National Aspiration Leadership Symposium (NALS) 2017 Experience
2:11 AM
Yesterday, I attended an event that I had been wanting to attend since last year: NALS Symposium!
For those that do not know what NALS is, it is a national event that gathers youth leaders and prominent Malaysian leaders and public figures to have important discussions on various issues that are close to the heart of Malaysian youths. The summit consists of three parts: NALS Movement, NALS Symposium and NALS Networking. This year, they have expanded to include several other components as well under NALS Movement. In their own words:
"NALS Movement is a movement led by the NALS 2017 team to create awareness of NALS as to its importance to the public. This year, we are introducing several new components under the NALS Movement division, which are NALS Series, NALS Cares and NALS Awareness."
This year's the 5th instalment of NALS, which goes to show the growing demand of a suitable platform for intellectual discourse among youths. This year, PPMPA UKM offered the opportunity to be a delegate and I went for it immediately. I had nerves the night before the event because I knew I was going to learn a lot the next day, besides meeting lots of cool people!
On the day itself, each received a goodies bag and also a tag that indicated which cluster we were going to be in with the stickers on the tag.
On the day itself, each received a goodies bag and also a tag that indicated which cluster we were going to be in with the stickers on the tag.
Tentative of NALS2017.
UKM delegates!
As we were delegates, we were randomly assigned to clusters. I got different clusters from the ones that I preferred but it turned out well and were both very insightful sessions indeed!
The morning session started with Cluster A: The Potential of ASEAN Community. The speakers were Karim Raslan (aka Pak Karim), Syed Nabil Aljeffri (aka Mr Green 😂) and Jared. The moderator was really charming, moderating the session clearly for all to understand the flow and peppering the session with humour.
This session was interesting because each speaker contributed different points with their different expertise but with the same passion of building a stronger ASEAN.
Here are my key takeaways of the session (Long Section Alert⚠️️):
1. To know what ASEAN community is truly like, we have to go out and engage the community.
2. Pak Karim and Syed Nabil emphasised repeatedly throughout the session that the Vietnamese are a force to be reckoned with.
3. Malaysia is the best equipped culturally to accept changes due to our diversity and that could be a major advantage for us to be competitive. But if we remain in our comfort zone, we will fall behind as the others march ahead steadily.
4. Better coordination is required by the public sector and better buy-in is required by the private sector to harness the power of ASEAN.
5. Government to government (G2G) trade is easy to negotiate, but respect for people in certain nations are lacking.
6. Malaysia standing up for the Rohingya is a sign of breaking ASEAN's principle of non-interference, which is a good thing according to Jared because as neighbours we need to help each other out. The old ASEAN needs to be renewed as the roles of neighbours shift according to times.
7. In the era of ultranationalism (extreme nationalism that promotes the interest of one state or people above all others) especially post Trump's victory, ASEAN cannot be taken for granted. It may just fall apart anytime, and we should certainly learn from EU's mistakes.
8. What can we do as youths? We need to act more and have more exposure towards issues like these by joining or interning with relevant NGOs and companies such as SUHAKAM. Cross-community communication is also important to establish relationships with youths of the ASEAN community. Besides that, we may also have the power to make policy statements.
9. Complexity of a country needs to be taken into account before judging their policies, political climate etc.
10. "Make ASEAN your community".
There were several new terms and concepts learnt during the session and it really helped me understand the issues surrounding ASEAN better.
The morning session started with Cluster A: The Potential of ASEAN Community. The speakers were Karim Raslan (aka Pak Karim), Syed Nabil Aljeffri (aka Mr Green 😂) and Jared. The moderator was really charming, moderating the session clearly for all to understand the flow and peppering the session with humour.
The moderator.
Here are my key takeaways of the session (Long Section Alert⚠️️):
1. To know what ASEAN community is truly like, we have to go out and engage the community.
2. Pak Karim and Syed Nabil emphasised repeatedly throughout the session that the Vietnamese are a force to be reckoned with.
3. Malaysia is the best equipped culturally to accept changes due to our diversity and that could be a major advantage for us to be competitive. But if we remain in our comfort zone, we will fall behind as the others march ahead steadily.
4. Better coordination is required by the public sector and better buy-in is required by the private sector to harness the power of ASEAN.
