see it, if you know if we do not acknowledge the things that are mentioned in the youth statement that we tirelessly try to come up and ensure that it resonates to all the stakeholders that are you know going to read this, it shows how much attention that were given to you know the youth today in especially in ASEAN.
16:15and how much their voice actually matters because as you said this is the highest level of dialogues among youth in ASEAN.
16:24Yeah. I know we're talking about the next two decades how we want to plan for the future but I also want to reflect on the past what actually has been achieved or not achieved.
16:38Maybe we'll get Yuyun's thoughts on this. If you want to reflect on the past as you said planning for the next 20 years is a bit of a risk because in the past we've just had vision documents for 9 or 10 years.
16:53looking to what has been achieved or what hasn't been achieved with ASEAN. How does that resonate with you, Yuyun? What is your impression? What does the ASEAN identity even mean to you and what they've built for the past few decades? Yuyun?
17:12I saw ASEAN has changed from time to time. The change has been quite slow but it changed.
17:19because ASEAN now either ASEAN member states or ASEAN institutions gradually engage with people, with young people, with children, with communities.
17:31communities. So this needs to be improved. In the next 20 years whatever adopted now in the ASEAN vision 2045 still can be influenced and still can make impact to the life of the people in ASEAN region.
17:50but they, ASEAN member states and ASEAN as a regional institution should engage, consult and bring the young people's participation because each of us, young people, civil society, the marginalized group, the vulnerable groups, they have something in their mind.
18:12and so I'm sure within 20 years, the member states, the drafters will, would be very reluctant to set very rigid goals because context change from time to time.
18:31Yes.
18:32So that is why this creates a lot of opportunities to shape the methodology of doing the action and also to shape the impact and the outcome of the implementing the action agreed in the ASEAN vision 2045.
18:50But it required participation of people, people of ASEAN. It required the participation of young people.
18:59So this is the second, the second chance for civil society and young people and other groups and stakeholders to be able to contribute the views that was not adopted, that was not included because of the mechanism of decision making in ASEAN, such as consensus.
19:22So yeah, so now the document is already adopted. Now the question is about implementation. This is the space in which we can offer our views from whatever we expert on to the process of designing, implementing, also the monitoring and evaluating the action points included in ASEAN vision 2045.
19:50But yes, ASEAN has changed from time to time. Before it was too state-centric, but now still state-centric, but a little bit relaxed in terms of engaging their own citizens in the region.
20:08Natapon, what are your thoughts on this? Has there been better, stronger engagement with citizens, especially with young people?
20:15Natapon, what are your thoughts on this? Has there been better, stronger engagement with citizens, especially with young people?
20:17Yes, I would like to back to the first question where you asked me if I'm the first time joining the ASEAN community in dialogue. So this is my first dialogue ever. But then before that, I also joined three, four different programs.
20:34And I think that what I can see is that the collaboration is much more stronger this day. The thing that we can better this collaboration is that maybe not just only, you know, we kind of like get to know each other, but also what's next after that.
20:53After that, there are like some program that was trying to gather us together and then makes the project, for example, like ASEAN Foundation, where they have like the e-power event that gather all the youth to do the project together.
21:08But how can we really sustain it? That is still a challenge. And I think that what ASEAN can do is that it's also the same thing that I also envision. Not just only we have the National Thailand Youth Council, but why not we have like the ASEAN Youth Council?
21:26It is finally, you know, like, like arranged for all of the ASEAN youth and then we can create the platform that we can link those ASEAN youth together.
21:36You guys seem to agree. And, you know, everyone seems to be on the same note when you're talking about execution, about implementation, holding leaders to account about whether, you know, what they're promising actually becomes reality or not, and greater representation or inclusion of youth voices.
21:55Vishetra, what do you think about this aspect of actually executing some of these visions, these goals that they have? You know, at the end of the day, a lot of us just think it's rhetoric, right?
22:06It's all just maybe empty promises. Like, how do you want to make sure that this actually becomes reality? Like, how do you envision youth being or playing a more active role in there?
