The Rukunegara or Rukun Negara (in Bahasa Malaysia, as “National Principles”) is the Malaysian declaration of national philosophy instituted by royal proclamation on Merdeka Day, 1970, in reaction to serious racial riots known as the ‘May 13 Incident’ which occurred in 1969 in Malaya, centred mainly in Kuala Lumpur. – Wikipedia
The incident illustrated the glaring lack of unity and tolerance at that time among Malaysians, with racial issues thrust into the limelight.
Although there were suspicions that May 13 was ‘politically motivated or instigated’ the tragic loss of lives which resulted from the tragedy necessitated reforms in the government policies and administration.
Immediately thereafter, the Malaysian government sought ways to foster unity among the various races in Malaysia.
One of the vehicles used to encourage unity was the Rukunegara.
The Rukunegara principles were formulated through the efforts of the National Consultative Council (Majlis Perundingan Negara or Mapen), headed then by our second prime minister, the late Tun Abdul Razak.
The main objective of the Rukunegara was to create and instil harmony and unity among the various ethnic communities in Malaysia.
It comprises five guiding principles namely,
- Belief in God
- Loyalty to King and Country
- Upholding the Constitution
- Rule of Law
- Good Behaviour and Morality
I will not spend time to define each of these principles as they are self-explanatory and simple enough to be understood by anyone with some basic education as school children had been taught to recite them repeatedly and regularly.
However, recitation and preaching are meaningless if these principles were not put into practice, especially by our ‘role-models’ in the Leadership of Government.
The 1MDB scandal was an example ‘par excellence’ of our Rukunegara ‘gone awry’ for those implicated, directly or indirectly – from the top echelons in government to the lowest rank of people involved.
May we also take this opportunity to remind our leaders, especially those representing us in Parliament and the State Assembly of their solemn oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution, among others, including serving the people, “to the best of my ability at all times”.
“So help me God”.
By definition, an oath is a solemn promise, often invoking a divine witness, regarding one’s future action or behaviour.
We do not know exactly how God-fearing our leaders are but it appears that many are more fearful of being poor after retirement to have amassed enough wealth during their term in office to last beyond their lifetime, while impoverishing and depriving the rakyat in the process.
How they could amass so much wealth is beyond our imagination, or conscience as we were taught in school that God-fearing people “are guided to differentiate between right and wrong in what they do” and “heavy is the head which wears the crown”.
Of course there are the more religious ones among us too but their overzealous efforts appear to divide rather than unite the country and its people.
Therein lies the dire need to strike a balance as this is the underlying objective of our Rukunegara.
A kopitiam uncle mentioned that those implicated in the 1MDB scandal or other scandals were probably guided, or misguided by a different set of principles which he translated as,
- Belief in Greed
- Loyalty to Self and Cronies
- Usurping the Constitution
- Rule by Different Laws
- Crook Behaviour and Low Morality
While it is not a crime to be rich through ‘an honest day’s work’, it is criminal and sinful to acquire wealth through oppression and suppression of the poor and downtrodden through blatant exploitation and abuses of one’s power and position.
While justice – earthly or divine – will sooner or later serve its course, may we take these as painful lessons learnt and not see them repeated, for the sake of our country’s future and the future of our people.
Of course it is easier said than done but one good way to start the ball rolling is to revisit our National Principles – upon whose values the very foundations of our country and leadership were built.
Perhaps we should strive to put race and religion in the storeroom and start the overhauling of our education system by reintroducing civics and moral instruction as compulsory subjects.
In this boundary-less and borderless era, knowledge and information are easily accessed and acquired but universal values and time-tested principles still need to be inculcated as our national philosophy to guide our future leaders in the right direction.
Wholesome education, rather than religious indoctrination is an important step towards this end.
The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Likewise, the proof of our Rukunegara is in its application, especially in the daily lives of our leaders, as the Chinese saying Shang liang bu zheng, xia liang wai goes – literally translated as “If the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked”.
The leaders of our country holds its fate and destiny in their hands and by their examples.
Let this be the spark to ignite the brightness of a new era for our people and country.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
