Bersatu is contest 15 seats in Penang, one seat less than Gerakan which is contesting 16 seats; while PAS will be contesting in nine seats.

While it looks unlikely that the Penang State Government will change hands in the Penang State Polls in August, the possibility of Penang ending up with a PAS Chief Minister cannot be completely ruled out.

As the Chinese say, what the Penang voters fear is not “It Wan but Wan It” — the possibility however unlikely it seems, to have a PAS Chief Minister in the Penang State Polls in August cannot be completely ruled out.

Perikatan Nasional (PN) and PAS want Penang to degenerate like Kelantan, from the richest to become the poorest state in Malaysia.

DAP wants the reverse — Kelantan as developed as Penang, and like Penang, to increase its per capita GDP to four times to its present level — to near Penang per capita GDP.

Under the DAP-led State Government of Penang since 2008, the per capita GDP of Penang has more than doubled — and Penang has now more than four times the per capita GDP of Kelantan.

To prevent PAS from having a PAS Chief Minister, and Penang degenerating from the richest state in Malaysia to become among the poorest state in Malaysia, the voters of Penang must come out in large numbers and have a voter turn-out higher than in the 2018 general elections. I call on the Penang voters, Malays and non-Malays, Muslims and non-Muslims, to create history in the state polls in August by voting with higher turnout than the 14th and 15th General Elections to grasp the once-in-a-century opportunity for Malaysia to be world champions again and to be the role model to the world for inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisation dialogue, understanding, tolerance, and harmony.

Malaysians voters recorded a 82.3 per cent voter turn-out in the 14th general election in 2018, which fell by 8.2 per cent to 74 per cent in the 15th general election in 2022.

Can Penang voters, both Malay and non-Malays, Muslim and non-Muslims, create history by having a voter turnout of more than 82.3%?

We want Penang and Malaysia to be world champions again in as many fields of human endeavour as possible, but we do not want to be ”world champions” like when Muhyddin Yassin was the Prime Minister from March 2020 to August 2021.

Under Muhyiddin as Prime Minister, we were among the “world champions” and among the top 30 countries with the most number of Covid-19 casualties — in fact, we were ranked No. 20 in the world for Covid-19 deaths at one time.

We were also “world champions” as we were the only country which suspended Parliament and allowed the government to commit gross abuses of power as well as corruption.

But this is not the “world champions” we want Malaysia to be as we should be ashamed to such worldly “feats”.

Eighteen years ago, at the University of Malaya’s centennial celebrations in June 2005, the then Deputy Prime Minister threw the challenge to University of Malaya to raise its 89th position among the world’s top 100 universities in THES-QS (Times Higher Education Supplement-Quacquarelli Symonds) ranking in 2004 to 50 by the year 2020.

University of Malaya has been unable to meet this challenge as it is ranked No. 70 in the QS World University Ranking 2023 and ranked 351–400 in the Times Higher Education World Universities Ranking 2023.

The six state polls in August will not be about the future of Penang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu alone, but also whether Malaysia can reset and return to the original nation-building principles of a plural Malaysia and be world champions again like ensuring that University of Malaya is among the top 50 universities of the world.

Let Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, age or gender, unite as Malaysians in the six state polls to build better tomorrow in Malaysia for our children and children’s children.

There are political forces which are spreading lies, falsehoods, fake news and hate speech to make Malaysians suspicious about each other and polarise the country, whether based on race, religion or culture, when Malaysia should be the role model of the world in inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisation dialogue, understanding, tolerance and harmony.

This is the large picture and long vision for the six state polls in August.

It is not just about the future of Penang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu.

Even more important, it is also about the future of Malaysia — whether Malaysia’s fate is to be world champions again or to end up as a divided, failed, and corrupt state in the coming decades.

(Speech by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang at the Bukit Gelugor dinner In Solidarity with Lim Guan Eng at Daily Fish Restaurant, Penang on Friday, 30th June 2023 at 9 pm)