5. Government to government (G2G) trade is easy to negotiate, but respect for people in certain nations are lacking.
6. Malaysia standing up for the Rohingya is a sign of breaking ASEAN's principle of non-interference, which is a good thing according to Jared because as neighbours we need to help each other out. The old ASEAN needs to be renewed as the roles of neighbours shift according to times.
7. In the era of ultranationalism (extreme nationalism that promotes the interest of one state or people above all others) especially post Trump's victory, ASEAN cannot be taken for granted. It may just fall apart anytime, and we should certainly learn from EU's mistakes.
8. What can we do as youths? We need to act more and have more exposure towards issues like these by joining or interning with relevant NGOs and companies such as SUHAKAM. Cross-community communication is also important to establish relationships with youths of the ASEAN community. Besides that, we may also have the power to make policy statements.
9. Complexity of a country needs to be taken into account before judging their policies, political climate etc.
10. "Make ASEAN your community".
There were several new terms and concepts learnt during the session and it really helped me understand the issues surrounding ASEAN better.
A picture with Mr Syed Nabil.
Receptive to youth's ideas and extremely humble!
After lunch, the evening session ensued. Ours was Cluster I: Road To Financial Stability: Your Money or Your Life". A paper was given to us with two pages upon entering the hall.
The speakers were Warren Mak (ex-Bursa) , Redza Minhat from Bank Negara Malaysia (omigod I just knew that he's also an actor!!) and Nirmala from AKPK. The moderator was Syazwan, a Perdana Fellow Alumni.
This session was pretty fun contrary to my perception. It is true when the speakers emphasised continuous learning especially when it comes to financial planning. I even spotted Nirmala jotting down notes on stage!
Here are my key takeaways of the session (Long Section Alert⚠️️):
1. A few decades later, the retirement age may be increased to 65-70. To retire early we need to manage our money wisely.
2. We need to not only emphasise on making more money, but also on saving more. Saving takes less effort than making money.
3. The formula: maximise returns + manage money well + the right attitude and behaviour towards money + continuous learning = financial success
4. Learn to invest and trade. If there is no money to invest, invest in yourself to make yourself better. "Investment in knowledge is the best interest".
5. Avoid investment scams that sound too good to be true ie fixed percentage of returns for a certain period of time. Always search online to find out more.
6. Tip to invest and also to avoid scams: look at the intrinsic value of the investments.
7. When taking a loan, one must ask the question "why are you taking the loan". Is it a productive loan ie giving returns or is it an unproductive loan? (At this point the speakers talked about marriage loans and argued playfully over whether it is an asset or liability 😂) Nirmala gave a wonderful tip: we have to get the records right first to know our financial standing before purchasing the right product accordingly. Many of us experience "love at first sight" with the product/service before thinking of the financial consequences of purchase which is dangerous (as dangerous as falling blindly in love).
8. Forex is volatile and difficult to do fundamental analyses.
A picture with Mr Warren.
Experienced and willing to share a lot of tips with us!
After that, the closing speech was delivered by YB KJ. I must admit that seeing him talk in person, his energy and passion are infectious! The questions that the youths asked him and the suggestions given were extremely well thought out and I could not have been prouder of the people of my generation, albeit the perception that our generation sucks. I was almost reduced to tears when they played the TN50 video, saved by Cheng Wei asking me are you crying 😂.
YB KJ and TN50.
My main takeaway from NALS2017?
It is time for us to act now.
One of them is to be actively involved in TN50. TN50 is one of the initiatives that can propel our ideas forward. Similar to 2020, it will be a plan that is made up of our ideas. Regardless of the conspiracy of gaining political mileage etc, I personally feel this is a great idea to finally collect the voices of youths and transform them to build a greater Malaysia. No more complaining, only constructive and mature criticism and suggestions. To contribute, feel free to click here and here to learn more.
Another is to be actively involved in volunteerism and be an advocate of human rights. Jared is right. We need to be proactive in seeking these experiences. If it's not us advocating for the rights of others, then who will?
Besides that, I would like to commend NALS for taking the initiative to set up an intellectual discourse platform like this. Many can benefit from it, and it certainly is refreshing to have mature discussions like these. The committee certainly did a great job in organizing this wonderful event for it to be successful from the start until the end!
Thank you PPMPA UKM and NALS for the opportunity. Hopefully I can make it to the next one!
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