#kerajaangagal44 – Greatest disappointment in the National Youth Day today is the absence of reference to Ain Husniza’s case in Muhyiddin’s message, with assurance of change of school culture and environment to make education safe for everyone

The greatest disappointment in the National Youth Day today is the absence of reference to Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam’s case in the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s message, with assurance of change of school culture and environment to make education safe for everyone

I find it most shocking that there are plans afoot to expel Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam from her school, SMK Puncak Alam. If this is allowed, it would be to the infamy and ignominy of the Education Minister, Radzi Jidin and the Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin.

Can Malaysia nurture a Greta Thunberg?

Thunberg is a 18-year-old Swedish environmental activist who is internationally known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.

In August 2018, at age 15, she started spending her school days outside the Swedish Parliament to call for stronger action on climate change by holding up a sign reading Skolstrejk för klimatet (School strike for climate).

Soon other students engaged in similar protests in their own communities. Together they organised a school climate strike movement under the name Fridays for Future.

After Thunberg addressed the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference, student strikes took place every week somewhere in the world. In 2019, there were multiple coordinated multi-city protests involving over a million students each.

She received numerous honours and awards, including an honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, inclusion in Time’s 100 most influential people, being the youngest Time Person of the Year, inclusion in the Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women (2019), and three consecutive nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize (2019–2021).

Would Greta Thunberg survive under the Malaysian education system?

President Joe Biden of the United States has just appointed 18-year-old climate change activist Jerome Foster II, to be a member of his White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, a move which the media has hailed as ”From protestor to climate policy maker”.

On today’s National Youth Day, the government should give Malaysian youths not only more voice, but more influence and power in public policy formulation and implementation.