The results of the Makhota by-election in Kluang on Saturday, following the victory of the Unity Government in Nenggiri by-election in Kelantan, signifies three things:
Firstly, Malaysians want stability as nobody benefits from a chaotic and unstable Malaysia – with no investor, particularly a foreign investor, wanting to invest in such a Malaysia.
Secondly, there is only one end result for a chaotic and unstable Malaysia – a failed state. It is not the road for Malaysia to rise again to become a great world-class nation.
Thirdly, the end of the Green Wave in Malaysia, where extremism, hatred, lies, misinformation and disinformation ruled the day.
In the past six years, Malaysia has had five Prime Ministers. As of today, the 10th Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, has outlasted three of them – Ismail Sabri, Muhyiddin Yassin and Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in his second tenure as Prime Minister. But Anwar has not only served longer than three of the five PMs in the last six years, he is headed to be one of the longest of ten Prime Ministers of Malaysia.
The next two or three years will be crucial for Malaysia. It will decide whether whether Anwar Ibrahim will be one of the three longest Prime Ministers of Malaysia in Malaysian history.
The acid test in the next two or three years will be whether Anwar Ibrahim will live up to his famous quote: “Wo Men Dou Shi Yi Jia Ren” – “Melayu anak saya, Cina anak saya, India anak saya, Kadazan anak saya, Dayak anak saya”.
If Malaysia is to rise again to become a great world-class nation, we must go back to the Malaysian Constitution and Rukun Negara, which emphasise that Malaysia is a plural society and the importance of “unity in diversity:”
Malaysia nearly become world-known as a kleptocratic state. We want to be famous in the world for the unity and harmony of various races and cultures and the success we can achieve from such unity and harmony.
We want Malaysia to be able to contribute to the world, and one area which we are eminently qualified to contributre is to promote global civilizational dialogue and harmony.
Malaysia is home to Islam, Confucianism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Taoism, Sikhism and other civilisations. We can and must contribute to a new phase of humanity, where all men and women develop not only national mindsets but global mindsets.
We can start modestly by promoting global civilizational dialogue and harmony.
(Speech by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang at the 103th anniversary dinner of the Batu Pahat Chin Kang Association on Monday, 30th September 2024 at 8 pm.)
