For all of you 4E readers who can’t get enough of foreign affairs, government and interesting people (so… everyone), Lecture Fund is having their first event tomorrow night featuring Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak! Prime Minister Razak is here to discuss topics focused on the future of Asia, including international security and Malaysia’s position as the 2015 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chairman.
Clearly, this will be a stellar event that is sure to provoke much discussion. But let’s look a little more closely at Prime Minister Razak, because there’s a lot you might not know about him — especially if you’ve been brainwashed by Mugatu. From what we hear/hope, no one is plotting to kill the prime minister of Malaysia at this event.
Anyway, here are the many faces of the real Razak. The prime minister attended the University of Nottingham in England, getting his bachelor’s degree in industrial economics.
He became the Malaysian Deputy Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Post when he was just 25 years old.
He has also been Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Minister of Education and Minister of Defense.
As Minister of Defense, he worked to provide relief after the tsunami that affected the Indian Ocean region in 2004.
When he was Minister of Finance, he pushed through several stimulus packages in the 2008 financial emergency that affected many countries.
In 2004, he became Deputy Prime Minister.
In 2008, he announced the 1Malaysia campaign, a movement meant to inspire Malaysian unity and a more efficient government.
The eight values of 1Malaysia are perseverance, loyalty, a culture of excellence, education, acceptance, meritocracy, integrity and humility.
On April 3, 2009, he became Prime Minister. Fun fact: Razak likes to Power Point.
His main goals upon entering office were to find solutions for the Malaysian economic problems and to push for political reform.
Within one day of being Prime Minister, he removed bans on newspapers from the opposition, and released several people from prison under the criticized Internal Security Act. He’s also quite a card.
He has met with President Obama once, in 2010, when they discussed nuclear weapon proliferation and global security.
If you’re interested in seeing Prime Minister Razak speak, doors will open in Gaston Hall at 4:30 and close at 5:30 tomorrow. After his speech there will be a conversation with Marc Mealy of the US-ASEAN Business Council, as well as a Q&A with audience members.
Definitely check out the event, and bring your Magnum/a yo-yo in case you need to save the prime minister of Malaysia. We don’t want to have to write a eugoogoly.