ESSAY OUTLINE

I. Introduction
General information about Malaysian values and good Malaysian
II. Current situation among younger generation
1. Challenges
2. Suggestion
3. Implementation
III Conclusion
References

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 1. Introduction

Every Malaysian must have recited the five principles of the Malaysia’s Rukun Negara
numerous times as it is recited during school assemblies, written on the school walls and also
printed at the back page of every exercise book in schools. The Rukun Negara was crafted in
1970 as a set of national principles to give Malaysians a common code of conduct and to hold
Malaysians as a young nation at that time and still remains relevant today as it cuts across
many dimensions of the society. The fifth Rukun Negara’s principle ‘Kesopanan dan
Kesusilaan’ (Courtesy and Morality) outlined that each Malaysian is required to handle their
own matters by ways which do not infringe morality. It is expected that a good nation should
be supported by good values and morals shown by the people in responds to the dynamic
nation’s development.

With the rapid development of the technology world in this era of globalization has
resulted a change in attitude and behaviours with violating the norms and ethical values
within the family, school and community. In developed countries like USA and UK, the
moral ills were increasing rapidly. The British teenagers are the worst behaved in Europe
(New Straits Times, 27 July 2007) and USA is in deep moral trouble (Ref1; Lickona 1993).
We should take precautions with the level of ethics and moral among Malaysians as this
demoralization issue has become a generic worldwide issue. According to a statistic by Polis
Diraja Malaysia (PDRM), in 2013 there was an increase of 111 percent involving juvenile
offenders within a year. This heavy crime category is also associated with underage
adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years old. The recorded figures have also increased
about 47 percent across the country and some of them were involved in murder and rape
cases. [Ref2: Harian Metro 11 Mac 2015]. This alarming statistics should be taken seriously
by all parties in supporting Prime Minister’s ambitions to be a developed nation by 2020.

However, there are challenges in maintaining the Malaysian values and spirit of being a
good Malaysia especially amongst the younger generation. The young generation has to be
given great attention because they are the most dominant group in determining the path for
future nation. The challenges that to be further discussed in the next section including
challenges from various perspectives including family institution, education system and
technology. Then in section 3, the author will propose suggestions in overcoming the stated

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challenges from individual, parent, government and educator’s point of views. The final
section will concludes on the implication from this study and author’s aspiration. While
exploring this paper, it is noted that youngsters might use interchangeably with youth.

2: Challenges

Demoralization problems among the youngsters often become headlines in the newspapers or
in the community in this country in these recent years. Dissimilarities to the norms of society
such as theft, drug abuse, illegal sex, bullying and murder are exposed every day through the
media. Numerous efforts have been carried out by countless groups to help alleviate the
problems but these efforts have yet to bear fruit, instead the problems have become more
rampant. There are many causes for youngsters to act in such low morals and values.
However, in this paper, the author selected the most common challenges that lead to such
issues and categorized into three main categories; family institution, education system and
technology.

2.1 Family Institution

In actuality, changes in the family that happen because of urbanization and modernization
process compromise to undermine its critical job in moral education of the youngsters (Ref3:
xxxx). Family institution has lost its credibility due to this sacred job has declined its
functionalities and being replaced with various functions of external or unwanted parties. Due
to the economic and materials pressure, children development and characters lie primarily
outside home. Family’ function as moral educator drops its values and replaced by external
‘educator’ which shapes their way of thinking and acts. It is said that adults are to “bear
primary responsibility for creating the environment where character is developed” (Ref3:
Lapsley), but there have been many occurrences where some have unsuccessful to do so. In
reality, not being righteous themselves, they are the source of teenage dysfunction. This has
led to society’s “litany of alarm” (Ref4: Arthur), that is, moral panic or widespread worry and
anxiety of society regarding moral deterioration, social ills, negative habits, extremely
reprehensible behaviour, and destructive conduct among young people.

