Sultan Nazrin: Failure to build spiritual strength from young will produce callous citizens

TAIPING: The Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah, said the country would be producing 'robotic' individuals who function in a mechanical manner if spiritual strength was not built in them from an early age.
"Internal strength including spiritual is the main bastion to prevent and protect mankind from easily succumbing to lust and greed.
"Internal and spiritual strength will avoid mankind from committing acts that are against the principles of humanity, against the law and against religious teachings," he said at the state-level Teacher's Day celebration 2016 at SM Sains Raja Tun Azlan Shah here today.
He said the Cabinet Committee had in 1979, resolved to emphasise on the importance of inculcating noble values through the national education system.
The (Cabinet Committee) report also stressed on the importance of producing a united, well trained and disciplined people, besides the importance of moral education, he said.
It indicated that the goals and aspirations of the national education system would not be achieved if these were not based on noble values, he added.
To build a society with noble values, he said a school's achievements should not be measured too much in terms of quantity or marked by obsession for excellence as producing individuals with noble souls was more important than producing individuals with mere academic excellence.
"The higher the academic qualification of a person, the bigger the responsibility given, thus the greater need for the person to be anchored with noble values."
At the event, Sultan Nazrin presented the Special Perak Distinguish Teacher Award 2016 to former teacher Datuk Abdul Khalid Mohd Nasir, 72, who was a state executive councillor in charge of agriculture from 1982 to 1988. — Bernama