M'sians Must Have Higher Cultural Values As It Marches Towards Developed Nation Status

SEREMBAN (Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia) April 14 (Bernama) -- For a country that is marching towards developed nation status, it is necessary for Malaysians to have higher cultural values, said Information Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim. In view of this, he said his ministry would reinvigorate campaigns on noble values to promote practices such as courtesy, respect for elders and a smiling society. "We should not become bored with these campaign even though many say the objectives will be difficult to achieve, we cannot think like that. "We have to use the campaigns to make these values part of our daily lives because as a developed country, we should be more cultural," he said. Rais said this to reporters after presenting Excellence Awards to pupils from a Tamil school here, Friday. Rais said said the campaigns would begin by the end of next month. "In Europe, when we enter a shop, they will ask "How are you today sir? How can I help you?" So we have to ask, are we doing this in Malaysia, if not or not good enough, we have to do something about it," he said. -- BERNAMA