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 Parents today are forced to raise decent kids in a complex and morally vague world where
traditional tether to religious places, school, and neighbourhood are badly frayed (Ref5; url).
In the first year of a child’s development is vital as formation of personalities, characters and
behaviour. It is significant that family is the first social factor that influence one’s character
development (Ref6: Ibn Khaldun). However, the current family institution is deteriorating its
functions which leads young generation to mirror actions by its surrounding that leads to the
increased of irresponsible behaviour and low morals.
Parents are spending less time with the children as they are fulfilling the economic and
material pressure of today’s world. With the rise of Malaysia’s economic and rapid
industrialization, family functions has declined causing moral confusion in children’s
development. Unlike traditional parents who have always been preoccupied with instilling
moral values, disciplines and ethics in their children, today’s parents preferred to settle the
issues on their own instead of teaching the children with specific moral values which then
leads to the inappropriate behaviour and manners among younger generation.

2.2 Education system

Lately, there were reports that called attention to that examination pressure is a main
consideration in schools overlooking exercises that can manufacture great behaviour and
solid manners among students. Our education system tends to be focusing on academic
achievements rather than instilling good values and morals. In most pessimistic scenarios, a
few schools have transformed into spots where students gain from their peers and grown-ups
in the school to revile, swear, cheat, lastly to act terribly. In reality, some school rules,
practices and encounters can absolutely disrupt education values or qualities in the classroom.

It is said that there is lack of moral values inculcated by teachers in the classroom (Ref7:
Ismail et al., 2005) which will lead to a lack of understanding and appreciation of moral
values among students. Lecturers or teachers are the most important factors influencing the
perception and understanding of morality in the students. This condition may exist because
teachers are the persons who regularly interact with the students. According to Ref8 Othman
et al. (2013), there exist numerous side effects of hostile to social, wrongdoing and
gangsterism in schools today. Hence, the duty and the job of educators ought to be reviewed

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with respect to what degree are its fringes. This wonder of wrongdoing originates from a few
noteworthy deficiencies in the present instruction framework in the nation, particularly in
terms of how the curriculum being implemented.
The job of the educators are getting harder as they have to deal with the latest
technologies, bureaucracy and other elements that influences them to perform well in
educating the young minds. Their focus currently is very extensive which added their
pressure and affecting their qualities in producing school-leavers with excellent manners, rich
in values besides exceptional academic accomplishments.

2.3 Technology

No doubt, technology gives great impact to our lives. The way of lives have been
changing in the past decades which then shape our moral without us noticing it. Technology
should be used as a mediation tool to help us see ourselves better, to understand and improve
ourselves. A good use of technology improves human to become more educated, productive,
efficient and better at making decisions. However, a bad use of technology will resulted the
opposite; less productive, increase laziness, and worse at making decisions.
A shift in values, attitudes and behaviours seems unstoppable due to the rapid flow of
information delivered without limits making the declination of manners, ethics and
characters. Being youngsters with high curiosity and intention to try new things, they use
technology in facilitating their actions. Using internet with no boundaries might lead them to
access information that is beyond their maturity level. They learned things from internet such
as violent and sexual contents which shape their thinking and behaviours. Youngsters who
are regularly exposed to such tend to reconceptualising the world as they matured. On
average an American child will see 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the age
of 18 through the television. Thousands of studies from the 1950s to the present day have all
suggested that viewing violent acts will increase violent behavior while only less than 20
have suggested otherwise (Ref9: Boyse). One study, done by a panel of experts, showed that
when youth are exposed short term to violent movies, television and video games that there is
an increase in aggressive thinking and behavior. Their studies also show a long term effect
into adulthood when individuals are continually exposed to violent media growing up, with
spouse abuse and other aggressive acts (Ref10: Huesmann). The fact that violent contents or

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video games increase aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, and physiologic arousal can help
explain why they can also increase aggressive behaviour. Moral disengagement is a
significant correlate of aggressive behavior among children and youth. (Ref 11: Gini).
Looking at the current situation, youngsters tend to attach and trust their gadgets
rather than making genuine attachment with other individuals. Technology has been used
widely to replace way of communication and listening. With the absence of appropriate
human communication, human will experience problems such as loneliness, depression, anti
social conducts, drug and alcohol abuse (Ref12: wiley). The lack of ‘Kesopanan dan
Kesusilaan’ of Rukun Negara may deteriorate Malaysia’s values at individual, social and
nation level in general.

