The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, yesterday expressed confidence that Malaysia can emerge as a great nation within the next two or three years through a collaborative approach involving all parties, including civil servants.
In his speech at the launch of Public Service Madani Colloquium, he referred to the Boston Consulting Group’s Seda (Sustainable Economic Development Assessment) which said that the country’s economic development had been stagnant since the late 1990s.
Anwar said: “From Seda’s point of view, Malaysia’s threshold had been moderate since the late ‘90s. Unlike countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand.
“This is frustrating… what is wrong our society and nation? Hence, we must do something about it”
The Siti Mastura fiasco in the last few days, where she has come the laughing-stock on both sides of the causeway, highlights the gravity of Malaysia’s national decline in three important ways:
Firstly, the largest political party in Parliament cannot distinguish lies from truth, falsehoods from reality, fake news from true news, and hate speech from speech to promote tolerance and national unity or reckless to their differences — as seen by the examples of the PAS President, Hadi Awang who could not substantiate his wild and preposterous allegations that DAP and I were anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, communist, and spreading Islamophobia and a PAS MP who could refer to the Singapore’s founding Prime Minister as “Lim Kuan Yew” and who is alive and living in Singapore;
Secondly, the fate of Malaysia under a government formed by such a political party; and
Thirdly, the shocking decline of educational standards where a Member of Parliament with a doctorate who could talk and act like such an ignoramus. In fact, such a fiasco reflects poorly on the quality and integrity of the institution which conferred the doctorate on Siti Mastura.
The question all thinking Malaysians should worry about is whether with such a national decline in recent decades, whether it possible for Malaysia to become a great world-class nation.
(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday, 9th November 2023)