11/12: No freedom without responsibility

Posted by: The SUN
Lee Boon SIew

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the people must value and shoulder the burden of responsibility for their actions if Malaysia is to evolve into a society that can peacefully live with media freedom, public debate or public shows of expression.

Stressing that the value of responsibility is as important today as it was in 1957 or 1969, he said it is not just the people who manage the country who should carry the burden of responsibility, but the ordinary people as well.

"If the choice is between public safety and public freedoms, I do not hestitate to say here that public safety will always win. I will not sacrifice my sense of accountability to the greater public, especially in the face of police intelligence about planned fighting or other violent intent.

"We must never, ever, take our peace for granted. We must continue to be responsible to each other," he said at the Khazanah Global Lecture Series in the Putrajaya Convention Centre here today. The lecture was organised by Khazanah, the government's investment arm, and moderated by Bernama chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Annuar Zaini.

"In this age of relative affluence and stability, we sometimes forget that there are many groups within the country , each with their own set of demands, each with their own set of sensitivities," Abdullah said.

"These differences are very real, yet we do not descend into sheer unmitigated chaos. Why? Because I think there are enough of us who do not forget, who know and remember our complexicity."

He said these people, who he described as true Malaysians, understand that the situation demands balance, conscientiousness, a sense of accountability to the whole rather than the few.

"A true Malaysian understands very well the impact of careless words and actions. A true Malaysian is acutely aware of who will be provoked into retaliation and who will actually suffer the consequences. Because of this, a true Malaysian will try to be judicious in word and deed, even when striving for change."

An emphasis on responsibility was one of three values that Abdullah said dominated the country's history and will continue to do so.

The other two values are:

The pursuit of fairness - political fairness, economic faireness, cultural fairness

In this, he referred to the practice of power-sharing in the coalition government and to the consensus of preserving the identity of each community, rather than allowing the culture of the majority to extinguish others.

"But of these, economic fairness has perhaps been the most visible and the most debated.

"We recognised long ago that without specific state intervention, enormous ilnequalities would fester among the people; inequalities intensified by ethnic lines," he said, adding that this recognition gave birth to the New Economic Policy with its twin objectives of eradicating poverty, regardless of race and eliminating the identification of ethnicity with economic function.

He said the pursuit of economic fairness continues today and is not without its lessons.

"For example, in implementing poverty eradication programmes, regardless of race, care must be taken to follow through word with deed. No family, no matter their race, can be allowed to live below the poverty line. And in implementing affirmative action, the principle of fairness must be upheld in all senses of the word."

Self-belief.

"Many of the doctrines and measures we have undertaken fly in the face of popular thinking, from the NEP in 1970 to capital controls during the Asian financial crisis. We held fast through massive criticism and doubt, and this trust in ourselves has paid off."