Obama at YSEALI event

President Obama addresses young leaders from Asean countries in a town hall style event.

UPDATED

KUALA LUMPUR: United States President Barack Obama arrived at University of Malaya at 4pm to deliver his maiden speech at the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) event.

The town hall style event is attended by around 100 young leaders from Asean countries , an initiative launched by Obama last December.

It is expected that after his speech, students’ will have the opportunity to ask him questions, opinions and views.

This will give the US president the opportunity to have a better understanding of the younger generation from the region.

The programme is part of the US president’s three-day state visit to Malaysia, starting yesterday.

In his speech Obama mentioned that he’s fascinated with the “Malaysia Boleh’ slogan, perhaps contemplating to emulate to be ‘Yes, America Can’.

“In life, I was thinking to help other people and this has made me till this higher level.

“If you think smaller, you will achieve small things only, but if you think big, you will certainly achieve big in your life,” wisdom words from Obama responding to a question posed by a young participant in the event.

He also reinforced the importance of having the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) stating it will give more transparency and accountability.

He added that TPPA will certainly give labour, environmental and intellectual property protections.

There were group of students, during his Q&A session, suddenly stood up and hold  anti-TPPA placards in the hall. Within seconds the US secret service came into action and took away the placards.

Obama spent nearly an hour and15 minutes with the crowd addressing some questions and ended the event by meeting some of the participants before leaving the UM hall.