22:19So for us to have youths to play more proactive roles. So over here, in these past few days, we did only have like how about 80 to 100 delegates from all ASEAN countries. So we do not want youths to think that, okay, only these delegates are coming from the ASEAN countries who are actually responsible to play the role in like moving forward.
22:45You know, we want all the youths. So we want all the youths to know the opportunities there for you to come out and speak up and like to also bring up your actions towards it. So like you don't throw all the burdens to us, but instead work together with us.
23:00So like we said, like what MM said, having an Asian youth council would be actually really great. And to also add up on that, we also like would want Asian leaders to also ASEAN leaders, especially from all other countries where we can see, I'm actually very impressed where Thailand has the actually youngest prime minister among all ASEAN countries where she's only 38 and she's the only female.
23:27So we would want all ASEAN leaders who maybe provide the opportunity or give chances to the upcoming leaders to also bring this community vision a reality per se.
23:41I mean, as you said, the opportunity is there, right? You don't want other young people to look at you guys and feel like they're left out.
23:48It's just you guys that get to join these kind of dialogues, these forums. But I guess just to understand on a personal level, Kai, maybe you and among your friends, what is the ASEAN identity or the status to them?
24:05Does it actually mean anything to them? Is it meaningful or do they just think it's, you know, men in suits, talking about business deals once a year?
24:16What does it actually mean to young people, to your friends maybe?
24:19So, I'm going to like just briefly go through the local context when it comes to like Brunei youth views in ASEAN.
24:30So, especially, the thing is with Bruneians, since we are very well, what do you say, the culture of ASEAN, especially with Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, to an extent, Philippine and Thailand.
24:46And we can resonate some of the cultures of ASEAN. We, in accepting, and even like from our youth statement, we mentioned about cultural, cultural diversification, cultural diversification.
25:04So, when it comes to acceptance part, I think for Brunei youth, right, how they see ASEAN, they see this as a region that, you know, holds the pieces together.
25:16This region, this small region, who's trying their best to stand out into the global market.
25:23Yes. So, I guess I want to go back to actually when it comes to like voicing up, especially in a regional level, right, ASEAN level, where, you know,
25:36we wanted our youth to, you know, come to their respective council for their countries and voice out.
25:44But I think one of the main concerns when it comes to raising out youth, raising out their voices is,
25:51what is the current mechanism that is provided, what is the current policy that are currently protecting the youth
25:57to actually voice out their concern, you know, voice out what do they feel like the current issues that is very important to be tackled,
26:07not just in the grassroots level, but also like ASEAN as a whole.
26:12So, that is something that I believe that needs to be worked on if we are moving forward to the future.
26:20Yuyun, we're talking, oh yes, Natapon, you want to add something?
26:24Yes, I would like to add on that.
26:25So, usually when we go into the dialogue or like finish the summit, there would be the media, like summarizing all of the things, but in text.
26:37So, me working as a visual note taker, I committed to present this into something visualized, so that it could also go into other people more,
26:48especially for the young generation, where they would love to see something like, not just only the report,
26:56but, you know, something that they can also feel like they understand it deeply.
27:00So, I guess media will play a big role in this, and I think youth can also step up in this as well.
27:07Yeah, no, that's a great idea.
27:09Yuyun, we're talking about greater youth representation and what it actually means to young people.
27:15What do you think? I mean, we're talking about this shared cultural identity,
27:21but we must also recognize that there is a difference or we must distinguish between this Southeast Asian shared identity
27:28or an attempt to share a common identity, but we must distinguish that between, you know,
27:34the Southeast Asian region and ASEAN as ultimately a political economic bloc with political economic goals, right?
27:41Does that resonate with young people, Yuyun?
27:46I'm not young anymore.
27:49But I think the way ASEAN now, as a region, as a regional organization,
27:58what I, like Fichitra mentioned earlier, showing the young prime minister, female young prime minister,
28:05where we need to check the statistics, how many citizens, young people in ASEAN.
