Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said there should be "a sense of shame" in the heart of the people when they fail to carry out their job properly.He said that it was this attitude that has propelled the Japanese people to become among the most successful people in the world, noting that they had adapted this in their work culture.
"This sense of shame is so strong that they cannot accept failure and they are ashamed of it," he said.
He was replying to a question from a Bernama editor, Mahrus Ibrahim, during a dialogue session after delivering a lecture in conjunction with the launch of a coffee table book, titled "Che Det", published by the Malaysian national news agency, Thursday.
The book contains write-ups and 470 pictures, depicting the great moments in the career of Dr Mahathir as the country's fourth prime minister.
"The Japanese people will strive to do their job to the best of their ability because the feel ashamed if they don't. This sense of shame should also be prevalent among our society. If we cannot achieve 100 per cent, we should feel ashamed about it," he said.
Earlier in his lecture, titled "Building Malaysian Civilisation and Culture Towards Becoming A Developed Nation", he spoke of a clash of Western and Eastern value system and that Malaysia was taking its own strides towards civilisation by holding on to the noble values of individuals and the society.
Dr Mahathir said that the West might see the communities in the East as uncivilised for not subscribing to their values, citing for instance Malaysia which still imposed the death penalty for those convicted of murder or drug trafficking.
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