"We are at the cross roads. The concern for material wealth has induced us all to take the easy way out, to cut corners and be damned with the basic principles of decency. Money is considered the, be all, end all, of objectives," said Datuk Dr Mohd Tap Salleh, president of Malaysian Institute of Integrity, ominously during his talk at Nilai University College (Nilai UC) recently.
The talk entitled 'Enhancing Integrity through Education' is part of the Graduate@Today series of lectures organised by Nilai UC. Tap Salleh was at pains to explain why it was necessary to have an organization devoted solely to enhancing ethics and integrity. Along with the National Integrity plan launched in 2004, it was aimed at establishing a fully moral and ethical society whose citizens are strong in religious and spiritual values and imbued with the highest ethical standards.
Just in case anyone doubted that integrity levels among Malaysians was on the wane, Tap Salleh launched into numerous examples to highlight this problem. He quoted a newspaper report that said students at local universities were hiring out their expertise in producing course work. He also said cited examples of lack of integrity with acts of corruption, lack of respect for the laws and regulations and lack of respect for other people's rights. The latter was most evident with the lack of road etiquette among Malaysian road users, though Tap Salleh was met with a chorus of disapproval when he jokingly said it was mainly women drivers who suffer from this malaise.
"An essential part of university education is to ensure graduates are competent in their chosen field but at the same time this competence must be grounded on ethical conduct, values and good governance," said Tap Salleh highlighting the important role tertiary institutes had in molding graduates with strong character and high moral fibre. He was impressed by Nilai UC's efforts in making subjects such as ethics, anthropology and personal development into its syllabus. This was the sort of education he is hoping to implement in educational institutes all over the country.
Previous speaker in Nilai UC's Graduate@Today lecture series was Tunku Abdul Aziz who spoke on the importance of ethics in society while the next speaker scheduled is Y.A.M. Tunku Tan Sri Imran ibni Tuanku Jaafar, President of the Olympic Council of Malaysia, who will be speaking about 'Developing the Complete Graduate - The Role of Co-curriculum' (2pm, 30 July 2008 at Nilai UC's Flamme restaurant).
