What shame? These days they go to jail smiling, says Dr M

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad speaks at the Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today urged Malaysians to emulate the Japanese in feeling ashamed of failures, saying the principle had helped propel the East Asian country to success.

By and large, he said, Malaysians felt no shame over failures.

“They go to jail smiling. You see people smiling when you tell them ‘You are a thief’,” he said at an event at the Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

The event was attended by academics, students and representatives from Japanese companies.

The prime minister said such apathy must be addressed, adding that people would do their best when they were afraid to fail.

He said the sense of shame in Japan was very high, citing the tradition of harakiri or ritual suicide practised in the past as an alternative to disgrace.

It was possible for Malaysians to adopt such values, he added.

“Ask yourself, don’t you feel ashamed when you don’t succeed? Then ask why you don’t succeed.”

During the question and answer session following the event, Mahathir said parents must teach their children a sense of shame from a young age.

He said children should be ashamed of doing wrong.

“Tell them it’s wrong to steal. If we teach them that from young, the value will stick with them.

“Many of us can steal but don’t because we discipline ourselves not to do it.

“Some people perhaps weren’t taught. They steal and don’t feel ashamed,” he said, adding that teachers could also play a part in instilling such values. -FMT