28:12Maybe we are young, the region which has young people more,
28:17so it can, we can say that ASEAN is supposed to be having the identity of being young
28:24because the population dominated by young people.
28:28But again, I do not know the statistics, but for Indonesia, we have a surplus of young people
28:34and therefore, there should be a different way of approaching this kind of situation.
28:42So, young people have been calling for engagement, participation, to be listened to their ideas,
28:53and young people also reflect innovation and digital, you know, because they are all digital savvy.
29:01So, it is very important to provide any approaches or mechanisms that link to this digitalization.
29:11Incubators for innovation, for instance, on the area of human rights,
29:17there should be human rights protection against technology-facilitated violence against both men and women.
29:25So, ASEAN needs to think about this because if the population majority are young people,
29:32then all approaches need to adjust to the young people's needs, interests, and also rights.
29:47So, you mentioned some really interesting points there about these pillars or these issues
29:58that matter a lot to young people, some of the same things that we're seeing in the community vision,
30:03you know, climate change, green economies, digital economies, more inclusivity and representation,
30:09and these are issues that tend to resonate and, you know, that young people are able to relate with
30:15or are more passionate about.
30:18But do you think that this is perhaps enough to foster greater unity among young people in ASEAN countries?
30:26Because when we're talking about ASEAN and at the highest level of negotiations and discussions with ASEAN leaders,
30:33there's this, you know, critical question or concern about unity, right?
30:38They're talking about the Myanmar crisis, the South China Sea dispute, the US-China trade wars,
30:44and, you know, trying to get unity across the board is, you know, it's not an easy task, it's difficult.
30:52But with young people, if we're going to envision the tomorrow, the future of ASEAN,
30:57what do you think it would take to unite youth in the region?
31:02Would it be these issues? Would it be a shared cultural identity?
31:07I mean, it's so diverse in ASEAN as well.
31:09I mean, perhaps that's our strength in diversity, right?
31:12But at the same time, it could probably make things a lot more complex as well.
31:17What do you think it would take to unite everyone?
31:20First, we should not miss understood unity with uniformity.
31:26because young people also reflect differences, different ideas, different identities,
31:33different background and culture.
31:35So we can be united on principle and maybe on issues.
31:41So far, my engagement with young people, they are passionate about right to work,
31:48decent work, decent work, education, innovation, digital, climate change.
31:56So these are the areas that capture a lot of attention and energy of young people.
32:04But we also see young people who are far away from all access to digitalization,
32:11those who are living maybe far from urban and so on and so forth.
32:15So the challenge is now is to recognize that young people like other community
32:23represent a different situation, different context,
32:28but they are commonly aware and concerned about environment.
32:36Because climate change may be a little bit smaller than environment,
32:42but so many young people take efforts, even without other adults ask them to do
32:50on the issue of environment.
32:53So this is one thing that may, in my observation, bring young people coming together.
33:01Another one is ability to express, whether it is opinion written or verbally.
33:09So these areas create a lot of unity in terms of interest among young people.
33:17I remember during the election in Indonesia, for instance,
33:22when one of the presidential candidates provided a space to speak,
33:28to be able to speak freely, critically on situation without being afraid of being arrested,
33:41that creates unity among young people.
33:44That they can, because their views, young people's views are quite different from the previous generation.
33:50And so this is the, and very often there are generation gaps between the current generation
34:00and the previous generation, and they create their own island.
34:04But the island they can express freely about what it is in the mind, what is in the heart,
34:12what they want to do it independently.
34:15So there are areas in which orthoped themes that bring young people coming together.
34:23But the key is the freedom to be able to speak and express their opinion
34:31is a key to all process of uniting young people.
34:40Yuyun, I guess you are right.
34:42You're not so young anymore because you are very wise.
34:44You're wise beyond your years.
34:45And I like what you said about diversity or unity does not necessarily equate uniformity.
34:52Nathapun, what are your thoughts on this?
