DAP will be firm on our principles and will not work with kleptocrats but we must be open-minded and flexible to co-operate with Malaysians of integrity, regardless of race, religion or politics, to build an united, just, prosperous and great Malaysia

The political crisis in Perak has ended with a new Mentri Besar from UMNO.

What are the lessons to be learnt from the six-day Perak political crisis?

Firstly, the Perak crisis is likely to be the last political crisis in 2020, which has seen many political crisis, from the Sheraton Move in February this year which toppled a legitimate Pakatan Harapan government and replaced it with a backdoor illegitimate Perikatan Nasional government, to the Sabah state general election which sparked the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic which has yet to be brought under control, to the 2021 Budget the controversy of its voting in Parliament on November 26, and finally, to the Perak political crisis.

But we should go further back to the historic 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 which toppled a seemingly invincible Barisan Nasional government and the kleptocratic regime of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

After the May 9, 2018 watershed, the UMNO leadership had been obsessed with one objective – to restore UMNO hegemony in Malaysian politics and its decision to misuse the information age to unleash a most dangerous and poisonous campaign of falsehood and fake news to make the Malays in the country believe that their rights, position and future are at stake because the DAP is in power in Putrajaya.

The campaign was doubly false – that the DAP was anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Rulers and that the DAP was the controlling power in the 22-month Pakatan Harapan government when it was in fact a Pakatan Harapan coalition government.

UMNO teamed up with PAS to expand its poisonous campaign from the politics of race to the politics of religion, both struck gold at the end of December 2018 for they were able to exploit the proposed ratification of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and incite and inflame the Malays when DAP knew nothing about the proposed ICERD ratification.

The DAP was demonised and painted as anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Royalty for spearheading ICERD’s ratification, when it was all the work of the then Foreign Minister, Saifuddin Abdullah.

For 32 months, the UMNO and PAS propaganda of lies and falsehoods – joined by Bersatu in the past 10 months – was designed to reach a climax in the 15th General Election to inflame Malay feelings and passions to restore UMNO to a hegemonic status, which would have condemned Malaysia firmly in the trajectory of a failed state, kleptocrlacy and kakistocracy.

This is because the plural society of Malaysia of diverse races, languages, cultures and religious would be increasingly and may be irredeemably polarised, and it will be impossible to unite Malaysians regardless of race, religion and politics as Malaysia will have become a kleptocracy, kakistocracy and a failed state.

Only yesterday, the head of a multinational investment bank, Credit Suisse Malaysia’s Managing Director and the Head of Equities Stephen Hagger warned that Malaysia will suffer if corrupt political leaders and figures continue to walk free of corruption charges.

Hagger said the recent downgrading of the country by American credits rating agency Fitch Ratings was such an example.

Former CIMB Chairman and brother of the former Prime Minister, Dato Sri Nazir Razak said at a recent Chevening Alumni Leadership Talk:

“The system (the 1970-designed system of NEP) is no longer fit for purpose and that Malaysia is in dire need of another system reset. I will leave it to the historians to argue about when and why the system fell into decline. But since the Asian Financial Crisis of the late 1990’s we have been under-firing economically, growing apart as communities, losing our best talents and falling behind newly emerging countries like Indonesia and Vietnam for FDI. The 4th Industrial Revolution will only compound under-performance of economies that are not leveraging their best talents, struggle to attract quality investments and defer to vested interest and incumbents: Where innovation and entrepreneurship are stifled.”

This morning, the Perak Sultan said that the swearing-in of the third Perak Mentri Besar since the 14th General Election was a reflection of failure in the Perak Legislative Assembly.

The Sultan reminded the state lawmakers that they were elected only because of the trust shown by the people.

“The people have chosen them to carry out the responsibility to provide services and upgrade their economy as well as their social needs.

“The people, especially the poor, are affected by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, where some have lost their jobs and income.

“The people should not be betrayed due to the influence of the emotional grudge over conservative political thinking.”

Malaysia at the crossroads.

If we continue in the trajectory of a kleptocratic, kakistocratic and a failed state, what will Malaysia be like in the year 2,050?

Can Malaysia in year 2050 get ourselves out of the trajectory of a kleptocratic, kakistocratic and a failed state.

Sixty-three years ago, when I was 16 years old, I wrote in the class magazine:

“We the youths of today must now prepare ourselves to ‘serve to lead’…The role of youths in Independent Malaya is now more pressing and difficult for the inexperienced shoulders of the youths of this generation. We will be the first true independent shoulders to bear this responsibility. Let us then work with greater zeal and will, that our standard be not flying at half-mast.To accomplish this, we must bear in mind that co-operation between the different races is of paramount importance, working on a common basis that we are imbued with the spirit of tolerance, co-operation and loyalty. So let us ‘live and let live’ in friendly fraternity and harmony.”

The DAP was founded 54 years ago to make Malaysia succeed as world-class nation in various fields of human endeavour and not to be against any race, language, religion or culture. We are determined to make our mission succeed.

For this purpose, DAP must always remain true and steadfast on our principles so we always remain a principled political party.

We will not co-operate with kleptocrats and those who abused their powers for personal gain but we must be open-minded and flexible to co-operate with Malaysians of integrity, regardless of race, religion or politics, to build a united, just, prosperous and great Malaysia.