LAST month, the National Institute of Public Administration (Intan) held its first lecture series for the year under the “INTAN Lecture Series (Integrity)” banner. The lecture aimed at creating a platform for intellectual discourse among civil servants on integrity and nation building. Professor Datuk Dr Ahmad Murad Merican from the Centre for Policy Research and International Studies (CenPRIS) of Universiti Sains Malaysia delivered the lecture titled “Engaging with History, Society and the Nation”, which in many ways awakened the senses of civil servants.

His lecture did not subscribe to the common substance of integrity that the civil service is accustomed to. Rather, it delved into the integrity of the nation’s history, revealing the idiosyncrasies of our history which has either been misrepresented, under represented or not represented at all.