Friday, May 20, 2011

Mushamir's First Post as the Writer of OYW

 
My name is Mushamir. Some people call me Amir, or Mir, which I tend to fondly remember it as the word “Peace” in Russian. I am a writer for the One Young World Youth IMPACT Report. Our team consists of the fabled trio – Michael Teoh, youth evangelist and winner of the OYW Conference the previous year, Jonathan Chu, editor-in-chief who, along with Bernie, the designer, made possible the extraordinary Youth Report 2010, where world-changing and influential characters had received this report that compiled Malaysian Youths thoughts and what matters most to them.
 
The second edition of this extra-ordinary report, to enhance and surpass the first report, will compile major youth figures in Malaysia, their projects, and a  roll-call of the 100 most impact-ful youth projects here, today and tomorrow, for youths, by the youths.
But challenges do face us, and I shall speak from my side.

I will begin first by reading what I have read before, a passage from the book “A Warrior of Light” by the author of The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho; 

Sometimes the Warrior feels as if he were leading two lives at once.
In one of them he is obliged to do all the things he does not want to do and to fight for ideas in which he does not believe. But there is another life, and he discovers it in his dreams, in his reading, and in his encounters with people who share his ideas.
The Warrior allows his two lives to draw near. “There is a bridge that links what I do with what I would like to do,” he thinks. Slowly, his dreams take over his everyday life, and then he realises that he is ready for the thing he always wanted.
Then all that is needed is a little daring, and his two lives become one.
(Warrior of the Light, Paolo Coelho, pg. 90)


This passage precisely reflects my daily life back then, and what I thought was a lie of a life. As a youth who had just graduated from International School of Kuala Lumpur to Nottingham University, it was a radical change, as with all of us when we have to move. Assignments, exams, managing my own study and leisure time, managing my own life without parents or teachers – it all bombarded on me. 

But I learnt how to be more responsible, and more controlling of my time – time management. No one can successfully balance their busy lives if their time management is bad and if their priorities are not straightened out. Of course I have not yet fully mastered this practice, but being in the OYW Team, it has made me learn out more than I could ever imagine. 

Right now we are trying hard to get selected youth respondents to answer to our questionnaires and other questions so that we can start writing articles about them and their projects, as well as compiling all their youth projects that they are currently, or has, gone through.

I wish the best of luck for us OYW Youth IMPACT Report in getting this through successfully, to get Malaysia, and her people, to the forefront of knowledge and to serve as a catalyst for a positive change

Saturday, May 14, 2011

In Pixels : One Young World 2010

One Young World 'Our Future Says' Journey
One Young World 'Our Future Says' Journey
One Young World 'Our Future Says' Journey
One Young World 'Our Future Says' Journey

To those who have made our One Young World ‘Our Future Says’ 2010 Journey beautiful and memorable, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

And that’s why we’re working hard here, pushing beyond our limitations for the follow up report for 2011 : One Young World ‘Impact’ Report.

You, young people, youth leaders, Malaysia, are our inspiration. Don’t ever stop being awesome.

One Young World ‘Our Future Says’ Report

One Young World 'Our Future Says' Report

Featuring 50 youth leaders and the voices of more than 36,000 young people, One Young World ‘Our Future Says’ Report was launched in the global summit One Young World. It has garnered the support of many leaders, such as Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, CEO of Virginia Airlines Richard Branson, Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus, just to name a few.

In this report, youth leaders shared about their views of Malaysia, what they need and how this country can grow…
“I want to see the leaders of the country nurture successors without ego and self-centeredness.” – Elaine Loo, President of Human Capital Enhancement (HCE)
“They (the government, corporations and NGO organizations) should recognize the power that youths possess. Youths are often mistaken as overgrown children, but in reality, they have strong determination to succeed, given that the various existing organizations around the world give them chance to shine and prove that they are capable of becoming anything. “ – Clive Einstein Naga, President of Students in Free Entreprise (SIFE), student of University Malaya

“Accept that fresh ideas may not be necessarily correct, but can be a basis of improving traditional methods.” – Christopher Tock, President of Young Corporate Malaysians, student of Imperial College, London

“The experience of the older generation is key to youths. More sharing sessions should be given.” – Beh Ee Ling, President of Toastmasters International

“Give [us] the proper exposure, show [us] the way to get things done, guide [us[ and give [us] the proper medium…” – Clive Einstein Naga, President of Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), student of University Malaya
Those were some of the many gems in One Young World ‘Our Future Says’ Report.

