Putrajaya  Russia has the Red Square and Kremlin, China has the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, India has the Red Fort, the Indian Parliament building and many other great pieces.

In Christendom, the ceilings, roof and spires of the churches of old soared to the very heavens so that a worshipper was dwarfed and humbled in the great house of god. All these architectural examples, among many others, make the viewer stand in awe of a nation's greatness and its history.

Great architecture facilitates the metamorphosis of even the very soul of a people, built according to the prophets in the image and likeness of the one living god, to rise to the occasion and move energised towards great thoughts, great acts and a great future.

In an age where nations like Iraq and North Korea, with populations of 18 and 17 million respectively, can keep the mighty at bay, Malaysia can rise to greatness on the global stage, just as the great empires of the past did, but only if we get our politics, thinking and relationships right in the community of nations. Fate, as the great sages say, cannot touch those who do great "good" nor those who do great "evil".