The best campaign theme for Pakatan Harapan in the Malacca state general election is to ask the Malacca voters to restore the mandate for Pakatan Harapan to rule Malacca state under Chief Minister, Adly Zahari.

Pakatan Nasional Chief Muhydidin Yassin has announced that PN coalition will likely contest all 28 state seats in the upcoming Malacca polls.

Muhyiddin said he expected Umno would reject cooperation with his party, and Bersatu is prepared to face them in two, three, or four-cornered fights.

UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said UMJNO general assembly had made a decision never to work with Bersatu and said he was confident that BN will be able to win the Malacca state election based on the other side’s “problems” at this time.

We do not know whether all this are mere posturing by the PN and BN parties, but it is important that come what may, Pakatan Harapan be prepared for all eventualities on Nomination Day and the Malacca general election on November 18.

I had not expected Pakatan Harapan to win the Malacca State Government in the 14th General Election, but PH won 15 of the 28 state assembly seats – DAP 8, PKR 3, Bersatu 2 and Amanah 2 and Ädly Zahari became the Malacca Chief Minister in the 14th general election.

The Malacca general election will not be just a state referendum but it will have many implications for national politics.

One important issue will be the Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri’s slogan of Keluarga Malaysia.

Will it go the way of the 1Malaysia slogan which was abandoned after UMNO’s setbacks in the 13th General Election in 2013, or is it going to be a belated realisation that Malaysia had taken the wrong turn in nation-building which must be corrected and rectified if Malaysia is to fulfil Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman’s aspiration of Malaysia to be a “beacon of light to a difficult and distracted world”?

In the last six decades of nation-building, we have failed to be “a beacon of light” to Malaysians ourselves, let alone to the world.

Is the Tunku’s aspiration a lost and hopeless Malaysian Dream?

It is no exaggeration to say that throughout his political career until he accidentally became Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri was an antithesis to the Keluarga Malaysia concept he proclaimed after he became Prime Minister.

Had Ismail Sabri experienced a change-of-heart after he became Prime Minister or will his Keluarga Malaysia slogan go the way of the 1Malaysia slogan of the previous UMNO Prime Minister of Malaysia?

I think multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysia must give Ismail Sabri a chance to prove that he is capable of growth and change and able to subordinate all his other interests to the overriding national interest.

(Media Statement i2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 23rd Octobrer 2021)