Yesterday, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that a former UMNO leader who claimed Malaysians are embarrassed by their nationality should be cast into the ocean.
Najib cannot be more wrong.
Is Najib saying that Malaysians should preen with pride when they are overseas and berated for being Malaysians as the country has ascended the stratospheric but exclusive club of “global kleptocracy” –castigated by the US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions at a recent international conference as practising “kleptocracy at its worst” in the case of the international multi-billion 1MDB money-laundering scandal?
Any Malaysian who is proud at such an infamous appellation for Malaysia overseas is neither patriotic nor loyal to Malaysia. He is guilty of fake patriotism and fake loyalty!
Unless the long-running international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal and “MO1” are all fake news – but dare Najib make such claims publicly and internationally?
Malaysia has come a long way since our Merdeka 61 years ago in 1957 and the formation of Malaysia 55 years ago in 1963 when the sky is the limit to our dream to become a world-class nation in every field of human endeavour and accomplishment.
Former Finance Minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has given another example why Malaysia is fast becoming a failed state, relegated to the backwaters of the world if we do not urgently pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.
Razaleigh told the news portal Free Malaysia Today in an exclusive interview that he was shocked when he found that some civil servants today could not even write in proper English.
He said the country’s international standing has taken a dip to the point that Malaysians are no longer sought after for their academic and language skills.
Following Najib’s logic yesterday, are Malaysians to feel proud at such lowering of Malaysia’s standards – and that they should not feel any embarrassment at all?
Razaleigh told Free Malaysia Today:
“A lot of our people, even in the civil service, cannot even write a simple letter. I am very embarrassed. I can only point out that it is education that is pulling our people back. Who suffers? The whole country.
“I go to a lot of international conferences.
“Before, as we all could speak English well, though not very well, they always called us. Not Indonesians, not even the Filipinos who speak English all the time.
“They’d rather have us to draft communiques and press statements, or sit in caucuses and mini conferences. We Malaysians were always singled out.
“But now nobody wants us, because we can’t even write, and with what is written, we can’t even read!”
Razaleigh said many neighbouring countries have done better, leaving Malaysia behind.
He said: “That reflects very badly on us because of the lack of education. We are unable to catch up.”
What Razaleigh said is a powerful reason why Malaysia must re-set nation-building policies and directions, starting with the replacement of the UMNO/BN Federal Government in Putrajaya by a Pakatan Harapan government in the 14th General Election which will be held in the next 100 days – sending out to the world a clear and unmistakable signal that Malaysians want to Save Malaysia and do not want to be trapped in the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state!
(Speech at DAP Kopitiam ceramah in Pasir Pinji, Ipoh Timor on Saturday, 3rd February 2018 at 10 am)