DAP Johor Chairman Liew Chin Tong said in his speech just now that UMNO wants a landslide victory in the Johor general election to bring about an early 15th general election.

The Johor general election is therefore not only about Johor but about Malaysia and the future of our children and children’s children in the coming decades – whether Malaysia can become a better country as to become a world-class great nation before Malaysia’s Centennial in 2063

UMNO hopes to follow up on the momentum in the Malacca general election to win big in the Johor general election to bring about early 15th General Election, regardless of the Covid-19 pandemic where the Omicron variant has taken daily new Covid-19 cases to stormy new heights – currently exceeding 27,000 cases a day.

But did UMNO win back the support of the people of Malacca in the Malacca general election in December last year?

No, UMNO did not although Barisan Nasional won 21 of the 28 Malacca State Assembly seats which is over two-thirs majority.

This is not because UMNO had won back the support of the voters of Malacca but due to two factors: the low voting turn-out and the split of votes against UMNO and Barisan Nasional.

If not for these two factors, UMNO and Barisan Nasional on their own would have won only eight seats – not enough to form the Malacca State Government let alone securing two-thirds majority in the Malacca State Assembly.

UMNO won only eight seats out of 28 constituencies in Malacca with majority voter support while the13 seats (including the two seats won by MCA and one seat by MIC) were won on minority votes of less than 50 pcr cent because of low voting turnout and the split of votes against Barisan Nasional.

Johor must not follow the example of the Malacca general election and allow UMNO and Barisan Nasional a great victory in the Johor general election although it practises corruption and abuses of power.

Every Johor voter must assume the responsibility to urge other voters to cast their votes for we must overcome the disappointments and despondency that we have yet to achieve institutional reforms in Malaysia as evidenced by the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2021 which shows that in the field of corruption we are losing out to more countries – even Indonesia, Philippines and China – and continue with our long-term struggle to make Malaysia a better world-class nation for the sake of our children and children’s children.

The Johor general election is also about whether Najib Razak will succeed in getting early 15th general election and can return as the 10th or 11th Prime Minister of Malaysia

The criminal trial of Roger Ng in New York this week for corruption in the 1MDB scandal, which has been described by the US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions as “kleptocracy at its worst”, has revealed how the millions and billions of 1MDB debts were abused and misused, but it is the Malaysian taxpayers and future generations who will have to pay the billions of 1MDB debts for such corruption.

The voters of Johor must lead Malaysians in making it very clear that the country does not want someone, who is well-known for making Malaysia into a kleptocracy, to return to lead the nation.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the candidature announcement for the Stulang constituency at the DAP Solidarity Dinner at Cathay Restaurant, Johor Baru on Friday, 18th February 2022)