Rukunegara is the oldest national ideology in Malaysia. Since it was declared by the Yang Dipertuan Agong in 1970, Rukunegara is still being looked up to in this modernization era. Rukunegara is still and will always be the heart of Malaysians, although it is somehow neglected by some parties over personal stands or political ones.
The strapping and the strength of Rukunegara can already be seen since its early phase of establishment. The bloody battles and the worst riots ever happened in Malaysia, involving its three major ethnics were astonishingly appeased by Rukunegara. The flaming racism spirit once burned the Malaysian unity to the ground years ago, has been extinguished proudly by the complete unanimity, made by individuals from National Legislative Council and National Movement Council.
Rukunegara then was made known publicly and widely in Malaysia. As it has been established in 1970, Malaysia started to take an enormous step to divulge the existence of Rukunegara, so that, it could be inculcated in the souls of their dearly citizens. Some promoting initiatives such as campaigns ran by the government officers, a suggestion to make Rukunegara a subject in Malaysian school syllabus and the establishment of Rukunegara information volunteers squad, were taken in order to make the promotion more efficient. At some point, Rukunegara and its issues would be a compulsory question to be asked by some interviewers to those who are seeking for a job. It concludes that Rukunegara plays a huge role at that time that people are looking up to it at everything they do.
However, by the time late Tun Abdul Razak passed away, Rukunegara turned out to be a perfunctory ideology; new clusters are made, new ideologies started to be disclosed, and because of that, Rukunegara is getting ignored and nobody seems to fight for it again. Nevertheless, it is impossible to totally dump the ideology as it already has been established firmly in this country since years back then and indeed, no other ideologies are as fit as Rukunegara in shaping the community towards unity.
In this era, Rukunegara seems to be too underrated that the standard needs to be raised again in order to make it acceptable among Malaysians, once and for all. Rukunegara is actually beyond the political, individual and money interests as it is a very important medium to unite people with its perfect objectives and principles. Rukunegara which consists of 5 objectives and 5 principles should be an aspiration for Malaysians that they need to understand Rukunegara and practice it along the way.
Realizing the truths, once again, an initiative needs to be taken so that Rukunegara can be put at a place where it deserves to be, which is at the heart of every Malaysian. The initiative mentioned is the effort to make Rukunegara as the preamble of Malaysian Constitution (RMP). Initiative which is conveyed by a group of activists, is supported by Yayasan 1Malaysia, a Non-Governmental Organization which is freely act as the initiative secretariat. This ‘Rukunegara Muqadimmah Perlembagaan’ should be counted as a selfless effort to guarantee the legislative sovereignty and the unity of the future generations.
It would be better if a booming country which is looking forward to be a well-developed one to have a preamble that meets the needs and desired characteristics of a multiracial country. Hence, Rukunegara should be chosen as Malaysian main ideology as its perfect objectives and principles could be the soul of Malaysian Constitution. In other words, Rukunegara is a simple ideology that should be obeyed and practiced by Malaysian citizens as a reflection of the country itself. So, the implementation of Rukunegara as preamble to the constitution must be supported strongly by the citizens and at the same time, they are encouraged to fix the constitution that have yet to be completed by a preamble.
Believe this; the initiative is not something in vain. It has more benefits that have yet to be realized. Firstly, to bring back the greatness of an ideology that was left behind and needed to be saved. Secondly, for our constitution to have a preamble which reflects the Malaysian nationality that we want to portray to the public at large. This is our duty to start over a national ideology which will be the talk of the society. This is our duty to create a united society under our constitution. This is the time for us to gather all of our strength to find a way to build harmony between all of us not with standing races.
Thus, let us all, citizens of Malaysia, from the highest places in Putrajaya to those who are comfortably living with in the wilds. Our concerns will be fruitful to bring back the glorious Rukunegara. We need to be united in giving our support so that this noble effort will bring results not only to ourselves but to the future generations. Make Rukunegara the preamble of our constitution, may Malaysia continuously live in the waves of unity.
Ishak Sairozi
Eksekutif Yayasan 1Malaysia.
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