COMMENT | Malaysia is still worth saving

COMMENT | Anwar Ibrahim has been named as the Pakatan Harapan candidate to be the 10th prime minister on Thursday.

I have a special message for the voters.

When they vote for the 15th general election, they are in fact voting for the next eight general elections in support of Anwar as the 10th prime minister to start the process to ensure that Malaysia becomes a great world-class plural nation in another four decades and not a broken and failed kleptocratic state.

In the words of Tunku Abdul Rahman, will Malaysia become “a beacon of light to a difficult and distracted world” or will Malaysia become part of the darkness in the world which needs a beacon of light?

The process to regenerate Malaysia is a work of decades, and not by just five years in one general election, and will not be accomplished by Anwar, but must be continued by a new generation of leaders – but not Malay leaders, Chinese leaders, Indian leaders, Kadazan leaders or Iban leaders who do not know what “Malaysian First” is.

Malaysia cannot become a “beacon of light to a difficult and distracted world” unless we eliminate the growing darkness - a sick economy lost out to more and more states in the last six decades (Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Vietnam) and to many more nations in future; crippling national and political paralysis with the betrayal of the original nation-building principles of a plural society (parliamentary democracy, separation of powers, the rule of law, an independent judiciary, meritocracy, good governance, public integrity with minimum of corruption, respect for human rights and a united plural nation) and the worsening of breach of trust, abuse of power and corruption until Malaysia is known as “kleptocracy at its worst” on the world stage with Malaysia losing out to China, India and Indonesia in the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index.

Two questions must be asked: First, is Malaysia worth saving? Secondly, can Malaysia be saved?

Speak loud and clear

Malaysians must speak loud and clear in GE15 that they do not want Malaysia to become a global kleptocracy.

Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi wants to turn GE15 into a battle to ensure that Umno and BN leaders are not charged in court for corruption and sent to jail - and not the regeneration of Malaysia to become “a beacon of light to a difficult and distracted world”.

The ninth prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob seemed to be in a contest with the last British prime minister Liz Truss as the worst and shortest prime minister in their respective countries.

Is Malaysia going to continue to be the butt of regional and international jokes, scorn and mockery? Malaysia should instead be a model nation in the third world, and “a beacon of light to a difficult and distracted world”.

Malaysia has not reached the stage of a totally broken, divided and failed nation although we have fallen considerably from our expectations of a world-class great plural nation.

Malaysia is still “saveable” and worth saving.

Malaysia is at the confluence of the four great civilisations in the world - Malay/Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western.

Can Malaysia leverage the best values and virtues of these four great civilisations to make Malaysia “a beacon of light in the difficult and distracted world”?

In the last few decades, we have taken the wrong turn in nation-building and deviated from the original nation-building principles and policies embedded in the Constitution and the Rukun Negara to the extent that we have ministers who do not accept these nation-building principles and the Rukun Negara.

But we must not falter nor surrender.

We must continue to strive for the Malaysian Dream for the country to become a great world-class plural nation, “a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world” and not “a nation of darkness in a difficult and distracted world”.

This is what GE15 is all about - to make Malaysia a better place, more just, equal and prosperous for our children and our children’s children.

LIM KIT SIANG is incumbent Iskandar Puteri MP.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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