CLASS ACT: Taib (second left) presents the Tokoh Guru Sarawak 2013 award to Mohamed Zain as Abdillah and Fatimah look on.
WELL DONE!: Taib (left) presents the award to Michael while Fatimah looks on.
This generation of self-centred individuals spawned by online technologies
KAPIT: Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud yesterday red flagged the birth of the narcissism generation and urged teachers to come up with practical solutions to nip this negative culture in the bud.
He said although no analysis on generation changes had been carried in Malaysia, a study in the United States showed that there had been big generation changes over the years.
“There are generations before the war, after the war, the baby boomers, and the Generation Y, and all have different characteristics.
“And now, we have a generation with new characteristic. An analysis had been made to give explanation on this generation which we call narcissism. This generation has the tendency to be self-centred,” he said at the launching of state-level 42nd Teachers’ Day celebration at Kapit Civic Centre yesterday.
The chief minister noted that the youths of today were greatly influenced by online technologies and they tend to express themselves freely, even to strangers.
“They no longer regard themselves as an important part of their own society and country.
“They actually regard themselves as global citizens which make them self-centred.”
Taib said narcissism is problematic as this group of people hate being ordered but at the same time they also did not want to take the lead.
“They do not like to work under people and do not want to listen or to lead other people.
“This is a problem affecting young people in developed countries around the world. This is the problem that we need to avoid in our country,” he warned, adding that this generation might create instability in the country.
Taib believed that this problem could be avoided through the nation’s education system.
“It is important for our education system to be able to prevent our children from becoming a narcissism generation.
“We must make sure that they do not spend too much time in the electronic world by nurturing an inter-personal relationship.”
Hence, he suggested that teachers organise lots of activities to encourage social interaction in schools involving students and parent-teacher association (PTA) members.
The main thrust, he said, is to motivate students to actively participate in interaction activities and spend less time socialising on the Internet.
“Put emphasis on outdoor activities to inculcate them with good social and interpersonal communication with the community as well.”
Taib said starting next year the government, through Yayasan Sarawak, would give out special awards to students with excellent interpersonal relationship and communication skills, which also happened to be vital qualities for the state’s future workforce.
At the function, Taib presented the Tokoh Guru Sarawak 2013 award to Mohamed Zain Abang Ismail and Tokoh Kepimpinan Pendidikan Sarawak 2013 to Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong.
Also present were Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah and State Education Director Abdillah Adam.