Closing Speech at Dialogue Session with Secretary General of the Commonwealth 19 August 2016 at Commonwealth House Kuala Lumpur

Mr Jufitri Joha
VICE PRESIDENT OF MALAYSIAN YOUTH COUNCIL
Kuala Lumpur

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.,
A very good evening to everyone,


1. Her Excellency Rt Honourable Baroness Patricia Scotland QC
Secretary General of Commonwealth

2. Dato’ Seri SK Devamany
Deputy Minister in Prime Minister Department

3. Honourable Deodat Maharaj
Deputy Secretary General of Commonwealth

4. Datuk Feisol
President of Royal Commonwealth Society Malaysia

5. Kishva Ambiga
Chairperson Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC)

6. Ms. Bernice
Chairman of Royal Commonwealth Society Malaysia

6. Mr. Ahmad Saparudin Yusup
Secretary General of Malaysia Youth Council (MYC)

I would like to extend our special gratitude and special thanks to Commonwealth Youth Council (CYC) for initiating such wonderful program this evening. It is indeed a great exposure for our youth in Malaysia. A special thanks of course goes to Her Excellency Baroness Scotland and Deputy Secretary General Mr Deodat Maharaj for making your precious time here. Thank you Her Excellency for being here with us today despite your tight schedule in Malaysia attended CAPAM Conference and meeting with Commonwealth and Malaysian Leaders.

I also would like to convey warm regards from Malaysian Youth Council’s President, Mr. Mua’amar Ghadafi and leaders to all of you here.


1. Congratulations to Commonwealth Youth Council leaders, and to Kishva. We are proud of your achievement as CYC’s Chairperson. Of course, with the support of our government, assistance of your team here and the Royal Commonwealth Society Malaysia make it possible for Malaysia to house CYC Secretariat here. We welcome collaboration between CYC and MYC and looking forward on how to bring it to a greater height. Definitely we will be a strong supporter for CYC especially this term as the CYC Secretariat will be operating from Malaysia.

2. If we have a bit of detour, Malaysia has housed the secretariat of Asian Youth Council, World Assembly of Youth in Melaka, Committee of ASEAN Youth Cooperation, to name a few. This relates and leads to the establishment of International Youth Centre in Kuala Lumpur. It is important to note that this establishment of CYC Secretariat in Malaysia can enrich the effort to engage with young people, and at the same time demonstrate the Malaysian skills and talent in organisation management. Likewise it may strengthen the platform of engagement with young people towards attaining Sustainable development goals.

3. Coming to talk about Sustainable Development goals, MYC has work on numerous initiatives to ensure the youth are aware about the importance of attaining SDG. Currently MYC working closely with various Ngo in Malaysia to become check and balance to the Government in monitoring the smoothness implementation of SDG in Malaysia. In fact we create specific bureau under MBM for this tenure to deal with this important agenda.

4. MYC has been actively involved with Commonwealth Secretariat programmes, such as the country consultation for youth policy back in 2011, the previous Commonwealth Youth Caucus, and quite recently in the Asian Regional Youth Minister Meeting 2015, Youth Leadership Programme in London. We have also have our representative attended the International Parliamentary Conference Sustainable Development Goal Conference organised by Commonwealth Parliamentary Organisation UK to understand better the parliamentary advocating approach to SDG. Currently we did involve in establishing Malaysia National Federation of Youth Worker and become an active affiliate of Commonwealth Alliance of Youth Worker.

5. Malaysian youth amounted to 45.8% of the nation population. Their involvement in society is limitless, as we see a gradual increase to 72.13 in the Malaysian Youth Index score for 2015. Through the support and platform created by youth, we might be surprised by the unrecorded number of young people involvement for the betterment of our society. Thus, we at MYC are hopeful that this effort to empower youth is continuous, so it will not break the chain of change and progress.

With that, I thank you.

Thank you.