Strive for the best
Dr M calls on Malaysians to get out of their comfort zones
Today is Malaysia Day. As 32 million citizens proudly celebrate Sabah and Sarawak becoming part of Malaysia 55 years ago, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has a vision – change will come when youngsters’ ideals are combined as one with the older generation’s experience. So, strive hard and be the best you can be, says the Prime Minister.
PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has urged Malaysians to push themselves harder and strive for the best in everything they work for and not be easily comfortable with subpar results.
Citing the Japanese as an example, he said there is a lot that Malaysians can learn from them.
“After the war, they recovered very quickly and the reason is because they have a great pride.
“A sense of pride for their own country and a sense of shame if you do something that is bad, you feel ashamed of yourself, including committing harakiri (ceremonial suicide by disembowelment) if you fail.
“So, they want to avoid feeling ashamed of themselves, which means that whenever they do something they want their product to be recognised by the people as of good quality. Then they will feel proud,” he said.
For Malaysians to have and practise these principles, he said it must be taught at an early stage to the younger generation.
“In the schools we go into changing some of the curriculum in order to include some kind of shaping of the character of the people at a young age.
“Of course some people may see this as a kind of work camp and things like that, you are trying to brainwash their children, but we are all being brainwashed, we are all brainwashed by our community, by our parents all the time.
“And when you embrace them and push the brain in a good way, I think it should be accepted,” Dr Mahathir said.
Dr Mahathir said teaching these values and knowledge alone would not suffice, instead it must be nourished and guided to reach its true form and produce positive results.
“I always compare it to the knife. If you have a knife, we see something sharp, you can either use the knife to carve beautiful things, or you can also use the knife to kill people.
“If the knife is in the hands of somebody of bad character, then his usage of the knife will be bad,” he said.
“But if you teach him good, then he will make full use of the knife to carve beautiful things and to do good things. So that is what shapes a person,” he said during an interview with The Third Age Media Association and Bernama News Channel.
The interview with the Third Age Media Association was held in conjunction with the Ageing, Learning and Technology: Enriching Lives Connecting Communities Conference on Oct 9.
Closing the interview and in conjunction with National Day and Malaysia Day, he urged the younger and older generations to work together and build a great society living in a great nation.
“One thing about older people is that they have experience. Young people have got ideas.
“You cannot just be base on experience and we cannot just be base on ideals.
“There should be a marriage of the two ... the old people with their experience and the young people with their ideals,” he said. — Bernama