I wish all Malaysian Indians Happy Deepavali.

At last year’s Deepavali, I called on all Malaysians to make the 15th General Election the Deepavali General Election where all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, unite to replace darkness in Malaysia with light so that Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman’s wish for Malaysia to become “a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world” can begin to come true.

I expressed the hope that Malaysians unite to end Malaysia’s trajectory towards kleptocracy, kakistocracy, and a failed state on Malaysia’s Centennial and instead be a phenomenon on the world stage as a great world-class plural nation that can be an object lesson for all nations and peoples of the world, whether in political, economic, educational, social or environmental sphere, as Malaysians leverage on the best values and virtues of the four great human civilisations that meet in confluence in Malaysia — Malay/Islamic, Chinese, Indian, and Western.

The last 12 months had been trying times for all Malaysians but they have ended with greater certainty and stability which promise better times and a more hopeful future for the great valiant efforts to reverse the national decline of the past two decades and to become a great world-class nation.

Lets hope that by Deepavali next year, light will begin to replace darkness so that Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman’s wish for Malaysia to become “a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world” can begin to come true.

(Deepavali message by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, 11th November 2023)