Sultan Nazrin: Museums can help unite society
TAIPING: Building a multiracial and multireligious nation is a complex, complicated and ongoing process, says Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah
He said various unity terms had been introduced with a variety of slogans, logos and lyrics that were creatively crafted but they still did not have a full impact.
“In fact, the slogans made towards moulding united citizens into a sovereign state lately were raising doubts, inviting controversies and increasingly being polemicised and politicised.
“This development is very worrying,” he said when launching the 135th anniversary celebrations of the Perak Museum here yesterday.
The Perak Museum was officially built on Jan 1, 1883 and is the first museum institution established in Malaysia and the earliest in SouthEast Asia.
His Majesty also said the components for developing united citizens and inspiring a patriotic spirit should be given equal emphasis in the pursuit of economic development and physical infrastructure.
“In the current scenario, such needs are becoming increasingly urgent,” he said.
In this regard, His Majesty said, museums could assist the country in building a multiracial, multireligious and multi-political society that is united and loyal to the country under the royal umbrella of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
He said exhibits at the museum were presented to instil the spirit of statehood and patriotism.
“It can inject the spirit of statehood and the spirit of patriotism, breathe the spirit of courage and heroism, cultivate the spirit of unity and unification, and depict the negative image of the enemy,” he said.
He said that a museum needed to meet the needs of the diverse backgrounds of the visitors, who were more critical in their thinking and had a high degree of literacy and high expectations.
Sultan Nazrin said visitors today were more inquisitive and interactive.
“Museums should not be admired for their artefacts, aesthetic characteristics or aura of mystery but for their display of materials and pres- entation of events and attempts to arouse past nostalgia.
“It also has the power to exhort the spirit of realisation – to unravel the spirit of awareness through the exhibits that highlight various tragedies, especially the tragedies that involved sacrifices and destroyed many lives,” he said.
He said the original function of the museum was to preserve and safeguard the country’s heritage, but it was now shifting to the role of research, education, marketing, technology and innovation.
“Collections of artefacts are just stiff objects if they are exhibited or stored without a well thought-out story based on careful research,” he said. — Bernama