Virtual Event: Strive for a Fearless Future! Recalibrate your expectations (feat. Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz)
In this era of uncertainty brought upon by the change in our economy, all of us surely have several anxieties and doubts about what the future of Malaysia is and where the country is headed. On the 16th of September 2020, we invited CBN graduate Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz for her input on this subject. Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz is an accomplished Malaysian politician on International Trade and Industry and has contributed much to the field.
She is still currently present in the scene and continues to provide her comprehensive knowledge on economic matters for the country. This article shares a glimpse of some of the interesting questions and insightful answers that were discussed with the attended members during the forum.
Q: Many people have asked you about why the country has been regressing and climbing down the ranks among the global benchmark, can you provide us with your stance on this?
“From my perspective, firstly toxic and transnational politics. When national development is hindered by self-preservation and self-interest, they do not regard for the responsibilities and their accountability, whether it’s in politics or government.To me, these erosion of values are going to move us further back and down which is a double jeopardy. The pollution of a culture and society with negativity to me would mean the c-word, corruption, in all its various forms. And this to me will finally be a nail in the coffin if we don’t put a stop to it.”
Q: How should we address this session of erosion of values?
“Well, I’m a very simple person, because it should be first thought in the house, because by the time a child already grows, they can bercakap, the can speak already, they understand. If they start grooming the values before he or she go to kindergarten and then followed by kindergarten teacher— you know this is about honesty, don’t cheat in your exams, please don’t play truant from school— simple things like that. Educative process starts from the home and needs the level of commitment to the principles to be ingrained for life.”
Q: How would the population take it if we insist our leaders should have a minimal level of education or understanding of their responsibilities to the people who vote for them?
“This new generation that will be in leadership positions would have acquired some acceptable level of education, of paper qualifications. Paper qualifications are secondary to the qualitative qualifications such as principles and values. When the public places their trust in their leaders, they have to be very, very principled in that. Knowledge of what’s happening in the world or application of IT or knowledge of AI skills are the types of qualifications, the principles that our leaders must have more than anything. matter more when deciding good qualities for a leader.”
This article has only extracted but a few of the valuable insights provided by the Tan Sri during the talk. The full event delves deeper into the subjects of value in overcoming your weaknesses, the sensitivities of ‘merit’ and ‘talent’ and much more.
For those who are interested in the discussion on the topic, the link to the full video will be available below:
