Lawless System Breeds Lawless Culture – Raja Nazrin
(Bernama) — In propagating a culture of peace, there is a need to uphold the rule of law and respecting institutions established through and in accordance with the law, said Raja Muda Perak Raja Dr Nazrin Shah.
He said the law governed our interactions with one another and with the state.
"A lawless system breeds a lawless culture, which in turn, suggests lawless governance and lawless governments.
"The law is a fundamental building block of any nation. In Malaysia, primacy of the law is upheld as one of the pillars in the Rukun Negara, just as it is held as paramount by most progressive countries," he said in his speech titled 'Youth for World Peace' at the International Conference of Youth on Terrorism here today.
Raja Nazrin said peaceful and harmonious co-existence among the people of a nation and the world, could not prevail under a state of lawlessness.
Thus, this should be the ninth essential area needed in propagating a culture of peace, besides the other eight action areas of the internationally-agreed framework that is in place, which provides an agenda for all youth to work towards, he said.
The eight action areas are education (specifically that promotes peaceful conflict resolution, dialogue, consensus-building and non-violence), economic and social development, respect for human rights, gender equality and democratic participation.
The remaining three areas of the programme involve advancing understanding, tolerance and solidarity; supporting participatory communication and free flow of information and knowledge; and promoting international peace and security.
"The youth of the world may or may not be in a position to influence these outcomes directly, but they do have the ability to participate, via their educational institutions and through civil society organisations.
"Their ability to affect outcomes through conscientiousness can bring about significant changes, not only as youth but also as they proceed into adulthood," he said.
Raja Nazrin said that it was easy to be pessimistic about the possibility of a world, free from war and terrorism; however, the renewed impetus that many national and international bodies are giving to this problem is heartening.
"No headway can be made against political or sectarian extremism, unless a committed stance for peace and against violence is declared.
"Young people have the ability to contribute in this regard, by rejecting any and every link with people and organisations promoting violence. The effort to end the indiscriminate taking of lives may not be easy but it could occur within one generation if the youth of today are firm in their conviction," he said.
Raja Nazrin also said that the true challenge was for statesmen and policymakers to give the young a role and a stake in the process of nation-building and the creation of a just international order.
"This is the challenge that the young who will inherit the world, throws to the old. The latter must consider this seriously, if they wish to fully discharge their responsibilities in passing on a better world to the former," he added.
He said the world's great leaders were never shackled to the past, they always looked far ahead into the future with renewed confidence and optimism, and thus, the young ought to emulate such leaders as we build the future in this not-so-new 21st century.
