KUALA LUMPUR: Higher education today in general has failed to instill integrity in scholars, which has led to corrupt leaders and has hampered national development, says Perak's Sultan Nazrin Shah.
He said that development of the nation needs holistic progress in all areas which looks beyond economics and infrastructure.
"We must be clear that a nation's development is linked not only to how much money we have or how many modern buildings and highways we can construct.
"There are countries with the finest state-of-the-art buildings that money can buy, yet where unemployment and poverty – in the sense of economic as well as spiritual poverty – are still widespread," said Sultan Nazrin.
He said this on Thursday (Dec 15) at the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (Ikim) here at the launch of "Ungku Aziz's Vision of Development: A Muslim's Experience in Modern Times" written by Ikim fellow Dr Muhammad Syafiq Borhannuddin.
Sultan Nazrin added that Ungku Aziz was truly farsighted.
"In contrast with the dominant trends in higher education today – and in line with the classical Islamic tradition of Adab Talibul 'Ilm – Ungku Aziz held that the development of the character traits of scholars is as important as the pursuit of knowledge," he said in his Royal Address.
The book is a tribute to the late Royal Professor who passed away on Dec 15, 2020.
Also present at the event were Ungku Aziz's daughter and former Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Religious Affairs Minister Datuk Na'im Mokhtar and Ikim director-general Dr Mohamed Azam Mohamed Adil.
