Thursday November 12, 2009
Going global
LONDON LOG
By CHOI TUCK WO
RAKAN Muda has gone international, spreading its wings in Indonesia and now Britain with the aim of exposing Malaysian students to international welfare programmes.
For a start, Malaysian youths may get the opportunity to work alongside their Commonwealth counterparts in empowering young people to enhance their contributions to development. Through such engagements, they can help to develop the youths’ potential, creativity and skills as productive members of society and participate fully at every level of decision-making. And Rakan Muda is also looking at possible collaborations with Oxfam – Britain’s leading charity to fight global poverty - the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and other charities.
Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek, however, made it clear that the Malaysians were there to learn about the intrinsic values of volunteer and humanitarian work. “They can then understand how to manage and cope with traumatised victims of major disasters,” he said when launching Britain’s Rakan Muda International Outreach Programme in London’s Malaysia Hall recently.
The minister later presented a RM50,000 mock cheque to Malaysian Students Department director Ahmad Nazri Sulaiman to kick start the programme.
A 10-member protem committee representing Malaysian students in universities across Britain has been formed to brainstorm ideas and identify the charities to be involved. The students are from universities including the London School of Economics, University College London, Imperial College, University of East London, Surrey University, University of Manchester and Southampton University.
So far, Rakan Muda units have been set up in Bandung, Indonesia, and there are plans to expand to Egypt, Australia and the United States in a move to enhance Malaysia’s image abroad. For instance, the Bandung Rakan Muda members would assist Tasik Malaya earthquake victims, as well as carry out social work in the local community.
While in London, Shabery also met up with Commonwealth Secretariat’s director and head of youth affairs Dr Fatiha Serour to discuss co-operation between Rakan Muda and its members. The talks included possible Commonwealth youth programmes and activities that the Malaysian students could be involved in.
Nazri said he would call for a meeting with the Rakan Muda pro-tem committee by the end of this month or early next month to appoint the office bearers and plan out the activities. “We will also meet Dr Fatiha to come up with the programme’s outline for Rakan Muda members,” he said, adding such co-operation involved both the Youth and Sports and Higher Education ministries.
Plans are also afoot to set up a Support Group for Malaysian Olympians in the British capital as part of the build up towards the 2012 London Olympic Games. There are also suggestions of sending Malaysian athletes to the University of Bath, famed as a sports science centre, for training in preparation for the games and other major international sports events.
Source:
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