There is an old film on the Inn of Sixth Happiness.

The 56th Installation Dinner tonight is a Dinner of Four Happiness.

Firstly, it is the birthday of Jitco Chin, newly installed President of the Pudu Rotary Club.

Secondly, Pudu Rotary Club is 56 years old.

Thirdly, DAP is also 56 years old.

Fourthly, this year mark my 56 years in Malaysian politics.

I have announced my retirement from competitive politics and cannot speak on behalf of DAP as I have withdrawn from the frontline of DAP politics. But I can speak for myself.

No one can be divorced from politics unless he leaves for another world for we are affected every second of our lives by politics.

I have been looking at two questions: the global situation and the future of Malaysia.

A former Malaysian has become the Foreign Minister of Australia. In the United States, an ethnic Indian has become the Vice President of the United States and an ethnic Chinese is trying with two other political leaders to break the two-party Republican-Democratic system by forming a new political party, Forward.

In the United Kingdom, either an ethnic Indian or a woman will replace Boris Johnson to become the Prime Minister of UK. In the competition for the top political post in UK, the ethnic Indian candidate, Rishi Sunak, talked about ensuring educational excellence in schools and universities.

Do we worry about educational standards in our schools and universities?

All Malaysians, regardless of race and religion, worked very hard – for what?

The answer for all is the same and very simple – to ensure that our children and children’s children have better lives and opportunities: economic, educational, social and political.

Malaysia will be celebrating our 65th anniversary in a month’s time.

For close to half a century, we have been losing out to one country after another.

Can we buck up and stop being overtaken by more and more countries in the coming years and decades?

One question which intrigues me is whether we can rediscover the spirit of hope and challenge in the 2018 general election to continue to press for change and excellence in Malaysia to save the country so that Malaysia can be a world-class great nation.

Can we?

This is the challenge for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, age or gender!

What happened in Parliament this week in amending the Constitution to ban party-hopping by Members of Parliament gives hope that Malaysians can rise up to the challenge to make Malaysia great.

Malaysia is on the road back to public integrity and all Malaysians want the country to stop being associated with corruption and kleptocracy.

The constitutional amendments banning party-hopping is not perfect but it is a beginning to show we can come out of the despondency, dejection and despair caused by the Sheraton Move conspiracy which stole the mandate of the people and toppled the Pakatan Harapan government after 22 months, to hope anew and rise up to the challenge of a long-term struggle to make Malaysia a world-class great nation.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the Pudu Rotary Club 56th Installation Dinner at Hee Lai Ton Restaurant, Petaling Jaya on Saturday, July 30, 2022)