BILL CLINTON STRESSES ON POLITICS OF HOPE AS THE WAY FORWARD

NILAI (Malaysia), Nov 13 (Bernama) -- Former US President Bill Clinton
Friday called government and political leaders to focus more on the politics of
hope rather than the politics of grievances if they want to see a better and
more peaceful world in the future.

He said it was more important for them to keep the good things moving
forward and work towards greater shared prosperity and cooperation for their
people.

He made these remarks in response to a question from a student of INTI
International University here on how to attain greater world peace, during a
question-and-answer session after delivering a talk on youth leadership and
civic engagement, here.

The talk, which lasted 40 minutes, was attended by more than 1,000 students
from the university as well as business leaders and government officials.

INTI International University is part of the Laureate International
Universities of which Clinton is the honorary chancellor.

Also present at the function were Tan Yew Sing, Founder and CEO of INTI
Education Group, and Graham Doxey, CEO Malaysia of Laureate International
Universities.



Clinton also spoke about the William J. Clinton Foundation that he founded
after leaving the White House in January 2001 and its work in bringing together
global leaders, university students and private citizens to identify and
implement innovative solutions for the world's most pressing challenges,
including poverty alleviation, climate change, global health, and education.

Clinton said it was important to empower change for the better and avoid the
absence of possibility for the people.

Saying that it would be quite impossible to see a world without any problems
at all, he added that it was more pragmatic to tackle those that could be solved
first.

Similarly, he said, it was important for one to look at issues that could be
resolved and not harp on things that could not be done.

As such, he lauded the work done by non-governmental organisation (NGOs) in
helping governments "fill the gaps", citing the role played by NGOs in disaster
relief work around the world.



Clinton said that those blessed with education and knowledge should play an
active role in NGOs and reach out to help others, adding that there were still
millions of people who did not have access to proper education to empower change
or had to live in poverty at incomes of less than US$2 a day.

The former US president also urged the students to make full use of the
knowledge that could be derived from the Internet as opposed to the times in the
past when one had to spend a lot of time to acquire knowledge.

He also said that advances in technology also enabled people to respond to
charitable causes in a more efficient manner where money could be transferred
with a few clicks on the mobile phone.

Clinton, who is still respectfully referred to as "Mr President", also
commended the Malaysian government's initiative on green technology and said
that although investments in this direction may seem expensive initially, they
would pay off in the long run.

The 42nd US President, who is a strong supporter of the US soccer team, also
took an opportunity to promote the US bid for the FIFA 2020 World Cup Finals.

"It's the only country where you can get all the stadiums filled up for all
games," he said. The US last hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1994.

-- BERNAMA



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