COLLAPSE OF FAMILY INSTITUTION, MORALS A THREAT TO SOCIETY - RAJA NAZRIN SHAH

IPOH (Malaysia), July 2 (Bernama) -- The Crown Prince of Perak Raja Dr
Nazrin Shah said the collapse of the family institution and moral decadence will
hamper the creation of a harmonious society.

He expressed his disappointment over the lack of convincing, effective
measures to check social ills.

"The solutions seem to be encumbered by bureaucracy, placing the
responsibility largely on agencies or organisations whose functions are subject
to budget constraints as well as political influence, expediency and will.

"So, a situation arises where more organisations are called to be set up
with more positions like religious officers and social workers created, but the
problems continue and get bigger, with more bureaucracy and bigger operational
expenditure incurred," he said at the opening of the 172nd Conference of the
Perak Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIAMP) at Islamic Complex,
here, Thursday.

Raja Nazrin, who also MAIAMP chairman, said society had neglected the
importance of the family institution and good neighbourliness as the pillars for
building positive moral values.

He said the country needed to study the cause factors for the degradation of
some of society's institutions.


He said poverty in the villages had resulted in rural-urban migration, which
in turn increased the number of urban poor with poor housing lacking in
recreational facilities for the young to release tension, which could also
result in them engaging in undesirable activities.

Raja Nazrin said while at the previous MAIAMP conference he had suggested
that the impact of giving zakat (tithe) to reduce poverty be studied, he now
wanted the study to be expedited as distributing zakat on an ad hoc basis might
no longer be suitable.

He called on Islamic experts and intellectuals to come forward and assist
MAIAMP to address poverty in a more effective manner, working together
regardless of their political ideology and affiliation for the betterment of the
ummah (community).

Raja Nazri also welcomed the presence of new MAIAMP member and former Consul
General to Jeddah Datuk Dr Syed Jaafar Syed Aznan and lecturer at Oxford
University's Centre of Islamic Studies Dr Afifi Al-Akiti at a MAIAMP conference
for the first time.

Dr Afifi is in Malaysia until July 11 to also attend programmes of the Perak
Academy and state government.


-- BERNAMA



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