Yesterday, I said the many national holidays in Malaysia afford Malaysians the opportunities for reflection and review as to why the country failed to achieve greater goals, such as pondering how Malaysia could transform from a global kleptocracy to a leading nation of integrity in the world.

Just as ordinary Malaysians saved Malaysia from a global kleptocracy and a failed state, the challenge of whether Malaysia transforms from a global kleptocracy to a leading nation of integrity in the world will rest on their shoulders.

Similarly, ordinary Malaysians also have to wrestle with another great conundrum of the nation – whether Malaysia can succeed in nation building out of the diverse races, religions, languages and cultures that have made Malaysia their home to become a model of an united, tolerant, successful, progressive and prosperous plural entity in a complex and plural world. Read the rest of this entry »

Malaysia has many national holidays which provide Malaysians more opportunities for reflection and review as to why one or the country failed to achieve greater goals or achievements.

The 2019 Chinese New Year is similarly a useful occasion for a national review by all Malaysians of the many great questions confronting the nation.

One of these great issues of the nation is undoubtedly how Malaysia transform from a global kleptocracy to a leading nation of integrity in the world.
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The 14th General Election of May 9, 2018 has rightly been described as a battle which was miraculously won by Malaysians who had the patriotism, fortitude and passion for justice, freedom, integrity and unity but we have only won a battle and not a war.

Let us have the stamina, perseverance and foresight not only to win a battle on May 9, 2018 but to win the war to build a New Malaysia for future generations of Malaysians.
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On Thaipusam, I am always reminded of two great icons for the New Malaysia the Pakatan Harapan wants to build after the last general election: Karpal Singh and Nik Aziz.

On Thaipusam Day in 2013, Karpal Singh had a visit at his home from Tok Guru Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

The then-menteri besar of Kelantan and mursyidul am (spiritual leader) of PAS celebrated his own 82nd birthday in Karpal’s home and offered him a slice of his birthday cake. Read the rest of this entry »

2018, Malaysians stood tall for the first time in many years and shocked themselves as well as the world by carrying out a peaceful and democratic transition of power in Putrajaya to give hope to Malaysians and the world not to give up on democracy, however noisy and messy it might be, as a system of governance.

2019 will probably be the most decisive year in the nation’s history which will decide whether the New Malaysia the Pakatan Harapan coalition of DAP, Bersatu, PKR and AMANAH want to build is a work-in-progress or a sheer chimera. Read the rest of this entry »

Merry Christmas to all Christians in Malaysia.

Let us celebrate this first Christmas after the historic decision on May 9, 2018 to bring about a peaceful and democratic transition of power in the six decades of Malaysian history,

Let us unite to Save Malaysia from a global kleptocracy by becoming a leading nation in integrity.

Even better , let us fulfil our destiny to be a world top-class nation in various fields of human endeavour, including becoming among the world’s top nations where there is peace, tolerance, acceptance and co-existence among the diverse religions in the country. Read the rest of this entry »

The highlight of the visit of the DAP delegation to China is undoubtedly the briefing and crossing of the six-lane Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge – a 55-kilometre (34 mi) bridge–tunnel system which is both the longest sea crossing and the longest fixed link on earth.

In our briefing, we were informed that the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) was designed to last for 120 years and built with a cost of 126.9 billion yuan (US$ 18.77 billion).

The cost of constructing the Main Bridge was estimated at 51.1 billion yuan (US$ 7.56 billion) funded by bank loans and shared among the governments of China, Hong Kong and Macau.
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A modern-day Lewis Caroll would have found the Malaysian political landscape a fertile field to fire his imagination if he wanted to write Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 2.0.

We have the leader of a political party which for six decades until the recent General Election had claimed the divine right to govern the country succumbing to pressures to relinquish his post as he has failed to give any direction to his party after a crushing defeat in the last general election. Read the rest of this entry »

I believe that I am one among the overwhelming majority of Malaysians who had not expected that Malaysians are capable of making the historic decision on May 9, 2018 to make a peaceful and democratic transition of power, much as we wanted it to happen – and in my case, I have dedicated 52 years of life to this goal.

The opportunity provided by the historic May 9, 2018 decision must not be wasted to set the country on a new direction away from a sham democracy, kakistocracy, a failed state and a global kleptocracy to a leading nation of integrity and a Tiger economy, which is united, democratic, just, progresive and prosperous.

This is a mission which cannot be accomplished in 100 days, two years or in one five-year general election cycle, but will engage the commitment and dedication of patritoic Malaysians for a decade or two.

At this stage, we are still feeling the reveberrations from the historic decision of May 9, 2018, viz:

· The cracking up of UMNO, which for six decades, have virtually claimed the divine right to rule Malaysia – with another MP leaving UMNO, leaving the party with 43 MPs, and another five allegedly set to quit UMNO;

· The resort to the toxic politics of lies, hate, fear, race and religion which culminated in the Anti-ICERD rally of 8th December 2018. There was both pros and cons – among the pros, the country moving solidly towards a democratic state where the people can speak and assembly peacefully and in accordance with the law; among the cons, the lengths the practitioners of lies, hate, fear, race and religion are capable of going to pursue their selfish and petty political interests at the national expense.

The monstrous 1MDB scandal, which cast Malaysia to perdition by being condemned by the world as a global kleptocracy, must be a terrible lesson for all Malaysians, that we must never again allow the nation to be pawned to anyone’s greed for power or wealth and that the interests of all Malaysians of diverse races and religions and future generations must always take higher priority than the interest of one man or group of persons, however exalted their position or power.

(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at the launching of the Malay Mail book, “100 Days, 100 Pictures” in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 14th December 2018 at 5 pm)

It is an honour and privilege to be invited by the organisers of Malam Sekolah, UKM to come to the UKM campus to speak, which would be unthinkable if there had not been a historic change of government in Putrajaya on May 9, 2018.

This comes on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of my cultural debate with Professor Naguib Alatas at the MARA Auditorium on November 24, 1968, on whether Malaysian literature must be written only in Bahasa Malaysia, or whether it could be written in other languages, whether Chinese, Tamil or English – in other words, whether there is going to be cultural democracy in Malaysia.
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