Leaders must fulfil trust placed on them – Sultan Nazrin
KUALA LUMPUR: The Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah yesterday reminded the country’s leaders that they have been entrusted to protect the nation and citizens and as such they must fulfil the trust.
He said the new government formed after the 14th general election should carry out their responsibilities with honesty and integrity in line with the move to replace the phrase “I who obey orders” (“Saya yang menurut perintah”) to “I who carry out the trust” (“Saya yang menjalankan amanah”) in the official government letters.
"Religious scholars are convinced that religion will not be upheld, the world will not prosper without the presence of leaders who are trustworthy.
“A nation is influenced by the nature of its leader, that even Islamic sociologist Ibn Khaldun emphasised that the characteristics of a nation depend on the qualities of the leader."
Sultan Nazrin, who is also University of Malaya (UM) chancellor said this at the university’s 58th convocation ceremony at Dewan Tunku Cancelor yesterday.
He said trust is the key factor that can develop a nation, state, civilisation and supremacy while absence of trust has been proven to have destroyed a nation, state, civilization and supremacy.
He said the world today is full of knowledgeable people but people who are trustworthy have become scarce.
Meanwhile, Sultan Nazrin congratulated UM staff and students on its success in moving up 27 places from 114th to being placed 87th in the 2018 QS World University Rankings.
This year’s convocation will see 5,279 graduands receiving their scrolls, 540 will receive Doctoral degrees, Masters degree (1,768), Bachelor's degree (2,928) and 43 Postgraduate Diploma in Education.
At the ceremony yesterday honorary doctorates were presented to Datuk Dr. Mahmood Osman Merican and Tan Sri Sr. Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman while Professor Emeritus titles were conferred to Dato’ Dr. Goh Khean Lee, Datuk Dr. Norma Mansor and Ir. Dr. Masjuki Hassan.
Meanwhile, Izzudin Aman Shah, 23, from the engineering faculty and Chong Jing Sheng, 23, from the science faculty were selected as recipients of the Royal Education Award.
According to a statement issued by UM, Izzudin graduated in mechanical engineering with a 3.78 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) while Chong completed his Actuarial Science studies with a CGPA of 3.93.