Kota Kinabalu: Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Dr Johari Abdul urged Sabah youths to become the driving force behind the State’s transformation, calling on them to rise above complacency and take charge of their personal and collective future.
“You are responsible for your future, not the Government, not your parents, not luck,” he said during the “Kupi-Kupi Dulu Bah Kita Sama Speaker” programme, here, Friday.
Speaking to 40 students from Unitar College Kota Kinabalu, Johari shared three important principles which shaped him into who he is today – dream, courage and knowledge.
“Having a dream shapes your future, and every student should have a clear dream of who they want to become,” he said.
He stressed that neither parents nor leaders can help an individual paint a dream; the dream must be actualised by the individual themselves. Having a dream alone is not enough, but it is the foundational step towards achieving a goal.
The second principle is courage. Johari defined courage as the force that moves a person from negative to positive, from laziness to diligence and from blaming others to correcting oneself. He reminded the students that life offers continuous second chances, and that failure is not the be-all and end-all in one’s journey.
“Dreams remain dreams without action, so courage is needed to pursue them. With 24 hours in a day, failing in one hour does not doom the rest. You will always have the next hour to improve,” he said.
Finally, Johari stressed that knowledge – the third principle – is crucial in order to survive in today’s world. With the availability of knowledge at their fingertips, it is no longer an excuse for the youths to remain ignorant.
“A person may have dreams and courage, but without knowledge they will ‘go nowhere’,” he warned.
He hopes his humble beginnings and the challenges he faced would become a source of motivation and inspiration for the students to rise as leaders of Sabah and to guide the State into a promising future.
“Sabah has enormous potential but needs its youth to dream and act boldly.
“Dream big, be brave, seek knowledge and transform your family, your community and your State,” he said.
Also present were Puan Sri Noraini Mohamad and National Information Dissemination Centre (Nadi) MCMC Department Chief Dr Arif Adenan.
