JANUARY 18 — Our country would not be the same today if we knew how to make the best use of the wisdom and values we inherited from our nation's founding fathers.

January 14 marked the 39th anniversary of the death of our second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak. His youngest son Nazir Razak said if his father were alive, he would have hoped that the government would set up a national consultative council like what he did after the 1969 racial riots, in a bid to unite all Malaysian.s

Indeed, during the times of our first three prime ministers, the country had experienced enviable national harmony. Unfortunately, we have seen more and more ethnic and religious conflicts today.

After the May 13 incident, the country was in a state of emergency. Tunku Abdul Rahman resigned on September 22, 1972, and Tun Razak took over his place.

Tun Razak introduced some new policies after taking over the premiership, including the controversial New Economic Policy. He had intended to abolish poverty and restructure the society through this New Economic Policy, allowing Malaysians from different ethnic backgrounds to participate in the country's economic development in achieving the goal of national unity, but unfortunately he didn't succeed.

Undeniably Tun Razak dedicated his whole being to achieving true national unity after the racial riots. His strategy was to promote stronger cooperation among political parties and this led to the formation of Barisan Nasional which secured a landslide victory in 1974 general elections.

Tun Razak was honored as the country's "Father of Development" because of the solid foundation he had laid for economic development through putting aside our own differences. Owing to such a spirit, he launched a historic visit to China in 1974 culminating in the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

We can say that Tun Razak was a very pragmatic leader. If he were still in command today, it is believed that he would do everything to tame the furore of racial and religious extremists as there is no way for a disorderly country to achieve steady economic development.

Rationality is shunned in our society today. We have got ourselves too emotional, blowing up minor issues out of proportion. This will give a wrongful impression to the outside world that Malaysia is a conservative country.

Religious conflicts have also exhausted our social resources. For instance, the custodial right of the children of converted parents has substantially polarized the nation so that we become too distracted to focus on more constructive endeavors..

If Najib were to inherit the legacy from his father, he should have emulated his father to set up a national consultative council or allow the existing national unity consultative council to fully exert its functionality without any disruption from extremist organizations.

Najib must dedicate himself to the revitalisation of the national economy and carry on with his father's courage for continued liberalisation.

Another characteristic of Tun Razak was thrift and discreet utilisation of public funds.

In an article about his father, Nazir Razak wrote last year that he and his elder brother had asked their father to build a swimming pool for them at Seri Taman (The PM's residence). The father said he would never allow the public funds to be squandered on something so irrelevant like a swimming pool. He asked his sons, "what do you think the people would think of us?"

If our government has inherited such discretion, we will not be debt-ridden today, and there will be no need for the government to restructure the budget.

From 2009 through 2013, the government disbursed more than RM7.2 billion to private consultation companies. Also, the government used to own a total of five private jets.

Meanwhile, the enormous debts of GLCs have snowballed into a crisis. How are we going to handle the astronomical RM49 billion of debts owed by 1MDB?

Tun Razak's second son Johari Razak talked of his father: He worked till he drew his last breath. He never took time off like any ordinary man facing cancer."

How do we expect the country to move forward if we lack the merits of our hardworking fathers? — Sin Chiew Daily

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online