One young man asked him to confront Najib Razak, the prime
minister of Malaysia ,
with allegations of corruption
and lack of press freedom when the two meet face to face in the days
ahead.
“I’ll do it,” Mr. Obama told the young man, “I admit I was
going to do it anyway, but now that I hear it from you, I’m definitely going to
do it.”
Mr. Najib, who has had a friendly relationship with Mr.
Obama and even played golf with him once in Hawaii , has been under investigation
by the United States Justice Department for corruption, and the wealth
fund he runs is under investigation around the world.
“The United
States has to have some humility because
there have been times when we did the wrong thing,” Mr. Obama said. But he
added: “I do believe there are basic values that we all share. One of those values
is that countries work best when everybody has a voice that can be respected,
and the press can report on what is happening with current affairs and people
can organize peacefully.”
Mr. Obama had advice for the young people in the audience,
some of whom were members of the White House’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders
Initiative, which has brought 55,000 young people together in the region to
confront global issues.
He urged them to take on climate change, saying, “This has
to be one of our highest priorities.” And for those going into politics, he
pressed them not to allow racial, ethnic or religious difference to dominate
the conversation.
“When you start doing that, it’s very easy for people to
start thinking that whoever’s not part of my group is somehow less than me,” he
said. “That’s how violence happens. That’s how discrimination happens.”
One young man he called on said that other questioners had
focused on “high issues” and that he wanted to go low.
“How low are you going to go?” a somewhat alarmed president
asked.
The young man started off by noting Mr. Obama’s “very
senior” time in life.
“That’s pretty low,” Mr. Obama said, laughing.
“Sorry, president,” the young man said.
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