- 5/30/2025
Conversations with the Youth at UOW Malaysia – where nothing was off-limits.
In a world that often tells young people to stay quiet, this open dialogue session proved just how powerful their voices can be. From personal stories of resilience to hard-hitting discussions on societal issues, the participants did not hold back.
They spoke about bullying, mental health, discrimination, and the challenges of growing up in today's world. They opened up about their experiences, their struggles, and their hopes for a more understanding society. More importantly, they shared their stories not just to be heard, but to help others feel less alone.
Too often, these conversations are brushed aside—but here, we made space for them. Because real change begins with listening, learning, and empathizing.
Watch, reflect, and share—because these voices matter.
🔗 Watch now & join the conversation in the comments!
#YouthVoices #SpeakUp #ConversationsThatMatter #BullyingAwareness #MentalHealthMatters #EmpathyInAction #UOWMalaysia #SinarDaily
In a world that often tells young people to stay quiet, this open dialogue session proved just how powerful their voices can be. From personal stories of resilience to hard-hitting discussions on societal issues, the participants did not hold back.
They spoke about bullying, mental health, discrimination, and the challenges of growing up in today's world. They opened up about their experiences, their struggles, and their hopes for a more understanding society. More importantly, they shared their stories not just to be heard, but to help others feel less alone.
Too often, these conversations are brushed aside—but here, we made space for them. Because real change begins with listening, learning, and empathizing.
Watch, reflect, and share—because these voices matter.
🔗 Watch now & join the conversation in the comments!
#YouthVoices #SpeakUp #ConversationsThatMatter #BullyingAwareness #MentalHealthMatters #EmpathyInAction #UOWMalaysia #SinarDaily
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello everyone, thank you for being here today for taking your time to watch our documentary
00:09Conversations with Youth, a documentary by Sina Daily in a collaboration with WITCOM and ARJA Films.
00:16So this documentary was made to spark a raw conversation and have a honest conversation
00:23among Gen Z's who are like raw conversations across generations and giving us a glimpse of hope, struggles and aspirations on Gen Z
00:33on what they're having in their life, the mental health, what they should be talking now in today's world.
00:39You know how you get something mentioned in the documentary earlier, we are constantly bombarded with so much news
00:45that even without realising it because we're so desensitised to it now like it's so normal but you're actually getting information at such a rapid pace
00:52about literally everything, your relationships lah, your hobbies or whatever
00:56and it comes to a point that we are getting so much information that you just feel like
01:01oh I can't do anything about it because like suddenly there's so much.
01:04So when it comes to like politics and like bad stuff happening in the world, economy is crashing,
01:09people are, rape is getting, not legal but no one is doing anything about it.
01:13Here in other countries, even the UK, it's stuff like that where you just see constant bad news,
01:18it's Palestine and whatnot right, you just feel like I can't do anything about this.
01:22What am I supposed to do like that kind of thing like whatever small changes I make,
01:26is it actually going to make a difference and it's such, I know it's such a bad mindset,
01:29but at the same time, your mental health gets worse because you're actually feeling like shit,
01:34you're like oh god, the world is actually like so effed up right?
01:38So then you just stop feeling and then you want to like oh okay, ignorance is bliss,
01:42so let's not think about it, that kind of thing.
01:44So it's very bad but I feel like that is, I'm not saying it's correct or like people should do it,
01:49but I feel like that is what a good chunk of people are like, myself included, which is bad.
01:54I know I have to fix it but it is very, to care about social things, it's very hard
01:59because you need to be a bit stronger, like if you're very easily affected by bad news,
02:06it's very hard to try to make a change, I think.
02:11As an audience ourselves, we also have to learn to avoid ourselves from these hot topics,
02:17not like avoid ourselves from hot topics but try not to be, how to say,
02:25like write bad comments or everything and if we really have that opinion or whatsoever,
02:32if they, for example, we see people doing things and that is, and I don't agree, I disagree,
02:41I say and they don't listen, that's it, that's their problem, I say what I say and that's it.
02:46So I don't think it's really that toxic and audience ourselves, we have to learn to filter what we want
02:55and the alcohol, everything, we can control what we want, so I don't think it's really that toxic that bad for me.
03:03They think that Indians only can do anything but then Chinese also can do.
03:07The thing is that I used to be smarter during my secondary school time but the Chinese people used to get jealous,
03:12so sometimes they talk in Chinese, I know what they're talking about me, so sometimes I have to avoid it.
03:18that's the only thing I can do, so yeah, that's the thing.
03:22Because a few months back, my own mum, I'm doing this for my mum actually, so yeah,
03:28my own mum received date threats and also from, I don't know if I can say this, by Indian politicians as well.
03:37I don't know if you all heard about this Mandibunga issue.
03:40Yeah, that's my mum actually, Ibu Olivia is my mum.
03:44So these Indian politicians, they just didn't know about anything.
03:49They didn't like come and investigate or do anything but it actually made our business really bad.
03:56They were like everywhere we go, even I couldn't even come to college because you know my fellow students
04:01was like recognizing me, is it your mum?
04:04And just because it was like about her business, people on social media actually created like a false nude pictures of me and my siblings
04:18until the hit got so worse that they can't even travel abroad now.
04:23Like my mum is just so down and she even asked me this thing like, is it okay if I, if I, um, is it okay if I...
