Yusril: Good Regulations Suboptimal Without Strong Moral Foundation
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Legal Affairs, Human Rights, Immigration and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra has said experience shows that good regulations will not function optimally if they are not supported by strong moral and ethical foundations within society.
During an audience with the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection (PPPA) in Jakarta on Tuesday (21/7), he said the government has already built a robust legal framework, including for the eradication of corruption.
“From the regulatory side, our legal instruments are already very strong, and we have a complete set of law enforcers. Yet why do various problems, including corruption, continue to occur? This means there is a more fundamental problem, namely the weakening of ethics, character and morality,” said Yusril, as confirmed in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He said a new generation must be built with strong character so that it is able to prevent various forms of violence and deviant behaviour later in life.
Nevertheless, Yusril noted that efforts to prevent violence against women and children constitute long-term work requiring collaboration among all stakeholders.
“This is an enormous undertaking that requires a shared commitment; the government cannot work alone. Synergy among all parties is key to building a safe environment for women and children while strengthening the nation’s character,” he said.
For this reason, the Coordinating Minister welcomed the PPPA Ministry’s initiative of placing character building as an important part of its strategy to prevent violence against women and children.
According to him, successful prevention depends heavily on the ability to build public awareness through the inculcation of religious, moral and ethical values from an early age within the family environment.
Arifah explained that these challenges share similarities with the problem of corruption, which also cannot be resolved solely through a legal approach.
Therefore, she added, strengthening character is an important foundation for building a society with integrity that is also capable of preventing various forms of violence.
“Neither corruption nor violence against women and children can be resolved through regulation alone,” Arifah said.
She also stressed that the PPPA Ministry continues to strengthen the role of the family as the first educational environment for children in instilling religious values, noble character, good manners, morals and ethics.
The PPPA Minister believes that character formed from an early age will become an important provision for children in building healthy, safe lives free from violence.
She also expressed appreciation for the various views put forward by Coordinating Minister Yusril, which she considered strategic input for strengthening the direction of policies and programmes to prevent violence against women and children.
“Prof. Yusril’s thinking is extremely valuable input for us. May the efforts we build together become good deeds whose benefits are continually felt by society,” she added.