It is more than 500 days since the historic and miraculous decision of Malaysians in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 – what the international media had described as a “shock victory – to achieve the “impossible dream” of achieving a change of government through peaceful and democratic means first time in six decades.

All Malaysians who had rooted for what appeared to be an “impossible dream” of a change of government had high hopes of the Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya, and so did the leaders of the four parties of DAP, PKR, Bersatu and Amanah which made up the Pakatan Harapan coalition, but they were totally unaware of the magnitude of the rot which the Najib premiership had left behind.

The country was in debt for over a trillion ringgit; the national institutions have lost their independence and professionalism as they were suborned and subverted by the former prime minister and the 1MDB billions of ringgit; the country had forfeited the respect by the international community of nations as it became a global kleptocracy, publicly flagellated as “kleptocracy at its worst” in an international conference; while race, religion, fake news and hate speech had been employed to protect the former government leaders from any possibility of regime change in the 14th General Election.

Pakatan Harapan Ministers and deputy ministers were shocked to find that they had to ascertain and address the rot that had been left behind by the previous government before they could proceed to implement the Pakatan Harapan promises of a New Malaysia where the country can become a top world-class nation of unity, justice, freedom, excellence and integrity.

There is widespread disappointment and disillusionment among Pakatan Harapan voters and supporters who had expected political, economic, educational, socio-cultural changes in the past 500 days. Read the rest of this entry »

In the last two days, my thoughts have often returned to the opening paragraph of Charles Dickens’s “A Tale of Two Cities” –

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair …, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way …”

Best of Times, Worst of Times; Light and Darkness; Hope and Despair – these were the paradoxes that agonised Malaysians on our 62nd Merdeka Day.

Early this week, I encapsulated this paradox and posed the question whether I should just forget about New Malaysia and call its quits.

I received tons of responses, a large number of them bots wishing my immediate disappearance from the political scene, but a fair amount reflecting the paradoxes of the opening paragraph of “A Tale of Two Cities”.

A political commenter was so full of despair about the future of Malaysia that he penned an article entitled “A meaningless Merdeka”, expressing this attack of darkness that “After 21 years of writing ideas, criticisms and advice for Malaysians, Malays and those in power in academic, religious and political institutions, I have no more to give”.

This paradox caused another commentator to write about “Let’s have Merdeka from ‘race and religion’”. Read the rest of this entry »

Mampukah Pakatan Harapan memenangi Pilihanraya Umum ke-15 pada tahun 2023?

Persoalan “Mampukah Pakatan Harapan (PH) menang Pilihan Raya Umum ke-15 (PRU15) pada tahun 2023” akan menimbulkan jawapan yang berbeza daripada kumpulan yang berbeza.

Bagi perintis perikatan klepto-teokrasi yang pertama di dunia dalam tempoh yang terdekat, dengan setiap satu daripada dua parti komponennya mengheret sekali parti bawahannya, sama ada MCA dan MIC yang diheret UMNO atau Ikatan dan Berjasa yang diheret PAS, jawapan yang kedengaran sudah tentu “Tidak”, kerana perikatan UMNO-PAS berangan-angan untuk menjadi Kerajaan Malaysia pada PRU15 dan menubuhkan negara klepto-teokrasi pertama seumpamanya di dunia.

Tetapi, mereka tidak akan bersetuju dengan hakikat yang PRU15 akan dilaksanakan pada tahun 2023, kerana mereka sangat mengharapkan supaya PRU15 dijalankan lebih awal!

Saya belum mengajukan persoalan ini kepada pemimpin-pemimpin lain parti komponen PH. Namun, jawapan saya kepada persoalan ini adalah; ya.

Pendapat ini menongkah arus persepsi umum semasa mengenai kerajaan PH, kerana terdapat beberapa kumpulan yang mempunyai pandangan bahawa kerajaan PH akan disingkirkan dari Putrajaya sekiranya pilihan raya umum diadakan sekarang — seperti mana mereka meramalkan bahawa kerajaan PH akan runtuh dan berpecah beberapa bulan selepas pertukaran kerajaan, dan kini mereka berharap yang kerajaan PH tidak akan berjaya mentadbir sepenuh penggal, sebaliknya akan tersungkur dan berpecah sebelum tahun 2023.