34:54What do you think would take for the ASEAN youth to create more unity or foster more unity?
35:01I think we should continue doing the cultural exchange just like we already had and maybe more.
35:09But just like also you focus on it too that once we join all this program,
35:16how can we really not just only pick this to be just a limited number of participation,
35:22but also share what we learn to others as well?
35:27because there might be some constraints with the languages and also like maybe like the opportunities for them to join this kind of program.
35:36I guess like us, as a youth ASEAN, we like to share how it's like to collaborate with others and how we find this kind of thing.
35:49really make my friends who didn't join this program feel like, oh, so ASEAN youth, we can really harmonize each other.
35:59indeed like work together and I guess like motivation for others is that because just like I mentioned before,
36:10how can we really sustain this collaboration because there might be some different perspective in terms of like, for example,
36:17we would like to empower women, but it would be somehow hard to like those countries who are into, who are still yet in the masculinity culture.
36:28So yeah, there are some gaps that we have to kind of like touch down in this a little bit.
36:33And also another one is that since a lot of incubation program is involved with the startup, so that's why we can sustain this kind of thing.
36:43Maybe how can we really have the ASEAN marketize marketing in this as well?
36:50Yeah, that's what I thought.
36:51I just want to add something, you know, I mentioned about how we trying to bring it back, you know, to our country, especially like,
37:03something as this dialogue, right, what we having. I like this one quote, where we stated that we want to think globally, but act locally.
37:12So what it means is that, you know, for most of the delegates, not limited to justice dialogue, but even the past events and probably like the future exchange programs that's going to happen among ASEANs.
37:24How can we have this conversation with our ASEAN brothers and sisters who have a very different background, different ideologies from each country?
37:35Yeah.
37:36And then having that different perspective and in this context, a regional perspective from each of our countries and then going back to our own country and see where we can like fill in the gaps of where, you know, efforts that has to be made in the local context.
37:58So I believe this is something that needs to be worked on and needs to be practiced for, you know, future delegation of youth around ASEAN.
38:09Vichita, you have any thoughts on this? How to think global but act local? How do you imagine taking some of what you guys have discussed on a, you know, regional level, but trying to act locally and trying to sort of, I guess, share the good word of ASEAN amongst your peers and how it can relate or how it can resonate better with the local context?
38:32For us in Malaysia, okay. So for us in Malaysia, I feel like most youths actually like they do think that maybe ASEAN is just a political pathway. But then instead, there are certain of us youths, we do not want to like venture into politics per se.
38:50There are some like we can see like all of them have different, different talents and different, different thoughts on what kind of pathway they want to do. So for me, all youths should consider that we do have a youth council already in Malaysia, and I'm already a part of it. There's already so many joint bodies that we actually can join in. And then like to how to say to foster or to work together kind of thing.
39:16But then some of the youths, nowadays youths, we can say or maybe Gen Z youths, most of them will be like, okay, what do I gain through it? What is the token of appreciation that I'm going to get of it? What is the incentive that I'm going to get from it? So we ASEAN youths, like I think I can briefly say we actually don't, I mean, like we do not really expect incentives, tokens.
39:40For us, this is a really great experience where money actually couldn't buy. So once they actually join, then they would know. So we would want other youths to also feel that okay, this is not just a mere political way, but rather than a platform for you to also come and voice out what are your pain points or what do you want the leaders to do for you kind of thing.
40:07I want to just, oh, yes. Another one you want to add. Yeah.
40:11Yes. Yes. I also just think that like, because I also do a lot of trainings, but the training could not really go to everyone. Right.
40:22But every time that when we go to the conference or anything, they would always mention something related from the UN set up, the World Economic Forum set up.
40:31So, but why don't we just also include the ASEAN, you know, youth chart to be in that as well that like, okay, we, according to you guys in charge, we would like to aim this and that so that people would feel like, oh, they, they feel included more.
40:46So, um, just like in the European Union, my friends really attached with the European Union, just because it's all mentioned a lot of it in their daily life.
