Your moral obligations as a good citizen of the state

AS citizens, we must appreciate, acknowledge and act on our rights and responsibilities in all spheres of life and work.

A great teacher of old once said: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s and unto God the things which be God’s.” It means that while we owe allegiance to the state, it is still incumbent on each of us to exercise and stand up for truth and righteousness.

We have the responsibility to be good citizens of the state, if for nothing else but to have a clear conscience.

Those in positions of authority are responsible for reprimanding and restricting wrongdoers, and to reward and protect moral behaviour. They are themselves, of course, required to be the epitome of good conduct and honourable characters.

Citizens are obliged to support the civil government unless the authorities require a citizen to support or do evil in contradiction with moral and ethical conduct.

Citizens should oppose every form of greed, selfishness, vice and wrongdoing. They should seek to bring industry, government and society as a whole under the principles of righteousness, truth and neighbourly love.

When we bring our moral convictions into the public marketplace and involve those ideals in the political arena, we are standing solidly within the best of our traditions as responsible citizens.

In many societies, far too often, we have witnessed those who allow themselves to be driven from the arena of democratic governance and upright dealing in both one’s own conduct and that of the state.

Some have, with blatant disregard, dishonestly ascribed rights to themselves and sought to perpetuate their control by deception and deliberately misleading others whose lives are adversely affected by such misconduct.

Former United States president John F. Kennedy once said: “The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.” One such “persistent” myth is that you cannot, or at least should not, question immoral or unethical conduct.

Nothing can be more false. Holding leaders and the populace to the highest moral and ethical standards is to rid society of evil and protect its citizens.

As citizens, we are called upon not just to enjoy, but to exercise and to practise those fundamental truths and liberties that free the human mind, body and spirit. Surely, there can be no better thing for us to awaken to the exercise of our rights and to the fulfilment of our responsibilities.

RUEBEN DUDLEY, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.