Corruption: Weakest Link

NATIONAL CONGRESS ON INTEGRITY, 19 August 2006
"Concept of Integrity from the Islamic & Christian Perspectives"

Venue: University College Sedaya International (UCSI), Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA (location map)
Time: 9 am - 2 pm (Saturday)

The National Congress on Integrity is an initiative of the Graduates Christian Fellowship (GCF) and the Oriental Hearts and Mind Study Institute (OHMSI). It begun in 2005 with a focus on the issue of Corruption: The Weakest Link. The 2nd NCOI focused on Christian Citizenship and the Local Government. This is the third Congress and is designed to be open to all. All those invited must register to become participants.

The world is divided especially after 911. Bridge builders are few and far in between. Malaysia is interested to develop and build National Integrity, within a multi-cultural and multi-religious framework. The fight against corruption is a cornerstone of the Government’s Agenda. The concept of integrity (and corruption) needs to be understood and appreciated in more interesting ways and approaches for efficient translation. The root word for the English word integrity is “integer” which means wholeness, completeness and some times, uprightness. But, are there other concepts of integrity than those of the English Dictionary? What about the scriptures, whether of the East or of the West or of South? How do they help us understand and appreciate this concept of integrity a little better?

The Text: Concept of Integrity from the Islamic and Christian perspectives

The 3rd NCOI is a Dialogue and Exploration of the concept of Integrity based on an Islamic and Christian worldviews.

Two world renowned speakers, who are authorities in their own fields of knowledge, have been invited to address to Keynote Sessions on the Concept of Integrity. They have been requested to address it from each of their scriptural perspectives. The goal of the dialogue is to help evolve a framework for action within a multicultural setting to pursue this agenda of integrity. The two speakers are Dr Ravi Zacharias and Professor Syed Hussein Alatas.

Outcome of the Dialogue

Three outcomes are expected from this Dialogue:

That they will be an improved appreciation of the Concept of Integrity within the context of the National Program on Integrity,

That there will be some common ground agreements on action steps that can be taken by the participants to improve National Integrity and the fight against corruption, and

That the organizers will be able to make a conscious and considered presentation to the Parliamentary Special Committee on Integrity based on the recommendations and the learning achieved from the National Dialogue.

Keynote Speakers
Dr Ravi Zacharias: Spoken in over fifty countries, including the Middle East, Vietnam and Cambodia (during the military conflict) and in numerous universities worldwide, notably Harvard, Princeton and Oxford University, He has addressed writers of the peace accord in South Africa, President Fujimori's cabinet and parliament in Peru, and military officers at the Lenin Military Academy and the Center for Geopolitical Strategy in Moscow. He received his Masters of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Mr. Zacharias has been honored by the conferring of a Doctor of Divinity degree from Houghton College, a Doctor of Laws degree from Asbury College and a Doctor of Divinity degree from Tyndale College and Seminary, Toronto.

Professor Syed Hussein Alatas: A founding member of the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan), which performed relatively successfully in the 1969 general elections. Syed Hussein's academic career began at the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka publishing house, as head of the research department from 1958 onwards. He began lecturing part-time in philosophy at the University of Malaya in 1960, and served as the Head of the Cultural Division of the Department of Malay Studies from 1963 to 1967. He served as the Head of the Department of Malay Studies in the National University of Singapore from 1967 to 1968, before quitting to form Gerakan. He returned to academia as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya in 1988, before becoming a professor at the Centre for General Studies in the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 1995. He later transferred to the Department of Anthropology and Sociology in 1997, before becoming principal research fellow at the Institute
of the Malay World and Civilisation of the same university in 1999. Syed Hussein has authored a substantial number of books, many of them on corruption, including:

The Myth of the Lazy Native (1977)
The Problem of Corruption (1986)

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