40:56For us, I think ASEAN should be really in the, um, like daily communication now so that we can act regionally and also proud about being ASEAN.
41:07ASEAN as well.
41:07A centre of reference, per se.
41:10Yeah.
41:10Yeah.
41:11Um, you, you, and your thoughts on this, when we're talking about greater ASEAN presence, it cannot come forced, right?
41:20It cannot be sort of a top down model.
41:22Um, if we're seeing or if we're trying to compare with the EU, perhaps it's more relatable to the everyday ordinary citizens because it relates to their transportation.
41:32it relates to their food, the food that they're buying in the supermarket is all being regulated by the EU.
41:38Um, their jobs, their jobs and policies and, um, laws surrounding their jobs are all protected or guarded by the EU.
41:47So, it does have a lot of effect on their everyday lives.
41:50But with ASEAN, trying to force that kind of a similar presence on the everyday folk is, is not the same, right?
41:58We have different mechanisms.
41:59So, do you, uh, agree, Yuyun, that we should have a similar level or degree of presence in our lives?
42:07And if so, what are some, uh, mechanisms for ASEAN to, um, I guess, inject itself, um, and become more present in our lives, especially for young people?
42:17I agree with Natapon just now.
42:21Uh, there is a huge gaps on how we can present ourselves, our thoughts, our opinion in the global discourse.
42:30uh, we continue to hear this is how European thing, this is how the African thing, this is how, uh, um, uh, North American thing, but we never come up with, this is how we think as ASEAN.
42:45And this is how we, how we, uh, perceive things.
42:49So, uh, it requires a lot of work from ASEAN side and ASEAN member states to instill this kind of, uh, uh, idea of identity, uh, and then contextualize.
43:04And, and, and people will be very proud of bringing, this is how we are.
43:09We are, yes, we are different, but, uh, this is how we are.
43:13This is how we do things.
43:15So, by presenting this, uh, hoping that there will be a different practices, but, uh, similar values and principles on number of, uh, like human rights, good governance, democracy, and so on and so forth.
43:30But the context and localization of ideas, uh, practices from Southeast Asia seems very, it seems missing.
43:42And again, uh, this is the work of ASEAN Foundation, the ASEAN, also the ASEAN social-cultural pillar, and ASEAN political security and economic pillar, the all pillars.
43:53They should be able to reach out to young people more and more because the current 20 years old young people becoming 40, uh, uh, young people, uh, in 20, 45.
44:07So, and those who are now 30 become 50.
44:11So, uh, this 20 years is long enough, uh, for ASEAN to be able to engage more young people and population in general to instill the idea of being proud of, uh, bringing our perception, our perspective, our position, our views, uh, on, uh, global issues or local issues.
44:39I, I, I agree with the, the earlier, uh, uh, opinions.
44:45Yeah, I mean, with what Natapon and you, you are saying about having greater, not just youth, but ASEAN youth specifically representation on a global level,
44:55that does mirror a lot actually with what's happening on the higher level with ASEAN leaders themselves.
45:01Um, you know, with ASEAN, there's much greater prominence now on the global international level with what's happening between US and China.
45:09Um, you know, there's a lot more focus, especially with international media and whatnot.
45:13If we're looking at WEF and Davos even, people are talking about ASEAN and what they are planning for the future, right?
45:21Um, we're, I think, collectively the fifth largest economy in the world, um, we've got great, uh, young population now, but when we're talking about being on an international level, um, talking about, you know, participating in international, um, official dialogues and forums like WEF or the United Nations, um, some are in support of that.
45:43And then we're also seeing another group of young people, people like, for example, Greta Thunberg, um, you know, becoming the face or icon of climate change for young people, right?
45:53She's sort of given up on WEF, on Geneva, on North America and saying that what's being discussed at these global, um, institutions or these forums are just rhetoric.
46:06It's just greenwashing.
46:08They're making empty promises, right?