04:34You know this girl passed away, Aisha, this girl passed away, yeah, it happened during that time.
04:39So my mum asked me, is it okay, will they say that I am correct if I only commit suicide?
04:45And I, it felt so, you know, because yeah, because social media is extremely toxic.
04:51You know, my photos came out in telegram and Instagram.
04:56I couldn't post pictures of it.
04:58And yeah, I, I think the racism doesn't only come from other religions.
05:04I think it also comes from our own Indian people because they just, politicians especially,
05:09because they only want fame and they don't investigate about nothing.
05:13And I, you can actually Google to see this.
05:16You know, mandibunga, con people about this.
05:19Yeah, Indian politicians speaking about my mum very badly calling her a con woman on TV.
05:24So yeah, I think it is extremely toxic.
05:27And I hope people really, you know, when you see something online, you just cannot trust it.
05:32And you know, you cannot just go and comment shit on people.
05:35So I still have all these bad, bad screenshots that made us, you know, like sleepless, we couldn't eat and all these things.
05:43So I just hope like when you all see something online, don't just like it, don't just share it through social media without actually investigating it.
05:52Because, because of it, I'm still having this anxiety and all to like, you know, come out in public.
05:58So yeah, that's it. Thank you.
06:00Thank you for inviting me to give some comments on this.
06:07There's a lot of things that were covered in that documentary just now.
06:11But if I may, I would like to touch upon two things.
06:15One is about the comparison of personality and characteristics of people from different generations.
06:23As you can see, I'm not from your generation.
06:26I'm not a boomer.
06:28I am.
06:29I was born in the late seventies, so I should be Gen X.
06:33Right.
06:34Okay.
06:35So one of the things that people like me growing up is when it comes to school and also when we're studying in universities,
06:40we definitely, I would say people who are a bit more tough when it comes to handling negative feedback.
06:49You know, I grew up in a time in schools where public caning was still allowed.
06:54Teachers would, you know, slap you in the face in front of everyone, things like that.
07:00So, and then when I studied in universities, you know, I had professors who would throw away the papers, your assignment on the floor
07:07and calling it trash and things like that.
07:10So nowadays, when you have people or teachers, professors over here also doing something like that or saying something like that,
07:16you guys would react.
07:17And I often, as the department head over here, I have to mediate.
07:22As some of you will recall in some cases.
07:24So my worry at times when it comes to, or my role trying to, of course, we don't want things like this to continue.
07:32If there are better ways to do things, if you can be kind, be kind.
07:36But my worry is this, when we try to be overly kind or too kind to you, you are not prepared to face the real world.
07:45As in, you know, taking a negative criticism and, you know, very tough kind of comments from your superiors, from your colleagues in the future.
07:54So that is my concern in terms of trying to balance between, you know, trying to be kind and, you know, generous when it comes to our comments.
08:05But also in terms of preparing for you for the real world.
08:09So that's one issue.
08:10The other one is, and this is a favourite issue of mine, something that we have discussed for many, many decades.
08:16About, satu sekolah untuk semua.
08:19One school for all.
08:22In the ideal universe, yes, we would want Malaysia to have only one school system.
08:27And to be fair, our government leaders in the past, as recent as in the 1990s,
08:33have mooted the idea of having one school system.
08:37To the point of trying to create a system where one school premise can have co-existence of multiple school streams.
08:47So this was the concept called Skola Hawawasan.
08:50Which did not take off.
08:52Why?
08:53Because amongst our people in our society, there are hardliners who always want to maintain the status quo.
09:00Chinese schools, religious schools and so on.
09:03So that remains a stumbling block even until today.
09:06But what worries me more if I can share this, if you don't mind me explaining something more in terms of my concern about now and also in the future.
09:15What becomes more of a challenge when it comes to education in Malaysia today is no longer about segregation in terms of ethnic groups.
09:23It's now a class society, class differences between those who are rich and poor.
09:32Right?
09:33And it's not just between the Malays and the Chinese.
09:36It's not just within the Malays society.
09:39It includes also the Chinese society.
09:41The Chinese people, those who are a bit more from the middle class and so on, you would send your kids still to Chinese school.
09:48But those who are in the upper class and above, now the trend is amongst the upper class in urban areas, especially sending your kids to private schools, international schools and so on.
10:00So that creates another layer of the problem when it comes to segregation over here in Malaysia.
10:05So obviously this is an issue that cannot be solved or discussed in just one sitting like this.
10:12But what I can say is all of us need to play a role to listen to different opinions as much as possible.
10:19You know, I hear a lot of opinions just now in the video and also during the conversation over here just now about a certain point of view about this and that.
10:27But I can tell you you also have another layer in the problems that we have in differences of opinion in society along ideological lines between conservatives and also liberals over here in Malaysia.
10:40So that is another layer of issue that we have.
10:44So what we need to do is to open up, to acknowledge that there are differences of opinion first and foremost, and then to open our own mind to discuss in a civil way.
10:55Because ultimately, if I may touch upon a feature that we have in social psychology, how you create a United Society is for you to focus on superordinate goals,
11:08which is common goals that you have within the nation, within the diversity that you have amongst the people.
11:14And I think we have enough in common for us to pursue these superordinate national goals that hopefully, as what was said just now during the documentary,
11:23and also during the comment discussion just now.
11:27Hopefully, when your generation takes up the mantle of leadership of this country, things can move forward faster and better.
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