Raja Nazrin: Learn from history
Perak Regent Dr Raja Nazrin Shah advised the country’s leaders to refer to the records of world history to learn from the causes of the fall of empires and governments and even monarchs and national leaders.
He said there was historical evidence that many people were given the opportunity to become leaders but only a handful rose to be successful leaders who charted history and built civilisations.
"This happened because many of those given the opportunity to lead allowed the joy and passion of having power to lead them astray.
"Some among them became complacent, some went astray, some were ill-advised, some adopted wrong decisions and some made miscalculations.
"Such are the historical accounts available on leaders and leadership which the ummah (people) of today should use as the basis of reference so as not to repeat the mistakes," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.
Setting the direction
Raja Nazrin was speaking at the state-level Maulidur Rasul celebration and presentation of prizes for memorisation of the Quran at the Banquet Hall of Bangunan Darul Ridzuan.
Also present at the function were the Raja DiHilir of Perak, Raja Jaafar Raja Muda Musa; Raja Puan Muda of Perak, Raja Nor Mahani Raja Shahar Shah; Menteri Besar Muhammad Nizar Jamaluddin; state mufti Harussani Zakaria and Perak Dewan Negara (Perak state council) member Mohd Annuar Zaini, who is also chairperson of Bernama.
Nazrin said a leader was responsible for setting the direction for his followers and was accountable to those under his leadership.
"The act of leading is a responsibility that should be fulfilled with trust," he said.
He said Muslim leaders should use the Quran and Hadis as their sources of reference for guidance in discharging their role as leaders.
"As a leader, Prophet Muhammad was gifted in the sense that He received guidance directly from the Almighty. His deeds and sayings are contained in the Hadis," he said.
