Public Lecture by Y.A.Bhg. Tun. Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad on 'National Identity and Power Sharing' (16 Oct 2008)
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) delivered a public lecture on ‘National Identity and Power Sharing’ at the Chancellor Hall, UTP on 16 October 2008.
The main objective of this annual event is to share with the staff, students and the public the knowledge and experiences that this special speaker had acquired especially during his service as the Prime Minister of Malaysia from 1981 - 2003.
In his lecture, Tun Dr Mahathir said that it is quite difficult to form a national identity as Malaysian consists of multi-ethnics such as Malay, Chinese and Indian. Each ethnic values their unique culture, language and religion. Hence, it is difficult to blend in different values in order to create one Malaysian identity. In Europe for example, the national identity is easier to define as the people from the same ethnic, share the same values especially on religion. Malaysians need to be sensitive to other races and the mutual understanding had enabled the country to enjoy racial harmony.
He added that through history, the Malays, as the origin of Tanah Melayu (Malaysia) have been given priority compared to other races. However, the contributions made by other races in developing our country, such as the Chinese and Indians particularly in the economic and agriculture sectors respectively, are well acknowledged.
A total of almost 3,000 people including Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Hj Kasim, Rector of UTP, government officers, UTP management committee members, staff, students, and the public attended the 1 1/2 hour lecture followed by an hour of Q&A .After the lecture, Tun Dr Mahathir visited the 22nd Engineering Design Exhibition organised by the undergraduate students of UTP before proceeding for lunch.
