I believe Malaysia can fulfil Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman’s aspiration for the country to be a “a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world” by being a role model for the world in at least five ways, viz:
- for inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisation dialogue, understanding, tolerance, and harmony;
- to be among the top 30 countries recognised for our efforts to fight corruption;
- for good governance;
- for the rule of law; and
- an example to the world how to counter the lies, falsehoods, and fake news spawned by social media in the era of information technology.
I have said that of the 55 countries in the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC), only four countries has a majority of Muslims of less than 65% — Malaysia, Sierra Leone, Lebanon, and Nigeria — to be the role model of inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisation dialogue, understanding, tolerance, and harmony.
But the three countries of Lebanon, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria eliminated themselves from this role model as in the latest Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2022, these three countries belong to the 65 most corrupt countries in the world — Sierra Leone scoring 34 out of 100 marks (where 100 marks represent very clean country), while Lebanon and Nigeria scored 24 marks.
At present, the top 30 least corrupt countries in the TI’s annual CPI listing included five Asian countries, namely Singapore (No. 5), Hong Kong (No. 12), Japan (No. 19), Bhutan (No. 25), and Taiwan (No. 26), and one OIC country, the United Arab Emirates.
If Singapore and Hong Kong, which were regarded as utterly corrupt in the fifties, could now be regarded as the top 30 least corrupt nations in the world, there is no reason why Malaysian cannot achieve this feat although we have fallen to 61st ranking out of 180 countries with a poor score of 47 out of 100 marks.
What is necessary for Malaysia to be role model of the world in these five areas is full support from the people and all the state governments.
May be, this should be a major campaign theme in the general elections of the six states of Penang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu in another 12–14 weeks.
(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Penang on Saturday, 29th April 2023)