Mereka yang skeptikal terhadap PH pasti akan terkejut jika kerajaan PH mampu mentadbir sepenuh penggal pertama ini dan hanya melaksanakan PRU15 pada tahun 2023 dan bukan lebih awal dari itu! Read the rest of this entry »

The double celebrations for the 62nd National Day on August 31 and 56th Malaysia Day on September 16 should be occasions to inculcate among Malaysians a sense of confidence for the future, that Malaysia is finally in the trajectory to build a nation which is a top world-class nation of unity, freedom, justice, excellence and integrity.

This is the occasion to inspire Malaysians that Malaysia, the confluence of four great civilisations in the world – Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western – will be the showcase to the world of the success of the Alliance of Civilisations to prove wrong the prophets of doom who had forecast a Clash of Civilisations as the theme of the 21st Century.

But it had been a bad month for Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya, as the combination of a quartet of issues – a videotape, Jawi writing in Chinese and Tamil primary schools, Zakir Naik and Lynas – combined to give the impression that the PH government is on the ropes.

Until gangrenous Ahmad Zahid, the UMNO President, talked about non-existing “political gangrene” in the Pakatan Harapan, which provided light relief in a month of heavy adverse publicity for Pakatan Harapan.

“Political gangrene”? Who suffered from it? Read the rest of this entry »

The past few weeks had been testing times for Malaysians not least for Pakatan Harapan.

For the first time since the historic decision of Malaysians in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 over 15 months ago, questions have been raised as to whether DAP should leave Pakatan Harapan government, to the extent that this was the subject of readers’ comment in a popular news portal.

There is no doubt that there are political forces working to engineer the implosion and disintegration of Pakatan Harapan coalition government in Putrajaya, but those who had plotted to see the end of Pakatan Harapan government by the 62nd National Day on August 31, 2019 are very disappointed that they had failed in their latest stratagem.

They are now reduced to calling on so-called “insurbordinate ministers” to quit or be axed.

They do not realise that the four parties in the Pakatan Harapan had come together despite all odds and different histories in the great patriotic mission to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state, and that the decision of the Malaysian electorate in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 had given the country a chance to reset nation-building policies to become a New Malaysia which is a top world-class nation of unity, freedom, justice, excellence and integrity.

But this is no easy task. Read the rest of this entry »

Those who had plotted to see the end of Pakatan Harapan government by the 62nd National Day on August 31, 2019 are very disappointed that they had failed in their stratagem.

They are now reduced to calling on so-called “insurbordinate ministers” to quit or be axed.

They do not realise that the four parties in the Pakatan Harapan had come together despite all odds and different histories in the great patriotic mission to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state, and that the decision of the Malaysian electorate in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 – well nigh a political miracle – has given the country a chance to reset nation-building policies to become a New Malaysia which is a top world-class nation of unity, freedom, justice, excellence and integrity.

This is no easy task.

The four parties will be guided by the five pillar-promises of the Pakatan Harapan Manifesto in the 14th General Election to build a New Malaysia so that the country can take its place among the top-ranking countries in the world in human endeavour and excellence, especially as Malaysia is the confluence of the four great civilizations in the world – Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western. Read the rest of this entry »

I spent two days in Chennai, where I had the opportunity to meet Malaysians and Malaysian students in the Tamil Nadu capital.

Their concerns are also the concerns of Malaysians at home.

Firstly, there is too much obsession with the Prime Minister issue when ordinary Malaysians are more interested whether Pakatan Harapan (PH) government could fulfil the PH promises of a New Malaysia of unity, freedom, justice, excellence and integrity and for Malaysia to be respected and admired by the whole world as a top world-class nation in many fields of human endeavour, whether in good governance in the battle against corruption, far-reaching education reforms in training the workforce for the digital age or in becoming a Tiger economy.

This must be the priority issue of the Pakatan Harapan government and there should be a minimum of diversions from this major task of the PH government in Putrajaya.

I believe Malaysians can understand that it will not be possible to build a new Malaysia and to undo all the wrongs and injustices of six decades in a year or two, or even in one general election cycle, but the country must be set firmly and solidly on the trajectory of a New Malaysia!

Are we doing so? Read the rest of this entry »