Malaysia’s parliament has eyes on lead role in Asean inter-parliamentary assembly

The Star

Malaysia will be hosting the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (Aipa) in two years time and the work starts now with Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul having ambitious plans to address climate change, energy transition and food security issues.   WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00 Big things are happening. We just can't wait and see what happens.

00:05 No, you've got to move now.

00:07 Prepare now, prepare now, think now, react now.

00:10 When you assume that position as a chairman,

00:25 where are we taking IPAR 2?

00:29 We will continue a good job done by previous chairmanship.

00:34 But nevertheless, certain issues have to be emphasised.

00:37 For example, issues on climate change.

00:40 Even Malaysia has a policy done now that by 2050,

00:46 we will introduce renewable energy.

00:49 We can talk to all other ASEAN nations to follow us.

00:54 Try to do away with coal-burning substances to produce power.

00:59 Then we can share if we have excess energy.

01:03 For example, Malaysia can be a power broker.

01:06 And we can be a powerhouse that can be shared with Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, especially Indonesia.

01:12 Since they are moving from Jakarta to Nusantara, they need a lot of energy.

01:16 And issue number two, which I think is very important, is food security.

01:21 Since some countries do have labour and land, some have money and technology,

01:27 so why don't we combine these three capabilities together?

01:30 And we can sit down and talk about it.

01:32 Suddenly when you have COVID, then suddenly we are caught unprepared.

01:35 If we have a stockpile, probably the price will not increase dramatically.

01:40 But we can share this among member countries.

01:43 Or if the war between Russia and Ukraine erupts,

01:48 and suddenly it gives negative impact to the whole world,

01:51 grains and fertiliser, if we have food security taken care of,

01:57 then at least we have a buffer that would take us out of danger for a while.

02:02 As the world was saying that the 19th century is the English century,

02:15 and the 20th is American now, 21st is Asian.

02:18 China is going to be dominant soon.

02:21 Then how do we, ASEAN, the 670 million people in ASEAN,

02:27 take advantage of that situation?

02:30 As a leader in 2025, we say, "Look here, this is where we're going."

02:35 So we can convince our member states.

02:38 We've got to introduce each and everyone of us.

02:41 I must know what the Vietnamese are thinking.

02:44 I must know how the Indonesian are thinking.

02:47 I must know what the Thai are thinking.

02:49 There must be a lot of exchange between members of parliament.

02:52 There must be a lot of dialogue. There must be a lot of seminars.

02:55 There must be a lot of meetings.

02:57 Because these are a group of leaders.

02:59 Leaders must understand what the other leaders are doing on the other side.

03:04 Universities, you must move.

03:06 And university students are our future leaders.

03:09 So the thinking process must be right.

03:11 I would suggest the university by now, before we become chair,

03:16 to have an exchange programme among ourselves,

03:20 in preparation of what is coming.

03:22 So there must be a lot of activities, not only parliament.

03:25 This is, to me, things that immediately can be done.

03:29 You don't have to wait until 2025 to come.

03:32 The whole entire set up, including universities,

03:35 and Malaysian population at large,

03:38 has to be in full gear towards this.

03:41 We should be thinking as ASEAN.

03:43 Like you are sitting in the Strait of Malacca,

03:46 and seeing a big, big, giant ship passing through your eyes.

03:50 You're not excited about it.

03:54 And that ship will pass us.

03:57 [Music]

04:01 [Music]

04:05 [Music]

04:08 (bell chimes)

04:10 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended