Work together, says King
THE STAR
KUALA LUMPUR: The Yang di Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah has called on lawmakers to practise “healthy and beneficial political aspirations”.
He hoped that all parties would work together and offer constructive ideas for the well-being of the people and prosperity of the nation.
“In a parliamentary democracy, differences in opinion are valued but refrain from fostering enmity and slander that can lead to the downfall of the nation,” said the King in his opening address at the first meeting of the fourth session of the 13th Parliament yesterday.
He also reminded the government of the day to strengthen integrity and good governance to ensure success of national plans and policies.
This will help to address any negative perception with regards to corruption, malpractices and misuse of power, he said.
The King also reminded Malaysians to preserve harmony and the order of society.
He said there were some parties stoking racial sentiments and misusing social media to spread content that were false, extremist and seditious in nature.
“This needs to be curbed and quickly handled by the relevant agencies. Any delay in acting on issues involving unity in a multiracial society could lead to conflict and bigger clashes,” he said.
The Yang Di-Pertuan also said that he fully supports all initiatives to uphold Islam as the religion of the Federation and at the same time, to ensure other religions can be practised freely and in peace.
On public service, the Agong commended the transformation of government services to be more people-oriented, productive and efficient, with more than 80% of such services accessible online.
“We would like to call upon the public service to safeguard the secrecy of government information to ensure the country's stability,” he said.
On threats to national security, he said the rise of militant and terrorist activities within the country must be taken seriously.
“We support any form of proactive action through the enactment of laws and the upgrading of security assets to curb the spread of extremist and militant ideologies,” he said.
