The next 14th General Election should be held in the seven months between October to May next year.
It is bruited that China’s President Xi Jinping will visit Malaysia in October this year, while Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is expected to be released from the Sungai Buloh prison next June.
Although Anwar will not be able to contest in the general election as a candidate after his release unless he gets a full pardon from the Yang di Pertuan Agong, he will be able to travel the whole country to campaign for Pakatan Harapan, which is something the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will not want to see happen.
Hence my forecast that the next general election will be held in the seven months between October to May next year, as the puasa month and Hari Raya Aidilfitri next year will be in May/June.
In the May 5, 2013 general election, voters had wanted a change in Putrajaya, and the majority of voters made it clear that this was their intention. However, although Pakatan Rakyat won the majority of the popular vote, the gerrymandering and undemocratic redelineation of electoral constituencies enabled Najib to continue as the first minority Prime Minister of Malaysia, as Barisan Nasional won 60 per cent of the parliamentary seats although it only won 47 per cent of the national votes cast.
Is there still a chance for change of Federal government in the 14th general election?
I believe the chance and possibility of change in Putrajaya in the next general election is still there, and Malaysian voters must not give up the chance for a change of Federal government for the first time in the nation’s history.
Many voters lost hope in the possibility of change in Putrajaya with the disintegration of Pakatan Rakyat after the PAS Muktamar in June 2015, but the political landscape has continued to develop and change.
There is now a Pakatan Harapan comprising DAP, PKR, AMANAH and Parti Pribumi Bersatu of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, has recently shown that he has become a very trusted ally of the Prime Minister, and is even prepared to ensure that Najib will continue as the Prime Minister of Malaysia, despite the corruption and the nation’s infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.
The Cabinet met this morning, but the 36 Ministers dare not pose the issue in everyone’s mind and ask who is “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” or “wife of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1”, let alone to demand that Malaysia’s good name and standing in the international community must be cleared or cleansed from being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.
Malaysians cannot depend on the Prime Minister, the Cabinet, the important institutions in the country or Hadi to defend the good name and reputation in the international community, as none of them regard that there is anything wrong with the 1MDB scandal, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) litigation to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland, or Malaysia’s reputation as a “global kleptocracy”.
Only ordinary Malaysian voters in the 14th General Election can defend and save Malaysia from the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.
The first thing that a Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya will do on being elected in the 14th General Election will be to restore Malaysia’s reputation as a democracy and not a kleptocracy.
The voters in Kuantan and Pahang should join voters all over the country to vote out Najib and the UMNO/BN coalition from Putrajaya, as this is the only way to get to the bottom of the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal and redeem Malaysia’s good image and reputation in the international community.
(Speech at the kopitiam dialogue in Kuantan on Wednesday, June 28, 2017 at 4 pm)