Non-critical questions thrown at US president Barack Obama by participants of yesterday dialogue session at Universiti Malaya (UM) reflected poorly on the quality of young leaders in the Asean region, said a student leader.

UM student representative council secretary Fahmi Zainol (right), who attended the hour-long Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative Town Hall, said he was disappointed upon hearing “too simple” questions, saying many of the answers could have been found in the visiting leader’s biography.

“There was even one participant who asked what happiness meant to the president, while no one touched on high-pressured issues such as human rights and the TPPA (Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement),” he told Malaysiakini today.

Fahmi, who was one of the students who held up anti-Egyptian coup posters and placards that read “No TPPA” yesterday during the Town Hall session, said they were, however, not given chance to pose their questions.

As Obama touched on discrimination of non-Muslims in Malaysia and diversity in the Asean region, Fahmi claimed, the president pointed at placards depicting the word ‘No’ but deliberately avoided the word ‘TPPA’.

“What I can say is that he (Obama) is still a politician who is good at manipulating issues... he knows how to skip sensitive topics,” said Fahmi.

Young elected reps get no chance, too

Besides his group, Fahmi said, some other Malaysian young elected representatives like PKR’s Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah and Seri Setia assemblyperson Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad got no chance to pose questions as well.

“I believe if we were to ask questions, Obama has to explain the TPPA content on the spot,” stressed Fahmi, adding that it was the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur and Wisma Putra who invited the participants.

Asked if the questions were selected earlier, Fahmi said he believed that Obama is a democratic leader who randomly picked questions, just that the attendees somehow “missed the golden chance for critical questions”.

On the protest staged, Fahmi said they were prepared to face disciplinary action by the university.

He said university vice-chancellor Professor Dr Mohd Amin Jalaludin, who was present, appeared to be angry and even snapped photos of the protest from the stage.

“I think the university will take action against us after a meeting within these few days,” he said, adding that Dr Mohd Amin warned him not to speak to the media two days before the arrival of Obama.

Sharing similar sentiments with Fahmi, master’s degree student Jasmine Sia, who attended the session, said some participants were treating Obama like a celebrity instead of a world leader.

“Most of the questions were of little consequence - an indication of the sort of priorities our youth have,” said the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia student.

“If this is the state of our nation’s young leadership, our education system is due for an overhaul. None of the questions were current affairs-related,” she added.

Meanwhile, diplomatic and administrative officer Syed Nizamuddin Syed Kassim, who first praised Obama for mentioning a range of topics, complained that some attendees were not prepared to ask hard questions.

“Impolite and improper in our psyche perhaps. There are people who wanted to ask on security, defence and human rights issues, but they were not picked.

“It could have been planted. But then again, probably just bad luck,” he said.