Call on all Malaysians of the Malaysian Diaspora all over the world to prepare to return on GE 14 Polling Day to cast their vote to Save Malaysia from a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state and for Malaysians to dare to dream again the Malaysian Dream of becoming of world top-class nation


A great event is happening on Friday, not in Malaysia, but 4,600 kilometres away in Seoul.

On Friday, the corruption verdict and sentencing of South Korea’s ousted ex-president Park Geun-hye will be televised live, in a case that could see her jailed for up to 30 years.

The 66-year-old daughter of a former dictator was impeached and arrested in March 2017 over a wide-ranging corruption scandal that exposed shady links between big business and politics, and prompted massive street protests.

The live broadcast is because of the high public interest – the first time a trial has been televised live in South Korea.

Can such a thing happen in Malaysia?

Not now, although the Korean corruption scandal of the former South Korean President is mere minnow compared to the shark of the 1MDB scandal, which has given Malaysia the 3Is of infamy, ignominy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy!

In fact, Members of Parliament cannot ask questions about the 1MDB scandal, let alone debate it, in the land’s highest deliberative and legislative chamber!

And my second six-month suspension from Parliament in the 13th Parliament is not unrelated to the1MDB scandal.

But on Friday, a significant event is expected to happen in Malaysia which can end Malaysia’s long night of international odium and opprobrium as a result of the epithet of a global kleptocracy as Parliament is likely to be dissolved on that day – setting the stage for the 14th General Election to elect a new Parliament and a new Malaysian Government in Putrajaya.

I want to make two calls tonight.

Firstly, to call on the people of Petaling Jaya and Damansara to be the vanguard of political change in Malaysia, to spearhead the national campaign for Malaysia to become a normal democracy where voters can change governments through the ballot box without any threat of violence, chaos or catastrophe as is the case of Asian democracies in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, India, even in Indonesia and the Philippines.

The democratic rights of the people of Petaling Jaya and Damansara had been devalued in the latest Election Commission’s constituency redelineation exercise, with Tony Pua’s Petaling Jaya Utara constituency inflated and renamed into a mega super-large Damansara parliamnentary constituency crammed with 174,000 anti-UMNO/BN voters as compared to the previous 80,000 voters, while the Election Commission carved out mini parliamentary constituencies averaging 30,000-40,000 Malay voters.

The Election Commission’s constituency redelineation exercise to keep Datuk Seri Najib Razak in power has smashed into smithereens Najib’s One Malaysia objective, to create a Malaysia where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as a Malaysian first and his or her race, religion, region or socio-economic status second.

This is because the principle which guided the Election Commission’s 2018 constituency redelineation is not 1Malaysia but primarily based on the principle of racial polarization, believing that Najib and UMNO/BN have lost the non-Malay votes and can only win the 14th General Elections with support from the Malay votes.

But such premises and calculations may prove to be fatally wrong and mistaken, for in the 14th General Election, all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, are on the move and want political change to stop Malaysia’s tragic trajectory towards a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state and to let Malaysians dare to dream again the Malaysian Dream of a united, progressive and prosperous Malaysia which is a show-case to the world of a successful plural nation of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures

Najib and the Election Commission want to devalue the democratic rights of the people of Petaling Jaya and Damansara.

Let the people of PJ and Damansara prove Najib and Election Commission wrong by giving a premium to the democratic rights of the people of PJ and Demansara – being the proactive vanguard of political change for the better in the 14th General Election by firstly, ensuring the highest voter turn-out and voter support for Pakatan Harpaan in Damansara on Polling Day; and secondly, to go out to from Petaling Jaya and Damansara to all constituencies in the country not only to ensure DAP can win in the marginal seats like Bakri, Ayer Hitam and Labis in Johore, but that all the four parties in Pakatan Harapan can win a simple majority of the 222 parliamentary seats to form the next Federal Government in Malaysia.

Secondly, I call on all Malaysians of the Malaysian Diaspora all over the world to prepare to return on GE 14 Polling Day to cast their vote to Save Malaysia from a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state and for Malaysians to dare to dream again the Malaysian Dream of becoming of world top-class nation

In this unprecedented national effort to re-generate hope and re-inspire Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, to make a herculean national effort in the 14th GE Polling Day for political change, the DAP leadership is considering the issue of using a common logo for all Pakatan Harapan parties in the 14GE.

It is heart-breaking and agonizing for DAP leaders, supporters and voters who have loyally and bravely voted for the Rocket symbol for 50 years, if the Rocket symbol does not appear in the ballots in the coming general election, but this is a difficult decision that the DAP leadership has to take in the coming week if we are to set the example of being prepared to make the supreme sacrifice for the sake of ensuring that Pakatan Harapan can present to Malaysians a united commitment to win a simple majority in the forthcoming parliamentary elections to effect political change for the better for all Malaysians.

(Speech at the DAP Petaling Jaya General Elections Fund-Raising Dinner held at MPPJ Civic Hall CarPark, Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 11 pm)

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