46:10What are the risks of that if, say, these institutional dialogues and institutional organisations are making these promises to young people, saying they'll save the environment, they'll make sure you still have an earth to live on for the next, uh, few decades, but, you know, they're still using carbon, they're still burning forests.
46:31What is the risk of, I mean, that's just an example, we don't have to talk about the environment specifically, but what is the risk of, um, not excluding, of ignoring young voices on an international level?
46:45And what could the world be missing out on when they're not, or when they're excluding voices from ASEAN specifically?
46:53Like, for me, um, Thailand, um, Thailand, for me, Thailand is considered a young age, uh, young age country now, but, however, Malaysia and Singapore, we are moving towards aging nation at the moment.
47:08Why? Because economically, maybe our strength is not there yet, even though there's a lot of opportunities, per se, there's opportunities in various, various industries, but, um, having said that, um, currently, like, for us, the law has said only basic salary at $1,700, will the current youths are able to cope up with that?
47:31Because, like, for me, our parents did, say, 20 years back, for them, $900 ringgit as a salary, $1,000 as a salary, they're able to start a family, they're able to cope up with the economy, they're able to grow themselves.
47:45However, is it similar for us now? We can't say that, um, because of all these rising prices and rising prices of all the groceries, especially, for them to think, for me to start a family, it's not feasible.
47:59For me to bring up the country, even if I wanted to, it's not possible. For that, we definitely need, uh, we definitely need, uh, the young voices, which are currently left at the moment, young voices at the moment, to bring up all these kind of issues.
48:16and then, for, uh, to have all the leaders as well to accept, okay, we're having a problem here, it's not enough for us to maintain the economy, even though, um, if we want young, uh, young people to come out and voice out or to bring difference to the country.
48:32Like, for me, um, uh, our economy is, like, quite draining at the moment, even though, like, we do have a lot of digital economy, we have green economy, we have many, um, uh, many Silicon Valley companies who are, like, um, coming up in the Penang or Klang as well, but then, to survive or to just go through, I think, like, we still have a lot more to go.
49:00So, yeah, for you, it's, it's, it's an, it's more of an economic issue.
49:04For, for Kai, what do you think? I mean, going back to the question of how, um, you know, what, what the risks are of excluding, yeah, youth voices, or, I guess, what do the youth of ASEAN have to offer to the rest of the world, not just for this region, but, you know, if you're saying, hey, the world should listen to us, what, what do you have to offer?
49:24Yeah, um, so, going back to the local context of Brunei again, um, so, we are also facing,
49:30the same, um, issues of, you know, aging population, where, um, you know, uh, all the people, uh, all the generations have a longer lifespan, while younger generation are very inclined in, you know, uh, you know, birth rates and all that stuff.
49:46So, um, I think the question that I propose to leaders, when it comes to, like, focusing into, like, young people, um, like, for example, let's take a look into, like, the unemployment crisis that we're having.
50:01I, I believe it's an ASEAN issue, right?
50:03Yeah, it's an ASEAN problem.
50:04So, let's say, um, we are not giving an opportunity for youth to be in the workplace, to upskill themselves, to be a decision maker in their community.
50:16Are we building a future where, you know, a future where people are going to be incompetent?
50:23You know, if we're not investing, you know, our time and resources to the youth right now, for us to make decision, to make mistakes and all that, you know, give us the proper resources and time to further develop ourselves.
50:39Are we, are we just, like, um, you know, focusing on the now, you know, the current status quo and, you know, just weigh it all out and leave the youth who are going to be the next leader of the future, just to be how they are, like, right now.
50:59Um, Yuyun, if we can go back to what we discussed about having greater representation, not just in ASEAN, but on an international level, right?
51:09You agreed with Natapon about, um, being more included in these international dialogues, WEF and whatnot.
51:16What do you think the youths of ASEAN have to offer the world?
51:22What youth in Southeast Asia need to offer?
51:26I think Southeast Asia has a lot of greater Thurenberg, but they are not exposed by media enough.
