Developed Nation Status A Long Way If People Don't Uphold Noble Values - Dr Mahathir

BANGI, (Selangor, Malaysia), March 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will take a long time to achieve developed-nation status if its people to not uphold noble values, says former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He is however confident that this aim including realising Vision 2020 can be achieved if the people are honest, diligent, efficient and fully aware of their responsibilities to the nation. "If we have these qualities, today we would have become a developed nation but we find that some sections of the population have not mastered knowledge. "When they're employed, they only work in accordance with the pay they receive, not for job satisfaction, which sometimes is non-existent in Malaysia. "We should instead be like the Japanese, who toiled to rebuild their country which was destroyed during the war. They worked very hard and within a short time, Japan not only fully recovered from the destruction but has become the second most developed country in the world." Dr Mahathir said this during a question-and-answer session with Permata Pintar students in conjunction with a talk programme held at the Permata Pintar Negara Complex, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), here on Thursday. Also present was his wife Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali and UKM vice-chancellor Prof Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin. While commending the Permata programme for smart students, Dr Mahathir opined that the country had not been focusing on building good character to produce individuals who would uphold noble values. "If we don't have good character and don't place importance on goodness, we may not have good intentions. "For example, if we are a physics wizard or an explosives expert, we may become a terrorist if we don't have good character. Therefore, character building is important for us," he said. On the Permata programme, Dr Mahathir said compared to the yesteryear's, today's generation has many opportunities to hone their talents which could contribute to the country's development. He said the existence of schools for smart students was important to identify early those with high potential, further benefiting the country and boosting its development. "In efforts to raise the country's capacity building, we need people who are smart so as to be able to compete with others. "I believe with the approaches taken by this (PermataPintar) school, the students' potential could be raised, besides their resilience and self-confidence," said Dr Mahathir, who also congralulated those behind the establishment and running of the school. -- BERNAMA