At the 8th World Conference on Islamic Thought and Civilisation in Ipoh today, His Royal Highness Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah delivered a keynote that reframed a familiar word — pride — in terms leaders across government and enterprise would do well to sit with.
Speaking on the theme “Everyone Matters: Pride and Unity in Islam”, His Royal Highness argued that human dignity is indivisible, and that a nation’s greatness is measured not by the height of its towers or the size of its treasury, but by how it treats its most vulnerable members.
“Pride, rightly understood, does not arise from domination over others, but from a community’s commitment to looking after its own — all of its own, without exception," said Sultan Nazrin.
The address moved across five domains — good governance and political stability; economic development and cooperation; education and social empowerment; public health; and national integrity and security — framing each as an expression of a single conviction.
On the economy, Sultan Nazrin cautioned that development which widens the gap between rich and poor is not development at all, but a consolidation of privilege, and posed a progress test: not only “how much have we grown?” but “who has grown with us?”
His Royal Highness also said that investment in hygiene and sanitation infrastructure, clean water systems, proper waste management and accessible healthcare facilities, especially in underserved and rural areas, should never be treated as a lesser priority until more glamorous projects are complete.
" 'Everyone Matters' is more than a slogan to be celebrated for a single day or a single conference.
"It is a standard against which every policy, every budget, every school, every hospital, and every law should be measured. Does it include, or does it exclude? Does it dignify, or does it diminish? Does it widen the circle of belonging, or narrow it?
"May we be granted the wisdom to build such a society, and the humility to remember, always, that everyone matters," Sultan Nazrin added.
Among those in attendance was Asyraf Khalid, entrepreneur and Executive Director of Larenme PR & Media, who attended alongside the agency’s Chief Executive Officer, Nazrin Kamal, and Sales Director, Habibunajjar Sazali.
He was there at the invitation of Datuk Dr. Afifi Al-Akiti, FRSA, Kuwait Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, who chaired the Distinguished Royal Session with the Sultan of Perak immediately following the keynote.
Asyraf described the address as offering a working standard for anyone building narratives, brands or institutions in Malaysia.
“The most powerful line was the simplest — does it include, or does it exclude. That is a test you can apply to a policy, a budget or a brand. My own conviction is that Malaysians are world-class, but a belief on that scale cannot be built on people who are made to feel they do not matter. His Royal Highness gave that instinct a language,” said Asyraf.
The conference is hosted by Universiti Sultan Azlan Shah (Universiti Azlaniah), an institution named for a jurist whose life’s work was devoted to the rule of law and to justice administered without favour — a lineage His Royal Highness noted sits precisely at the intersection the conference theme seeks to explore.
