I thank the DAP Secretary-General Sdr. Anthony Loke and DAP MPs for this dinner to mark the conferment of DUPN on me by the Governor of Penang.

In the United States, a great campaign is going on to decide in the next 90 days who will be the President of United States. Until some three weeks ago, there was nothing to watch was it was a battle between two old men. Now there is hope and vision for America, and the Democratic Candidate Kamala Harris has coined the slogan “We are not going back. We are going into the future.”

We in Malaysia should also be asserting “We are not going back. We are going into the future”.

In recent years, Malaysia have regressed from its nation-building principles of moderation and inclusivity as embodied in the Constitution and Rukun Negara – to be a world example of the unity in diversity for various races, religions and cultures in the country.

The worsening of the Malaysian situation to greater polarisation is illustrated by more and more examples of intolerance, extremism and polarisation as illustrated by the recent controversies over matriculation, the role of brewery companies in facilitating fund-raising events in Chinese schools, female singers banned from performing on stage at temple functions in Terengganu, and the persistent spread of lies and misinformation that DAP wants to wipe out the Malays from Malaysia.

This is most unthinkable.

When I was a Form 3 student in Batu Pahat High School, I wrote a poem titled My Dream for my class magazine, The Light, and it remains as relevant today some 67 years later:

One for all and all for one,

We care not what colour, creed or religion you belong,

For aren’t each of us Malaya’s son,

Then why let silly racial quarrels prolong?

This was why before the 1974 general election, I announced that Ibrahim Singgeh will be our Perak Mentri Besar if DAP formed the Perak State Government, why I insisted that Daeng Ibrahim and Nakoda Hitam should stand in Ipoh in the seventies and Fadzlan Yahya in Teluk Intan in the eighties to become Perak State Assemblymen and why I campaigned for Ahmad Nor in the Gopeng by-election in 1986 and Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud in the Teluk Intan by-election in 2014 although both lost.

This was also why Lim Guan Eng was disqualified as a Member of Parliament and went to jail for an underaged Malay girl.

We are all Malaysians, whether we are Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Dayaks or Muslims, Confucianists, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Taoists or Sikkhists.

There was no thought or intention of DAP doing away with any race, religion or any culture in country for Malaysia belongs to all races, religions and cultures who have made Malaysia their home.

Malaysians will have multiple identities – ethnic, religious, linguistic, cultural – but they have one common overriding identity as Malaysians.

Nobody is asking Malaysians to forget that he or she is a Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan, Iban or Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Sikkhist, Taoist, but everyone is first and foremost a Malaysian.

In 1995, the then Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad said that the policy of assimilation is not suitable for a plural society like Malaysia.

I am surprised that after six decades of the formation of Malaysia, there are still people preaching assimilation instead of integration in plural Malaysia.

This is best exemplified by some Gerakan leaders who think the Green Wave is coming, that they want to moderate the Green Wave and help non-Malays and non-Muslims “swim” in the Green Wave.

This is against the concept that Malaysia belongs to all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or culture. It is against the Constitution and the Rukun Negara, whose five national principles to strengthen national unity in Malaysia contained clearly the key to harmony and unity for the sake of the success and stability of the country.

They stated:

“Whereby Our Country, Malaysia nurtures the ambitions of:

– Achieving and fostering better unity amongst the society;
– Preserving a democratic way of life;
– Creating a just society where the prosperity of the country can be enjoyed together in a fair and equitable manner;
– Ensuring a liberal approach towards the rich and varied cultural traditions;
– Building a progressive society that will make use of science and modern technology.

“NOW THEREFORE, we, the people of Malaysia, pledge to concentrate our energy and efforts to achieve these ambitions based on the following principles:

– Belief in God
– Loyalty to the King and Country
– Supremacy of the Constitution
– Rule of Law
– Courtesy and Morality”

It is significant that the Deputy Yang di Pertuan Agong, Perak Sultan Nazrain Shah launched the Regional Southeast Asia Human Dignity Conference and called for greater tolerance and unity among followers of different faiths, urging them to see one another as human first before judging them based on their religious beliefs.

He said those spouting the rhetoric of intolerance and exclusion wanted to convince people that those who were different from them were lesser than them, or “a threatening inhuman other”.

He paid tribute to the Bishop of Kuching, Reverend Datuk Donald Jute, for contributing to the goal of “dignity for everyone, everywhere”.

I believe that Malaysia can and must contribute to world civilisation dialogue and understanding for two reasons, firstly because Malaysia is at the confluence of world civilisations – Islam, Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Sikkhism and Taoism; and secondly, as far as back as 30 years ago in 1994, the Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim had proposed a dialogue of civilisations in his speech at the Georgetown University convocation in Washington.

I will like to modify my earlier proposal and suggest that a nine-nation committee be formed the implement the unanimous resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on June 7, 2024 to make June 10 as the International Day of Civilisational Dialogue – China, United States, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, India, Nigeria, Mexico and Malaysia.

I will one step further. I suggest that a Parliamentary Select Committee on Civilisational Dialogue be formed.

We must not regress to become a nation of extremes and polarisation of various races, religions and cultures – as the price will be a heavy one. We must not become a failed state but make our destiny to become a great world-class nation!

(Speech by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang at the dinner of DAP MPs on Thursday, 8th August 2024 in Kuala Lumpur to celebrate the conferment of DUPN on him by the Penang State Governor)