1 Malaysia Forum heats up Heritage Hall
J-on
|
Saturday, July 23, 2011
|
Share this post on Facebook
By TING ZHAO SONG
UTAR, July 16 (J-on) –Some 400 UTAR students have attended the JatiDiri 1 Malaysia Forum that was held by JabatanPenerangan Malaysia on July 13, 8.oop.m. in Heritage Hall.
 |
| An attendance of more than 400 students in the Heritage Hall. |
ChuahSwee Thin, an accounting Y2T1 student said that she has no idea what the forum is about, since it is free of charge and participants will be getting a certificate, she thought why not.
 |
| Chuah attends the forum with an open mind and looks forward to what the forum has to offer. |
“The objective of this forum is to enhance the students’ knowledge in national unity and the vision of 1 Malaysia,” says SazeliGhazali, the program manager.
 |
| Ghazali (in red shirt) together with the organizing committees from JabatanPenerangan. |
The forum was entitled using a Malay peribahasa “Di manabumidipijak, di situ langitdijunjung”.
 |
| The forum panel on the stage. From the left: Dato’ Mohammad Mansur, BazrulMahmad, and Dr. Kntayya. |
One of the speakers, Dato’ Mohammad Mansur emphasized on the importance of embracing and applying the Rukun Negara in order to develop nationalism among Malaysians.
Then, during the dialogue session, Mansur received a blatant boo from the floor after he commented that undergraduates nowadays are narrow-minded.
The other speaker was Dr. Kntayya from Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
Kntayya told the audience that the keyword towards national unity is ‘value’.
Malaysians must first acknowledge the importance of unity, followed by the application in our daily lives.
According to Kntayya, Malaysia was placed 22nd in the 2010 Global Unity Index, which was a remarkable placing for Malaysia, being a developing country with multi-ethnicity.
“There is no ideal state. It would be naive if we were to enlarge a small black dot and ignoring the big white circle,” said Kntayya in respond to a UTAR student who questioned about government’s effort in promoting unity among Malaysians.
The panel regulator, BazrulMahmad was also being challenged after he gave definition on a ‘real democracy’.
Mahmad said a real democracy is when the majority rules the minority while the minority shows complete loyalty towards the ruling ones, nevertheless the majority has to take care of the minority’s welfare as well.
One of the audiences thought otherwise and further condemned on the government’s actions in the recent Bersih 2.0 rally.
In respond to the Bersih issue, Mansur counter argued that the rally was not approved by the authority because the assembly of thousands will bring hysterical effect to the crowd and causing them to act irrationally.
The much heated up Heritage Hall was finally cooled down with the lucky draw session which has sent 10 students home bringing back a huge hamper each.
 |
| Y.B. Tuan Haji Ibrahim, the director of JabatanPenerangan giving away the hampers to the lucky winners. |
