What is the state of civic consciousness in Malaysia?

CIVIC consciousness is a measure of the people’s interest and willingness to be ready to contribute towards a more caring, safer and better community.

Neighbourhoods with higher levels of civic consciousness have a greater sense of community participation and have citizens who are healthier and happier.

Countries with greater proportions of civically-engaged citizens have lower rates of disease, mental illness, and suicide. They also experience lower levels of crime. Citizens are healthier and happier.

The important factors which determine civic consciousness are family, education, social system, associations, political system, and religiosity.

Research has consistently shown that participating in communities and being a part of groups working together on an issue has numerous benefits for community engagement and nation-building.

The decline in civic consciousness within Malaysia is a worrying trend. Many are attempting to determine the cause of misbehaviours ranging from misusing parking spaces designated for Persons-with-Disabilities (PWDs) to smoking in nondesignated areas; some of our youth are even refusing to give up their seats on public transport to the elderly while there are those who litter indiscriminately or are involved in open burning.

Can this be changed? And whose responsibility, is it?

Ultimately, the cultivation of civic consciousness begins with each and every one of us. Each of us plays different roles within our family units, at the workplace and in our communities; therefore, each of us is gifted with a myriad of possibilities from which we can choose to initiate civic engagement.

There are various ways in which we can develop our consciousness of civic obligations: promote civic education not just in schools but also within our families and in the community, encourage volunteering, practice active listening while engaging in constructive dialogues, join community organisations to develop a sense of social responsibility, among many more creative ways.

Undoubtedly, education plays a pivotal role in disengaging from morally-depraved actions, thoughts and speech – it remains the finest weapon of choice to overcome ignorance.

Let’s take the example of the conversion of poachers-to-protectors of the community-based terrapin conservation project in Kampung Pasir Gajah, Kemaman, Terengganu, under Malaysia’s Turtle Conservation Society, to illustrate this point.

Wazel, Dollah, Zul, and Perik all previously illegally collected and consumed endangered terrapin eggs unmindful of the harm they were causing the ecosystem.

Thanks to education programmes to teach them of the dangers, all of them have now been converted into Terrapin Guardians who work tirelessly during the terrapin nesting season, collecting and saving as many eggs as possible for successful incubation in Terengganu.

The point is not to judge but to educate people to discern between what is right and what are unacceptable behaviours, and then encourage them to choose habits for the good of all. If we wish to build a stronger, more harmonious society, we must be proactive in taking the necessary first steps in addressing incidents depicting moral decay in our day-to-day lives.

We must learn to take a stand and do so tactfully, for example, by offering a simple suggestion to the youngster to offer up his/her seat to the senior citizen or pregnant woman onboard the bus or train because the privilege is rightfully theirs. We can make an immense difference in the lives of many if we take every opportunity to initiate civic-mindedness in our communities, especially through education – it clearly starts with us to uphold morality in our society.

Normalising bad behaviour, such as in the case of the Mamak restaurant operator turning a blind eye to the smoker on his premises (possibly due to the fear of losing a regular patron), only leads to moral decadence.

It takes courage to stand up for the rest of the patrons by approaching the smoker to politely request that he/she continue outside the restaurant. It is a duty we must task ourselves to perform if we wish to improve civic consciousness within our system.

Let us take proactive steps to resolve injustice and unacceptable behaviour from worsening on our beloved soil by tactfully addressing it; first, within ourselves and then with one another - this is our civic duty.

TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE

Kuala Lumpur