‘Choose unity council members with care’
PETALING JAYA: Only serious social thinkers should be appointed as members of the council on national unity, says a top academic.
Universiti Malaya’s Prof Dr Rajah Rasiah said the trend of appointing someone simply because he or she is a “big name” should stop.
“We tend to appoint the wrong persons who come up with shortcut solutions. The government needs to be very careful in identifying those they think can contribute.
“For now, we should not hesitate to replace seatwarmers,” the professor of international development at UM’s AsiaEurope Institute said in an interview ahead of National Day.
Prof Rajah, who was named Distinguished Professor for 2017, said the government should instead scout for individuals who could “see sources of friction between the communities”.
“There should be a constant review of their performance. They must be subjected to some sort of Key Performance Indicator,’’ he said.
The Pakatan Harapan government recently announced that the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), which was formed in 2013, would be rebranded as the Consultative Council of Peoples’ Harmony, as pledged in its 14th General Election manifesto.
Members will be appointed to sit on the council for two years for the 20182020 term.
In the runup to the May 9 polls, Pakatan pledged to set up the council to study the creation of a mechanism for a New Malaysia that practises a centripetalbased political model, based on middle or moderate principles and rejecting extremism.
Following this, the government will determine the framework of the National Unity Action Plan, which will serve as the benchmark for all government agencies and departments to examine the success of its programmes.
Asked to elaborate on what more could be done to promote national unity, Prof Rajah called for a ban on racist jokes.
“We should not be saying things that anger others. We need to build a society that does not condone such jokes,” he added. Prof Rajah said as Malaysians celebrated 61 years of independence, there was still room to further strengthen unity and harmony.
“We should build on the trust founded by our forefathers. (Former prime minister) Tun Abdul Razak Hussein empowered Malaysians regardless of their ethnic background, an approach that fostered trust between the races.
“He is a statesman whose contributions left a strong foundation and significant impact not only on our country’s economic development and growth, but on national unity as well,” he added.
Prof Rajah is the chief editor of a book on the contributions of the second prime minister, dubbed the Father of Development, that he said could serve as a model for other countries to emulate.
The book, scheduled to be launched in October, is sponsored by Yayasan Cemerlang.
Yayasan Cemerlang is known for its Tun Rahah Scholarships awarded to university students regardless of their race. They include a group of students at Universiti Tun Abdul Razak.