Four issues today that would disappoint Razak

KUALA LUMPUR: If former prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein was still around today, he would undoubtedly be disappointed with four issues in the country.

They are the state of the country’s unity, education, economy and integrity, said Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah.

Speaking at the launch of Fulfilling a Legacy, a book on the second prime minister, Sultan Nazrin said the initial pages of the book touched on the nation’s unity and Razak’s insight on unity where he said: “The future of this country depends on one important thing, that is on the unity of our people of various races.”

The ruler said the current state of affairs on unity went against what Razak espoused.

This, he said, could be seen in the way political parties had grown increasingly fond of igniting sensational issues involving race and religion to gain support.

On education, Sultan Nazrin said the National Education Policy as contained in the Razak Report underscored the importance of the role played by schools to foster national unity.

“However, today’s implementation of the policy has failed to meet the goals of schools to serve as a platform to unite citizens.

“The younger generation today, who go through various school streams, will not have the opportunity to interact with each other. Instead, they end up growing separately.”

On economy, the Perak ruler said issues such as misappropriation of opportunities for wealth distribution leading to massive leakage of the Bumiputera economy not only provoked misconceptions that the New Economy Policy was discriminatory towards non-Bumiputeras, but had also outraged Bumiputeras.

On corruption and integrity, Sultan Nazrin said: Tun’s heart will surely break over the arrests of the corrupted, those who are of high positions and highly educated, caught with massive amounts... They have ruined the country’s reputation.”