Obama: do unto others, don’t discriminate

Tetamu khas Encik B. Hussein Obama anak Hussein,
anak pendatang beragama Kristian, melawat Masjid Negara

[Photo: Kwong Wah Yit Poh]

President Obama speaking to Asean youth on Sunday:

‘

So I think the key point for all of you, especially as young people, is… you should embrace your culture, you should be proud of who you are, your background, and you should appreciate the differences in language and food and how you worship God… is gonna be different. And those are things you should be proud of.

But it should not be a tool to look down on somebody else.

It shouldn’t be a reason to discriminate.

To the young: back the politics
of togetherness

President Obama in Cyberjaya on Sunday
[Photo: The Star]

And you have to make sure that you are speaking out against that in your daily life, and as you emerge as leaders, you should be on the side of politics that brings people together rather than drives them apart.

That is the most important thing for this generation. And part of the way to do that is to stand in other people’s shoes and see through their eyes.

Almost every religion has within it the basic principle that I as a Christian understand from the teachings of Jesus: do unto others as you’d have them do unto you. Treat people the way you wanna be treated.

And if you’re not doing that and if society is not respecting that basic principle, then we’re going backwards instead of going forward.

BARACK H. OBAMA
town hall with Asean youth
Kuala Lumpur
27 April 2014

-uppercaise