Wider understanding of development needed for holistic progress - Sultan Nazrin

KUALA LUMPUR: An alternative understanding of development is crucial in keeping up with changes in global dynamics and modern challenges that threaten the very basis of the progress achieved, said Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah.

The Perak Ruler said a wider understanding of development must include both in the expected external and unexpected inner aspects such as the intellectual, spiritual and civilisational sense.

"We must be clear that a nation's development is linked not only to how much money we have, or to how many modern buildings and highways we can construct.

"There are countries with the finest state-of-the-art buildings that money can buy, yet where unemployment and poverty - in the sense of economic as well as spiritual poverty, are still widespread.

"True development entails holistic progress in all areas and must include its non-material elements and inner dimensions," said Sultan Nazrin.

The Perak Ruler said this when launching the late Royal Professor Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid's book entitled 'Vision of Development' at the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM) here today in conjunction with IKIM International Forum, the 'Royal Professor Ungku A Aziz, Expanding the Frontiers of Development'.

Paying tribute to the late Ungku Abdul Aziz, he said his holistic vision and approaches should encourage people to rethink and expand their understanding of development.

Sultan Nazrin said the renowned academician was not only an outstanding economist and an institution builder but also a farsighted thought leader and development thinker.

"Ungku Abdul Aziz was also rightly celebrated for his contribution to the Muslim ummah, and we should not forget that his concern for the affairs of Islam and Muslim society went well beyond the idea of establishing Tabung Haji, which is admired throughout the Muslim world.

"He fully embraced the inner, more spiritual dimensions of development, at the same time as pursuing its outer material and worldly concerns," said Sultan Nazrin.

His Highness said Ungku Abdul Aziz's universal vision of development and religion should not be an obstacle to economic progress but should be a motivation for expanding the frontiers of development to be more comprehensive and civilisational.

Also present at the ceremony were Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar, IKIM director-general Prof Dr Mohd Azam Mohd Adli and former Bank Negara governor and Ungku Abdul Aziz's daughter, Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

-- BERNAMA