| Zam Hails Tun Razak As Social Engineer Of Nation-building |
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KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 (Bernama) -- Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin today hailed Malaysia's second prime minister, the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, as the greatest social engineer of nation-building.
He said Tun Razak left behind a priceless heritage in the New Economic Policy (NEP) which he had introduced particularly to eradicate poverty and restructure society.
"Currently, the social contract which has been forged since the introduction of the NEP was being neglected on the excuse of freedom.
"It has never occurred to these people that it was the social contract that had allowed us to bring about the prosperity the nation now enjoys," he told reporters after closing the seminar on the legacy of Tun Abdul Razak, here.
The NEP was a dynamic mechanism that helped realise the social contract between the Malays and non-Malays after the Malays agreed to allow non-Malays to be accorded citizenship in moving towards independence, he said.
In this connection, Zainuddin said, some irresponsible quarters were seeing the transparency and freedom exercised by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as an opportunity to dismantle the social contract.
"It was not the objective of the prime minister to permit freedom for political parties and the media to violate the rights of the people founded on the social contract nor is the freedom for the media to keep raising sensitive matters pertaining to religion and the privileges of any race," he said.
He said the nation had practised the value of freedom at that level since 1971, allowing for the exercise and growth of democracy in a peaceful and prosperous manner.
Zainuddin said Abdullah was continuing with efforts to develop multicultural Malaysian nationalism in his own way, which in many ways represented the style of Tun Razak.
"Tun Abdul Razak's strength was in bureaucratic expertise and political brilliance, and in this context there is a certain chemistry between Tun Abdul Razak and Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi," he said.
Zainuddin reminded the young generation of today to study history so that the existing social contract would not be undermined.
Meanwhile, Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, who is also Umno Youth chief, said information on the legacy of leaders could not be gleaned from books as the experience shared with them was more valuable.
"The young must learn from the treasury of past leaders to enable the country to move along in tandem with the developed nations.
"For me, the three attributes left behind by Tun Abdul Razak -- loyalty, honesty and sincerity -- are important because with these attributes it is not impossible to overcome anything," he said.
He said the resolutions and views brought up at the seminar would be discussed at the Umno Youth executive committee meeting on Monday.
-- BERNAMA
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