Trust among Malaysians can make the country a better place
By Zan Azlee

If people could trust each other more, then society can be much happier. It wasn’t just trust amongst neighbours and friends, but also trust towards police, government and other institutions.

Apparently, if 10 per cent more people felt they could count on others, then a more positive life satisfaction would be achieved, compared to giving everyone a 50 per cent pay raise.

This was a study conducted by economics Professor John Helliwel from the University of British Columbia, as told by author, Charles Montgomery, in his book Happy City.

This is interesting because it shows that at the end of the day, if you wanted to have a contented and matured society, money really doesn’t play much of an important role.

Now this isn’t exactly a new concept. Helliwell is actually just continuing the thought processes of many different thinkers and intellectuals over the centuries.

Greek philosophers like Socrates and Aristotle always related happiness to the development of society, which eventually led to the Greek concept of eudaimonia.

Eudaumonia, which came about during the glory days of the city of Athens, promoted the idea that personal and societal growth was dependant on public and civic-mindedness.

In the city of Athens, everyone (those who were full citizens and not slaves!) had a voice with which they could express their thoughts on state policies. Everyone participated.

There were large open air theatres where society could gather to have discourse, debate and even heated arguments with one another on how best to improve their lives. [Click to read the full article at English.AstroAwani.Com]