3: Suggestions

3.1 Family Institution

Figure 1: Social Influence Theory by Ibn Khaldun

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 According to Ibn Khaldun’s theory of social influence, a man is influenced by numerous
factors around him or her (Ref6: ibn khaldun). The most immediate influence comes from
family institution; secondly, schooling; and finally the social values. Parents indirectly
influence the child’s attitudes, values, personality and motives, which then influence the
child’s interactions and affiliation with peers. Therefore, parents education programs shall be
established in order for the parents are equipped with appropriate knowledge of moral
education and characters building and development in order for them to produce generations
with excellent characters. Counselling sessions and clinics may help in discovering the root
cause problems of their misbehaving children and action plans in resolving the issues.
The parent education programs shall include contents from Ibn Miskawah and Ghazalian
ethico-religious framework which incorporated Islamic worldview and character education
and development. This proposal has been studied by Saedah and Asmaa {Ref 5} and
suggested its applicability in Malaysians context. It aims to create great individual with great
character who will be in return, setting up the establishment for character advancement,
starting with his very own nuclear family as a core. Family values will later on turns into a
family custom, which will set the establishment for social qualities, and culture.
Consequently, these social qualities will impact the improvement of person's character, which
will in the long run impact the character of the family. At the appointed time, the networking
of these nuclear families will set up a strong establishment for a solid country. In the
Malaysian setting, it is trusted that it will inevitably set up a solid establishment for
Malaysians to be a Nation of Character (MNOC).

3.2 Education system

The national education system has been one of the vital issues and the Malaysia
government always be looking for holistic solutions in regards with the system by aligning
with other national programmes. One of the aims of National Transformation Programme
(NTP) is to create a society whose ‘akhlak’ and morals are of high standard. Ministry of
Education (MOE) has addressed this need via the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025
under ‘Third shifts: develop value-driven Malaysians (Ref13: blueprint). This shift includes
to strengthen Islamic Education, Moral Education and civics elements. Besides that, it is
required to develop students holistically by joining community service and co-curriculum
activities. Many benefits will be gained which the students will learn from such involvements

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to be self-sacrificing, responsible, care about others, respect, tolerance, and other good
values. Values training "can't be secluded to one part of the school day, or to one setting yet
should be coordinated within the total school experience. (inside the aggregate school
understanding" (Ref14: walberg).

In 1982, Malaysia implemented the ‘Look East Policy’ programme which resulted
positive impact on investment, economic relationship and human resource development
(Ref15: Yamamoto). Later after 36 years, the Prime Minister is in progress of enhancing
‘Look East Policy 2.0’ where he really looks Japan as the role model of a developed nation
but still enforcing good moral values and ethics. The role of outsiders is important in
extracting the practice of someone’s behaviour and reshaping it into a way that is applicable
to others. In spite of the fact that, in some work places have regulated Japanese hard working
attitudes and social qualities. It will be at a more prominent advantage to be ingrained in
young communities environment like in schools, colleges and universities in wanting to
embed positive qualities in forming the way of work and lives of this younger generation.

