Call to reject politics of hate

(Bernama) — The Raja Muda of Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah, wants youths to reject the politics of hate and accept only civilised democratic practices.

Such practices, he said, should be based on respect and regard for one another whereby, one should be able to disagree without wishing ill-will on those they disagreed with.

“We should be able to voice a different opinion without being insulted or threatened with humiliation.

“We should attempt to bring others to our point of view, not through coercion but by the force of our arguments and the justness of our cause.

“Have the courage to change your views if you come into conflict with the facts, instead of trying to tailor the facts to suit your beliefs.

“Always keep an ounce of humility with you.

“No matter how many degrees you earn, knowledge is no one’s monopoly.

“The world has no shortage of knowledge but it could always do with more understanding,” he told an audience of youths at the Sixth Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad Lecture Series here yesterday.

Raja Nazrin’s lecture, titled “The Role of Youths in Forging a Prosperous Malaysia”, was held at Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten).

He noted with sadness that today’s society had become excessively politicised and polarised.

There no longer seemed to be any restrictions as to what Malaysians were prepared to say or do, he said.

“Whereas before, we had an unwritten code of civility, some of the things that are said and done in the name of democracy today, go far beyond common decency,” observed the Raja Muda.

“It is only when we look beyond ourselves and beyond our individual communities that we are prepared to make national-level sacrifices and attain things that are of national significance,” he said, adding that youths represented valuable future human capital which the nation needed.

He reminded people that the integral fundamentals of our prosperity lay in honesty, integrity, empathy, openness, tolerance and loyalty of future leaders.