The swearing-in of Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia marked the end of a 24-year struggle of pain, suffering and sacrifice by one principled and soulful person and vindicated my election theme in the 15,000-kilometre journey throughout Malaysia in the two-week 15th General Election campaign that “Malaysia is save-able; Malaysia is worth saving”.
Despite a five-day high-tension political uncertainty, the impasse was resolved with a government comprising Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional-Gerakan Parti Sarawak (GPS)-Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS)-Warisan and an Opposition led by Perikatan Nasional.
Whether government or opposition for the next five years, all the political parties should have the common goal to make Malaysia great again and reverse the sixty-year decline from a first-rate world-class Malaysia to a second-rate mediocre country and in danger to descending to a third-rate failed, divided and kleptocratic state by Malaysia’s Centennial in another four decades.
This is the time for Malaysians regardless of race, religion, language or region to be magnanimous and endeavour with a single purpose to make Malaysia great again and to make Malaysians, anywhere in the world, to be proud of being a Malaysian instead of suffering the infamy of coming from a country which is regarded by the world as “kleptocracy at its worst”.
In his first press conference as Prime Minister, Anwar said Pakatan Harapan and the unity government will uphold Malay rights and the position of Islam.
Anwar said Malaysians, particularly those in Sarawak and Sabah, would not be marginalised under his administration.
He stressed that he wanted to be the Prime Minister for Malaysians of all races so that “we can unite the country as one”.
Four decades ago, in his mid-30s, Anwar was tapped by the then Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, to join UMNO and government as the quintessence Malay and Muslim to halt growing PAS influence in Malaysian politics.
Today, Anwar is demonised as anti-Malay and anti-Islam.
Why is this so and how did it come about?
In my first speech in Parliament more than half a century ago on Feb. 23, 1971, I said very same thing that Anwar said in his first press conference as Prime Minister, yet the DAP was demonised in recent years as anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Royalty, with baseless allegation that the DAP was “communist” made in the 15th general election campaign.
Those who alleged that the DAP was anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty and now “communist” have no proof to substantiate their allegations, as if there is no need for proofs in such fabrications and downright lies.
It is now proven that the DAP had nothing to do with the abortive attempt by the Pakatan Harapan government in 2018 to ratify the International Covenant on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination (ICERD).
In its fourteen years as DAP State Government in Penang, the DAP has done more to uplift the position of the Malays and Islam than the UMNO-Barisan Nasional the previous half a century.
Furthermore, Malaysia had not produced another political leader apart from the DAP National Chairman, Lim Guan Eng, who had crossed the racial and religious divides to pay the heavy price of not only losing his Parliamentary membership but also to lose the right to stand for elective office for five years for fighting for the dignity and rights of a Malaysian of another race and religion.
Without an iota of evidence, the DAP was accused of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty and now accused of being “communist” — a major cause of the worsening racial and religious polarisation in the country today!
Can Malaysia unite and return to the original nation-building principles as advocated by the first four UMNO Presidents and nation’s founding fathers like Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak Hussein, Hussein Onn, Tan Cheng Lock, Tan Siew Sin, Dr. Lim Chong Eu, and V.T. Sambanthan and enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukun Negara — constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy, separation of powers, Islam as the official religion of the country, the rule of law, good governance, public integrity, meritocracy, respect for human rights,an end to the various injustices and inequalities in the country and the flowering of the various languages, religions and cultures in a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural Malaysia?
The odds for success are not high but if the leaders of the various political parties and coalitions are prepared to unite to Save Malaysia to regain our earlier position as a first-rate world-class nation in economic prowess, educational excellence and public integrity, then there is still hope for the Malaysian Dream.
My 15GE theme that “Malaysia is save-able; Malaysia is worth saving” stand vindicated — but are Malaysians prepared to take the next step to unite on a Common Agenda for the next five years?
(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Penang on Saturday, 26th November 2022)