3.3 Technology

According to Hoffman et al. (2004) “the adoption rate of the Internet has exceeded that of
earlier mass communication technologies by several magnitudes,” making it an “irreversible”
innovation. (Ref16: Hoffman). Technology has become so embedded in the people’s lives
daily that they simply cannot live without it. The lacking part of this irreversible innovation is
the monitoring of the usage.
The quickest solution in monitoring its usage is through software where parents could
install software in preventing young children expose to inappropriate contents on the internet.
It is wise for parents to communicate openly with their children and examine the delicate
issues and web hazards with the end goal for them to recognize the issue for their
precautionary measure. Awareness trainings and programmes could be led at the school and
public level with the end goal to instruct the youngsters on the right practice and associations
in using the technology and how they foresee dangers and unsafe conduct on the web.
Encouraging the youngster to be engaged in social activities without any gadgets
involvement may sound interesting in creating society that are not egotistical but care about

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others. Building mutual relationship involved lots of listening and communicating which
cannot be developed thru gadgets. The idea of setting a rule to not bringing gadgets to work
places and education institutes is a good start with the aims that the network could focus on
building personal in becoming more ‘human-being’ than self-centric individuals.

4. Conclusion

It requires continuous effort in maintaining the Malaysian values and spirit of being a
good Malaysia especially amongst the younger generation. Good moral education is an
attempt to minimize the effect of juvenile wrongdoings. It should be instilled as early as
possible from new-born, by planting the good manners, morals and behaviours. Every
element in a child’s development play important roles in shaping their characters and
behavior. Family institution is still remains as the vital role with the support of external
parties like education system. Leveraging the current technology in improving human
development to become more educated, productive, efficient and better at making decisions
may seen as a strong point in creating knowledgeable and skilful society for the Malaysia’s
development. This should be considered important with the end goal to enhance the quality
and performance toward a holistic community that is united, disciplined and skilled as
imagined by our Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. If this circumstance is
permitted to proceed, advancement and flourishing of society and the nation will be
influenced where the continuation of life and the fate of the country and the nation will
likewise be compromised. Strong human values aligned with strong families, are the
important keys in building peaceful and stable community which lead to a strong and stable
nation.

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References:

Ref1: Lickona, T. (1993). The return of character education. Educational Leadership. 51(3),
6-11

Ref2: https://www.hmetro.com.my/node/36116

Ref 3: Lapsley, D. K., & Power, C. (Eds.) (2005). Character Psychology and Character
Education. Indiana: University of Notre Dame

Ref4: Arthur, J. (2003). Education with Character: The Moral Economy of Schooling.
London: Routledge.

Ref5: http://globalvisionpub.com/globaljournalmanager/pdf/1390568422.pdf

Ref6:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286776018_Ibn_Khaldun's_Theory_of_Social_Cha
nge_A_Comparison_with_Western_Social_Thoughts

Ref7: Ismail, M.A., Abd Rahman, M.J., Mahmud, R.H. (2005), Nilai-Nilai Mumi dan
Pendidikan Bersepadu:Ke arah Kemanusiaan Sejagat. Prosiding Wacana Pendidikan Islam
(Siri 4): Pendidikan Islam ke arah Kemanusiaan Sejagat, Bangi

Ref8: Othman, M.K.H., Suhid, A., Rashid, A.M., Roslan, S. (2013), Hubungan faktor-faktor
sosial dengan penghayatan nilai murni pelajar. Journal of Applied Research in Education, 17,
56-76.

Ref 9: Boyse, K. (Aug.2010) Television and Children. http://www.S7.addthis.com

Ref 10: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/140/Supplement_2/S142

Ref11: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ab.21502

Ref 12: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781405186407.wbiecc097.pub2

Ref13: Ministry of Education Malaysia (2012). Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025.

Putrajaya: Ministry of Education Malaysia

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Ref14: Walberg, H. I., & Haertel, G. D. (1997). Psychology and Educational Practice.
Berkeley: MacCarchan.

Ref15: http://jams92.org/jamswp02/jamswp02-004.pdf

Ref 16: Hoffman, D.L., Novak, T.P. & Chatterjee, P. (1995). Commercial scenarios for the
web: opportunities and challenges. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. (Special
Issue on Electronic Commerce, 1) http:// shum.huji.ac.l/jcmc/voll/issues3/vollno3.html [26
December 2001]

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