All eyes not only in Johor, but the whole of Malaysia, are on Ayer Hitam tomorrow, where Pakatan Harapan Chairman Tun Mahathir Mohamad will announce the Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Ayer Hitam parliamentary constituency and take on the Deputy MCA President and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong.

Up to now, national attention is focused on personalities – who will contest against Wee in the Barisan Nasional safe seat and where Wee had been MP for three terms since the 2004 General Election.

But even more important than the battle of the candidates, of who versus who, is the meaning of the battle of the Ayer Hitam constituency in the 14th General Election.

If Pakatan Harapan can win the Ayer Hitam parliamentary constituency, it has two important implications: firstly, that Pakatan Harapan can form the Federal Government in Putrajaya in the 14th General Election with Tun Mahathir as Malaysia’s seventh Prime Minister and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Malaysia’s eighth Prime Minister; and secondly, that Pakatan Harapan can also form the new Johore State Government in Nusajaya or Iskandar Puteri.

Malaysia will then, after six decades of nation-building, join the rank of normal democracies like India, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and even Indonesia, where voters can peacefully and democratically exercise their constitutional right to change the government whether at the Federal or State level without any threat, dire warning or occurrence of chaos or catastrophe!

Malaysia becoming a and normal and mature democracy is more important from the national historical perspective, although the issue of personalities, as to which candidate will emerge triumphant in the titanic electoral battle in Ayer Hitam will the capture the imagination of the peoples in the 14th General Election and be the national cynosure in the great electoral battle in the next 60 days.

(Speech at the DAP kopitiam dialogue at Pengkalan Rinting, Johor Baru on Saturday, 17th March 2918 at 8 pm)