Minister in charge of governance and integrity Paul Low has stressed the importance of protecting the country’s institutions.

Without strong institutions, Low believes the ‘pillars of the nation’ would therefore fall.

“Without it (strong institutions), we will have lawlessness. We will not be able to administrate and implement things properly, and in a way that is righteous,” he said in his speech at the National Integrity Convention in Kuala Lumpur today.

Low added that the country also needs effective laws which are adequate and not draconian.

“We need laws that allow us the space for interaction.

“We should look at how we formulate our laws, and to make sure old laws are repealed and new laws should come up to (standards held by) modern society,” he said.

He added that those responsible must also ensure that the country’s law enforcement was effective.

“Without the proper institutions that uphold the rule of law, it’s hard to enforce laws and nobody will believe our sincerity," he said.

Low also lamented how pampering children has become one of the biggest problems of today’s modern world.

In mollycoddling them, he said parents have forgotten to set boundaries for the children, he said.

“We need boundaries because on the issue of integrity, we need to comply with ethics and values."

Admitting that many things were subjective, Low, however, said negative traits such as cheating, taking bribes, and disrespecting others must be spelt out and advised against in absolute terms.

This was because as the country’s economy develops, materialism and greed would be intertwined with culture, he noted.

“We need a guide on how to handle this or else money will become our idolatry,” he said.

'Bring up problems to the top'

Closing his speech, Low cited September’s Volkswagen scandal where the German carmaker was found to have rigged US vehicle emissions tests.

Low questioned how such a huge transgression was not known to the company’s board of directors from the beginning.

“Maybe, somewhere along the line, the organisation has a culture in which problems are not brought up to the attention of (those at) the top.

“We should have a culture where we reduce formality and protocol to encourage staff to always bring up problems regardless how sensitive they are,” he said.

Low then told the close to 400 civil servants in attendance at the convention today that they could bring their relevant problems to him to be solved together.