An afternoon with Obama

I had the privilege to be a part of the town hall event with President Barack Obama at Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus last Friday.

While there are many comments on the relevance of the event, the quality of questions asked by the fellows of Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), as well as my own cynicism that as a politician, President Obama would give us what we want to hear, I can’t help but feel inspired.

Being an attendee of the event, I have to admit that President Obama exudes charisma, wit, and amicability. Most of all, I agree with him on the need for us all to treat everyone with kindness and respect.

I really hope that he would be a man of his words on this and stop the drone attacks on Afghanistan, and channel more funds into education, access to health, and eradication of poverty instead of the military before he leaves office.

At the event, President Obama admits his flaws and mistakes, and while he is aware of the issues plaguing the Southeast Asia region, the world and the US itself, he admits that he is but one man to tackle all these on his own. He mentioned that he would like to leave us young persons with some work to do.

It's not every day I get to the human side of leaders. I had that chance last Friday, and it humbles me.

The biggest takeaway point I took from the town hall meeting and my YSEALI experience is this: the future of Asean, and the world, lies with every single person who is willing to make a change.

I have written about our feudalistic mentality before, and I need to reiterate that even meeting President Obama in the flesh would not solve any issues we have in Malaysia.

Only we, Malaysians, can be the change we sought. We must also not want instant gratification, nor only leave troll-like comments on how the town hall or his whole visit is a charade, without taking action to better ourselves to have the Malaysia, and the Asean we want.

Is the real reason President Obama is here over the weekend, causing massive traffic jams in the city centre to the inconvenience of everyday Malaysians, to ensure that our prime minister signs the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal?

Yes.

He was honest about it, even mentioned it in his opening speech. He believes that this will be a good trade agreement to the benefit of all, albeit with the need for some sacrifices.

There are parties who are in support of TPP and those who are against it. Yet, the best way to debate this issue is not to hold protests to the president’s visit, but to pressure our own government to be transparent, improve their governance of the country and to effectively communicate the projected economical impact of the deal (or any issues for that matter) to the lay people.

Having economic experts arguing online would only do little. If we want to hurt the policy makers and the signatories of such deals, we have to do so with our votes. But we must do so backed by knowledge and empowered choices.

I guess, as a humble rakyat, I myself forget sometimes that I am living in a democracy.

I had wished to question President Obama on the hypocrisy of the trade deal: if it is really meant to be competitive, then why protect patents for longer and discouraging generics from entering the market?

If it is meant to be transparent, then why was the negotiations done in secrecy and only six months before the supposed signing of the deal, all 6,000 pages of it is released online?

Thankfully, this question was raised by a fellow Malaysian and President Obama answered diplomatically. The full transcript of the town hall, including this conversation, can be found here.

I am grateful to be a part of YSEALI. I would like to extend my gratitude to President Obama for coming up with the initiative and for dedicating some of his time to meet all of us and take on questions in an open discourse.

Further, thank you, President Obama for leaving me, and fellow alumni, with a lot of work left to do.

As a YSEALI alumna, I am given the tools and resources, as well as the network not only in Southeast Asia, but also with fellows under the US State Department from all over the world. I could not have asked for more, and I can only aspire to share and hope to empower others.

In his speech at the YSEALI summit, Richard Stengel stated that politics, diplomacy, and international relations would no longer be between governments in the 21st century, but between the people.

It is with the people that we can truly see the impact of this association. We must all join in the discourse, and be the change we want. – November 25, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.