51:36If they are exposed by media in Southeast Asia, they are not picked up by the international media.
51:42So media has been picked, can choose which one that they can present.
51:46Um, because I met with a young woman, well, young, uh, female, uh, from Bogor.
51:56She has been doing a lot on, uh, uh, reducing, uh, waste in her own village.
52:05And we saw a lot of young, uh, uh, people in Bali, uh, cleaning the, uh, cleaning the sea, for instance.
52:13So there's so many, uh, initiatives from young people in Southeast Asia.
52:20They are just covered by media.
52:23They are not enough getting attention from media.
52:26and these people that ASEAN need to listen because they are not only giving opinion views, but they are doing it.
52:35They are the doer.
52:36And they, they, uh, come up, they come up with ideas.
52:41They come up with opinion.
52:42They come up with a suggestion because they have been doing something.
52:45not because, you know, reading, uh, uh, uh, many research, uh, on situation.
52:52No, but they are working on it.
52:54They are doing, they're doing it.
52:56And they're working on, uh, small, uh, icon.
53:00Uh, well, this is, um, SMEs, uh, business, uh, on environment, on, um, um, using the startups.
53:11So they already come up with the wisdom, wisdom of the young people.
53:15Because very often young wisdom belong to the old people, but they are, because they are practitioners.
53:21They are actors.
53:22They are the doers.
53:23They come up with this insights and, uh, wisdom by themselves.
53:28And this is something that ASEAN need.
53:30This is something what the world needs to hear more because it's so many.
53:35I cannot come up with something very, uh, uh, um, tangible or, uh, straight to the point example.
53:42But in my capacity before as the IH representative of Indonesia, and now as the executive director of parliamentarian for human rights, I saw so many good practices, uh, in different countries in Southeast Asia.
53:58Asia.
53:59And I was amazed with how as young as their age, they already come up with this initiative.
54:05Uh, unlike when, when I was very young, it was, you know, we still very readings of many cartoon, but young people now been well-educated, well-informed and, uh, having more space compared with I was, uh, when, when I was younger.
54:25But, so again, this is something that we need to highlight more, uh, media need to support, uh, their work, need to support their initiative and ideas and present it as, uh, what you call it as Southeast Asian good practices.
54:43Yeah.
54:44Um, great thoughts there, but we are coming towards the end of today's show.
54:48I have about just a minute left.
54:49If I can just have everyone, um, think of, you know, have this as a speed fire round session.
54:54If you can just have a sentence or two from you guys, your wishlist for what you want to see from ASEAN.
55:00Um, and this shared future that we want together.
55:03Sure.
55:04Definitely.
55:05I would want more youth to be included in.
55:07I want more youth to be more involved in ASEAN and definitely I want more, how to say, more spotlights for ASEAN.
55:14Definitely.
55:15It should not be a one-time thing, only be, uh, only this week.
55:18Yeah.
55:19You want ASEAN to be there time to time.
55:20Yeah.
55:21So that everyone is refreshed towards, okay, ASEAN is there, there's ASEAN youth there, there's ASEAN member states there.
55:28Okay.
55:29And you?
55:30For me, like, I just wish in the future, uh, how we see ASEAN, it's not just a region, it's an identity.
55:36We really, you know, take the ASEAN value, not just, um, you know, it's not just an organisation.
55:43It's something that we practice into our day-to-day living.
55:47And Yuyun, for you?
55:49I want to see the establishment of ASEAN-wide youth innovation hubs and incubator programmes for young people in Southeast Asia.
56:01Um, I think we heard some of your main points there.
56:04Thank you so much, Nata Pon.
56:05Thank you, Yuyun.
56:06Hi, Bichitra.
56:07Thank you so much for joining us today on Dialogue Anak Muda to share your thoughts on ASEAN and what we want for the future together.
56:13Uh, that's all on Dialogue Anak Muda at this hour with me, Nailah Huda.
56:16We'll catch you in a second.
56:19Thank you.
56:20Thank you.
56:21Thank you.