A 20-year old manifesto

Taken from zubedy’s first full-page advertisement for 2001’s Hari Malaysia.

Today is September 16, 2001; Hari Malaysia. This is a very special day though perhaps many of us Malaysians have yet to realize it. It was on September 16 back in 1963 that Peninsular Malaya was united with Sabah and Sarawak. In one stroke, we unite people from different backgrounds, different religions, and different ethnicities into a nation we call Malaysia.

We at zubedy are glad to add value to this integration via our training programs and consultancy. Through our workshops for corporate and social organizations, we try to further unite people. We seek to connect and unite people with people, people with organizations, organizations with organizations, and organizations with people. We intend to add value to everyone and everything that we interact with and make the world a better place (at a profit).

We draw our strength in human development, from all our spiritual traditions. We have strong convictions that it is through education and the understanding of our shared values that our nation will continuously grow united and stronger.

The first Quranic word delivered through Prophet Muhammad is to “READ”. Confucius suggested that if we are planning for a year, we should sow rice. A decade? Plant trees. But to plan for a lifetime, he stressed that we must educate people. The Bhagavad Ghita lay emphasis on cultivating knowledge pertaining to the self and reality and declared that there is no purifier in this world that can equal wisdom. The Buddha enlightens us that the wise man, gathering little by little, fills himself with good. The Bible invites us to ask, and we will receive. Seek, and we will find. Knock, and the door will open. Similarly, the Quran encourages us to pray “My Lord, grant me increase in knowledge”.

That is why education, human development, and training are very important.

Again, let us add value and have a happy and meaningful Hari Malaysia.