Prime Minister of Malaysia receiving the report from One Young World Delegate, Michael Teoh, in 2010

Because of the success and hype this report has created, it even made it to CNN and Malaysia’s homegrown 8tv quickie. This report was produced by Michael Teoh, Jonathan Chu and Bernadette Quah.

But that was 2010. And as what Black Eye Peas sang, this report is “so two thousand and late” because for 2011, this report is going a notch higher.

Click here to read about One Young World “Impact” Report 2011.

One Young World ‘Impact’ Report 2011

Brief Introduction

In 2010, the team focused on gathering the collective voice of Malaysian youths and featured the thoughts of Malaysia’s many dynamic youth leaders in the One Young World ‘Our Future Says’ Report.

Come 2011 and the team felt that it was time to step up and raise a higher bar for the report. After hours of brainstorming and bouncing off ideas with each other, the team experienced what we call a moment of eureka! They found out how the next report can be improved!

Appearance with the Mentors of One Young World

The Birth of One Young World ‘Impact’ Report 2011

One Young World ‘Impact’ Report will feature youth leaders and showcase 100 youth projects and commentaries from Malaysian Industry Leaders concerning the participation of young people in tackling pressing issues and creating positive impact in their respective communities.

It will be presented to 1,000 youths from 192 countries in Zurich, Switzerland this year, witnessed by global NGO leaders and key figures in this summit is called One Young World 2011.

Kofi Annan with the Malaysia One Young World 'Our Future Says' Report

Through this report, the team hopes to empower the youths, starting with the young leaders at One Young World to realize their ideas and solutions for their communities, by learning from what our youths in Malaysia have done, through various mediums like social media platforms, to organizing campaigns, to managing a group of volunteers to meeting and getting support from the authorities – all those skills which would be needed for a youth leader to lead campaigns and movements.

Presenting the Voices of the One Young World 'Our Future Says' Report to Tun Abdullah

For more information about this report, do contact Michael Teoh, One Young World Ambassador at michaelteoh87@gmail.com or Jonathan Chu, Editor-in-Chief and Project Leader of One Young World ‘Impact’ Report at jonnychu89@gmail.com

Featuring 100 Youth Projects

CEO of MSC Malaysia with OYW Youth Report

For this upcoming One Young World ‘Impact’ Report, we will be featuring 100 youth projects. As much as we would love to feature more, but space is limited.

Now, in order to feature 100 youth projects, we would love to invite you to come fill up this form that we’ve prepared for you.

You must be thinking – why, eh? Now, here’s why :
  • We will highlight your project as part of our writing for this report this year. We want to show the world, our government and corporations about what Malaysian youths are capable of doing, that they’re not “all talk no action” as many would like to believe. That we, with all our energy and aspirations, are already starting to change our nation bit by bit.
  • This report will be translated to 3 languages (Bahasa Malaysia, English and Chinese) and will be distributed to universities, colleges, government ministries and agencies and businesses across Malaysia.
  • This report will also be given to big people such as : CEO of Virginia Airlines Richard Branson, Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus, just to name a few.
  • SOME say this is FREE Publicity and a RECOGNITION channel for the industry to KNOW What you and your team have done to address issues, done by the youths for the youths. 

    Muhd Yunus grabs a copy of One Young World 'Our Future Says' Report

    So what you need to do?

    Simple. Just fill up this form (click here : One Young World ‘Impact’ Report Form) and feed us with as much info as possible about the projects you have participated/involved/led.

    Next, send us high resolution pictures to Jonathan Chu (Editor-in-Chief & Project Leader) at jonnychu89@gmail.com or Michael Teoh (One Young World Ambassador 2011) at michaelteoh87@gmail.com so that we can put your beautiful, handsome, gorgeous faces in the report!

    Last but very importantly, spread this form to as many people as possible. It does not matter if its from a High School, a College, a University or our Youths on the Streets. Any campaigns, movements or projects that address a social issue - WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

    Alternatively, you can also share this link in Facebook or Twitter.

    Once you’ve done the above, just drop us a note or comment here. We want to personally thank you for being part of this very exciting project! Your project is worth talking about and listening to.

    We look forward to have you onboard with us in creating this report that wll showcase the best talents and skills of our homegrown Malaysian young people!

    Thanks!

    One Young World ‘Impact’ Report Team