Mahathir: Have A "Sense Of Shame" For Job Not Well Done

MAHATHIR: HAVE A "SENSE OF SHAME" FOR JOB NOT WELL DONE KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 (Bernama) -- Former prime minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Thursday that there should be "a sense of shame" in the heart of the people when they fail to carry out their job properly. He said that it was this attitude that has propelled the Japanese people to become among the most successful people in the world, noting that they had adapted this in their work culture. "This sense of shame is so strong that they cannot accept failure and they are ashamed of it," he said. He was replying to a question from a Bernama editor, Mahrus Ibrahim, during a dialogue session after delivering a lecture in conjunction with the launch of a coffee table book, titled "Che Det", published by the Malaysian national news agency, Thursday. The book contains write-ups and 470 pictures, depicting the great moments in the career of Dr Mahathir as the country’s fourth prime minister. "The Japanese people will strive to do their job to the best of their ability because the feel ashamed if they don't. This sense of shame should also be prevalent among our society. If we cannot achieve 100 per cent, we should feel ashamed about it," he said. Earlier in his lecture, titled "Building Malaysian Civilisation and Culture Towards Becoming A Developed Nation", he spoke of a clash of Western and Eastern value system and that Malaysia was taking its own strides towards civilisation by holding on to the noble values of individuals and the society. Dr Mahathir said that the West might see the communities in the East as uncivilised for not subscribing to their values, citing for instance Malaysia which still imposed the death penalty for those convicted of murder or drug trafficking. He laid bare the contradiction in the attitudes of the West, saying that although they advocated against capital punishment, they willingly committed mass murder by way of a war. "Theirs may be high civilisation but they will not hesitate to launch a war because to them, they can commit murder in a war and this act does not constitute a crime. "For us, imposing the death penalty upon a convicted murderer is a way to prevent murder from becoming widespread in our society." Dr Mahathir also said that a civilised race would be the one that was able to control the urge to commit any wrongdoing, including corruption. "If the society regards corruption as normal, then we will never be able to progress," he said, adding that corruption could bring about adverse consequences, including precipitating a disaster such as building collapsing because substandard materials were used due to corrupt practices. Corruption could destroy the country if leaders were elected in a corrupt manner, he said. "A government that is corrupt will not be able to bring the country forward." In the 45-minute lecture, Dr Mahathir also spoke about democracy, pointing out that the concept was initially to give power to the people to elect their government. Nowadays, he said, freedom of expression had also been added to the concept. He stressed that Malaysia should not follow the path taken by the West in allowing unfettered freedom because, he said, it was likely that the very freedom would be abused to the point of creating chaos and jeopardised the freedom of others. "In the name of freedom of speech, if this is not managed, one day we will be living in a country that is not politically peaceful," he said. Dr Mahathir then posed a question whether it would be more virtuous for the government if it accord freedom to those who fanned hatred instead of caring for the interest of the other groups, such as traders, who were affected by the disturbance. -- BERNAMA