There are only three days of campaigning left for the 15th General Election as polling is on Saturday, November 19, 2022.

From my visit to various parts of the country it is clear that the wind of change is beginning to blow hard, especially after the dissolution of Parliament on Oct. 10, 2022, and the velocity of change took a quantum jump after Nomination Day on Nov. 5, to the extent that the “Court Cluster” in UMNO/BN coalition leadership, headed by their President Zahid Hamidi, is now no more as confident as before that the UMNO/BN coalition would be the clear winner in the 15GE to singly form the Federal Government in Putrajaya.

Zahid is putting up a brave front publicly but, he knows in his heart of hearts that he had dragged down the reputation, popularity and integrity of the UMNO/BN coalition to the lowest level in UMNO history, even to a lower level when UMNO was under the presidency of Najib Razak.

For how long can the UMNO leadership mislead the Malay masses to accept that corruption and kleptocracy are admirable qualities, especially when the early UMNO Presidents like Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn are famous for their condemnation of corruption and kleptocracy?

For how long are the UMNO leaders going to frighten the Malays with lies and false information that Malays and Islam are under threat, when there is no anti-Malay, anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Dayak, anti-Kadazan or anti-Muslim, anti-Buddhist, anti-Christianity and anti-Hindu on the ground at the grassroots?

But whether the velocity for political change has reached the stage that there would be a political tsunami of new hopes and expectations for Malaysia on Polling Day can only be known on Polling Day.

From all accounts, the Pakatan Harapan is likely to win the largest bloc of Members of Parliament on Polling Day, but not enough to reach the simple majority of 112 Parliamentary seats to form the Federal government in Putrajaya, followed by UMNO/BN and Perikatan Nasional — unless there is a high voter turnout, which is favourable to Pakatan Harapan.

As a result, UMNO/BN may team up with Perikatan Nasional to get the simple majority of 112 MPs to form the Federal Government of Malaysia.

I do not expect the 15GE to duplicate the voter turnout of the 14GE, which is some 83% but, I urge all Malaysian voters, inside and outside the country to ensure that the voter turnout is more than 80% so that Anwar Ibrahim can become the 10th Prime Minister and save Malaysia from becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state in three or four decades.

Sarawak cannot be great unless Malaysia is also great. How is Sarawak and Malaysia to get stability and prosperity if Malaysia is a failed, rogue, and kleptocratic nation in three or four decades?

We have failed in nation-building as when Malaysia was formed, we were the richest country in Asia after Japan, but in the past six decades, we have lost out to Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Vietnam.

In 1965, one Singapore dollar was worth one Malaysian ringgit. Today, one Singapore dollar is worth RM3.39.

Do we need more evidence to show the Malaysia had failed in the last six decades?

But Malaysia can still be saved and worth saving, for we have not become a failed, rogue, and kleptocratic state like Sri Lanka or Zimbabwe.

We have fallen from a first-rate world-class great country in six decades to become a second-rate mediocre country, but we have not fallen to a third-class failed, rogue, and kleptocratic state, which will take another three or four decades.

We must save ourselves and return to our earlier promise of a first-rate world-class great country. But we must start now, with Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister, as the other candidates for the 10th Prime Minister, whether Zahid Hamidi, Bersatu President Muhyiddin Yassin or PAS President Hadi Awang do not admit that we have failed in nation-building in the last six decades.

Under them, Malaysia end up as a failed, rogue, and kleptocratic state in three or four decades.

(Media Conference Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang at a media conference in Kuching on Wednesday, 16th November 2022 at 11 am)