BISMILLAHIRRAHMANIRRAHIM

LESSONS TO HELP OVERCOME

SOCIAL ILLS
by

Datuk Dr. Syed Othman Alhabshi

Deputy Director-General
Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia
(IKIM)

Concern for moral degradation and social ills that have been expressed by
none other than our Prime Minister and other leaders is very real indeed. We have
courageously brought into the open the question of money politics among the
politicians particularly during the last UMNO general assembly. More recently we
have recorded a bigger concern for the overwhelming immorality among the Malay
youths.

I was just casually asking a driver in Penang what he thinks of the problem.
He seemed to know quite a bit about some factory girls who abandoned their newly
born babies, returning home at early hours of the morning from discos, sleeping on
the staircases of the flats when their flatmates did not open the doors for them at such
early hours.

Surely the problem is not as simple and straight forward. All of us are
exposed to the same influences and yet, the problem is dominant among the Malays.
It appears that we have more or less reduced, if not eliminated the identification of
race with economic functions through our well implemented New Economic Policy.
But now we are facing the identification of the same race with social ills.

Where have we gone wrong? Some have convincingly argued that it is a

sociological phenomenon arising out of a rapid economic development that is more
slanted towards materialism. The urbanised rural families seem very vulnerable to
the socio-economic changes around them. Quite contrary to this is the fact that those
in some land development schemes are facing the same problem too.

Others are determined to cure these ills by revamping the religious education
in schools. The present curriculum does not serve the purpose.

At the same time, we have also enforced the government decision that discos
should be closed by certain time. We hope that the damage these discos do to our
youth can be significantly reduced.

There are those who call for parents to provide the best of examples to their
children. This necessitates the parents themselves to behave so that their children can
emulate them.

I believe the list of suggestions could be much longer. All of them have their
merits because no two individuals are alike and that each requires a suitable
approach.

If one has been successful in bringing up the first child in a particular way, it
would be disastrous for him to bring up the second in exactly the same way. What
more when we look at a particular race as being the same in every respect.

In solving our economic woes, we had learnt that poverty eradication could
not be achieved by undertaking general development. We spent huge sums on rural
development in the 1960s but we found that the incidence of poverty did not
decrease. We then focused on various poverty groups and tackled each group
differently. Even this method did not prove effective. We realised that each
individual poor has different capabilities and needs. We finally had to zero in to the
hard core poor household as our target unit to obtain the desired result. The ideal is
still the individual poor, which may take much longer time.

We also strongly believed that education is a more sustainable method of

developing our people. We pursued very sound education policies right from the
start. In fact we regularly reviewed these policies to improve the system, the
curriculum, the teachers' capabilities, the infrastructure, so that we churn out a better
educated generation. To date, we are still not completely satisfied with our education
system, although no one can deny that the present economic miracle is a function of
it.

We have consistently and regularly undertaken economic development

planning every five years, clearly defining our objectives, formulated pragmatic and
appropriate policies and implemented them with full commitment. Each subsequent
planning document has been a significant improvement of the previous one. We have
supplemented these medium term planning efforts with longer term plans such as the
Industrial Master Plan and the Outline Perspective Plans, so that we know exactly
where we are heading. Our economic achievements have been widely recognised.

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 Our approach to economic problems have never been done in isolation. We
are always conscious of the need for political stability, efficient and dynamic
administrative machinery that supports the private sector as preconditions for our
economic success.

We probably could draw pertinent lessons from our rich experiences in the
economic sphere to guide our society out of the moral decadence. First and foremost,
our objective has to be very clear. I personally am worried if we only identify a
certain group such as the Malay youths as our target group and ignore other immoral
and unethical practices committed by other groups. We cannot afford to have double
standards because all our actions will be futile indeed. If we are intent to correct all
social ills, let us go all out at it.

This reminds me of a hadith by Nasa'i where the Holy Prophet swore that if
Fatimah (his daughter) were to be caught stealing, he would have her hand cut off.

Secondly, our approach should be directed to the appropriate individuals in

the group just like our approach to the poverty problems. The Islamic approach to
poverty problem through the zakat institution is directed to the individual recipients
and not to groups of recipients. Only when we zoom in on the individuals concerned
that we could employ the most appropriate cure to the social problem.

Thirdly, the approach to be adopted cannot be the quick-fix type but should
be developmental in nature. We cannot just close discos because many youths
frequent them. They will find other outlets anyway. We achieved sustainable
economic success not by giving aids or subsidies, but by providing our people
education. Moral and religious education is indeed necessary, not only as a body of
knowledge but more as a tool for actual practice.

What is even more important in moral education is the examples to emulate.

Such examples should not only be provided by those teaching religious or moral
education, but rather by all teachers, parents, elders, community and national leaders
so that there is no conflict in the minds of the velnerables.

Fourthly, there is a clear need for a holistic, integrative approach towards

curing social ills. Comprehensive planning with definite quantitative and qualitative
targets, pragmatic and consistent policies and effective implementation of strategies
should be continuously undertaken as we have rigorously done for economic

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development. We know the implications of a society that is plagued with moral
problems on any degree of economic success. Such a society is capable of eroding
all the accumulated wealth within a short period. In other words, comprehensive,
regular planning for social development is probably even more important than
economic planning at this stage of our development.

Finally, the social problems that we are trying to encounter and overcome
should not be considered as any other issue that we used to face in the past. We are
often excited at the early stages but our interest in the matter wilts over time. It
should be considered as everyone's problem and indeed everyone has to
constructively contribute towards its success.

The Islamic view is that moral and ethical problems have always been the
most important in human development because of its association with the core of
man, i.e. the soul. The Holy Prophet himself has said that he has been sent to provide
the best example in ethics and morality. God knows best.
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