By Ahmed Wafi
GOMBAK, 28 January 2017: Minister of Youth and Sports, Brigadier-General Khairy Jamaluddin yesterday stood in front of over 2,000 newly-intake students at the IIUM Cultural Activity Centre (CAC) to deliver an inspirational speech fuelled by a vision for the country to achieve the National Transformation (TN50) vision by 2050.
Believing that education is the way to success, the Minister called on the students to develop their mindsets and challenge themselves intellectually to work towards achieving the vision.
He told the students that he believed in education as a means to achieve success, quoting Mark Twain, “Don’t let your schooling get in the way of your education.”
Khairy said, “Education is not limited to lectures and schooling alone,” adding that, “TN50 is in no way a distraction for the problems of today.”
The 41-year-old Cabinet Minister, who is also the mentor minister for IIUM, had begun his speech by welcoming the new students to the university and reminding them to enjoy their time in campus as these are some of the best days of their life.
In his speech, Khairy applauded Malaysia’s fight for humanitarian causes and also credited IIUM for its participation in the fight for Islam and humanity. He reminded the students that the National Transformation (TN50) is something that “we, as a nation must be looking forward to achieve”.
He also acknowledged that the country is facing a lot of problems today and these problems will still be relevant in 2020 and will continue to be relevant.
“Just because you can solve the problems of today does not mean you will be equipped to solve the problems of tomorrow,” the Minister added.
Khairy also stated that “TN50 is a vision we share together” and is currently in the process of seeking ideas and identifying the interests of the youth to create further goals to be part of TN50.
He said one of the main goals of TN50 as highlighted by Prime Minister, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Razak, was to be among top 20 nations by 2050.
Khairy believed that Malaysians will have to develop their mindset if they are going to make this vision a reality.
He said, “We need to ensure that we have the right values and the right mindset to achieve the goal of becoming among top 20 nations by 2050.”
“Physical development is easy but developing the mindset of the people would be the difficult part,” he added.
Khairy urged the students to become the best that they can be, saying, “if you’re a lawyer, be the best one out there”, and “if you’re a surgeon be the best surgeon”, similar to Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous ‘street sweeper’ speech.
The Minister was greeted by a roar of applause from the students when he strode into the hall dressed in an immaculate blue baju Melayu accompanied by IIUM’s President, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim, IIUM Rector, Prof. Dato’ Sri Zaleha Kamaruddin, and Deputy Rector (Student Affairs), Prof. Datuk Dr. Mizan Hitam.
Earlier, IIUM President, Tan Sri Dr. Rais Yatim, delivered a brief speech encouraging the students to contribute more for the ummah citing Khairy Jamaluddin’s success as a motivation for the youth “to work harder for the nation and ultimately, the Muslim ummah”.
Later that day, the new intake of students performed their oath-taking in a ceremony before they begin their first day of classes on Monday.***