Amitabh Bachchan to motivate youth with his story

Bachchan would be one of the luminaries who would be telling their personal stories to 6,000 youths from the region at the inaugural Youth Engagement Summit (YES 2009), a two day event that begins on Nov 16.

Other prominent speakers in the forum would include founder of Live Aid, Bob Geldof, chess legend Garry Kasparov, Andes plane crash survivor Nando Parrado.

The speakers from a host of fields have been called to motivate the young participants from seven Asian countries, aged between 15 and 25 years. Youth from Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei are expected to attend the event.

Hotelier and the founder of no-frills airline AirAsia Tony Fernandes will also expected to speak about the challenges he overcame to become one of Malaysia's best-known business tycoon.

The event, themed "South East Asia Youth for Change", a first-of-its-kind in Asia and is to help youth realise their potential. Organising chairman Harmandar Singh said the event was primarily about youths coming together to express their aspirations and dreams for a better future and was inspired by the "Yes We Can" motto given by US President Barrack Obama.

"His 'change' theme has truly inspired us to do this. Some of the speakers in this summit have not spoken in Asia before and this will be the first time they will get to share their wisdom with Asia," he said yesterday adding that he planned to make the summit an annual event.

Youth Asia executive director and co-organiser of the event, Khailee Ng, said participants will stay connected online even after the summit to support initiatives taken by the meeting.

Ng said those unable to attend the summit can participate in an online youth survey to produce a "Sea for Change Youth Report". "There will also be a forum on personal change. Some people want to know how they can begin talking to their siblings again or making their lives better. "Others want changes in the environment and politics," he said.