There will be no Operation Lalang, Kampong Memali, 1MDB scandal, Sheraton Move conspiracy or Malaysia’s poor performance in the Covid-19 pandemic if there is a Keluarga Malaysia

Today 34 years ago, I was detained together with my son, Lim Guan Eng, and many other comrades in the struggle for a Malaysian Dream, including Karpal Singh and P. Patto, under the Internal Security Act (ISA). Guan Eng and I were the first to be detained and the last to be released in April 1989 under Operation Lalang.

For me it was my second ISA detention and the dragnet which started 34 years ago today, was to go on for few more days and eventually caught over 110 victims in its snares.

The Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri, is now talking about Keluarga Malaysia.

There would be not only be no Operation Lalang in a Keluarga Malaysia, but many “black marks” in the history of Malaysia would not have happened if there is a Keluarga Malaysia

These “black marks” include:

1. There would be no May 13, 1969 riots if there is a Keluarga Malaysia.

In my first speech in Parliament on 23 February 1971, I called for a public inquiry into the cause of the May 13, 1969 riots and to propose a blueprint to chart Malaysia towards a just and equal, multi-racial Malaysia.

This had not been done. But half a century later, I suddenly found myself accused of causing the May 13,1969 racial riots although the authorities knew that I was never in Kuala Lumpur but was in Kota Kinabalu on that tragic day.

2. In a Keluarga Malaysia, every Malaysian would accept the five Rukun Negara principles of belief in God, loyalty to King and country, supremacy of the Constitution, the rule of law and courtesy and morality as the basic nation-building principles for Malaysia.

Unfortunately, the reverse is taking place, and the Rukun Negara naysayers are even to be found in the Cabinet today.

3. There would be no Memali Incident in November 1985 where 14 civilians and four policemen lost their lives.
4. There would be no Bumiputera Malaysia Finance (BMF) Scandal, where Bank Bumiputera had to be bailed out for the loss of $2.5 billion in the BMF scandal and a Malay audit officer murdered in Hong Kong.
5. There would be no Bank Negara Forex Scandal where the country lost RM30 billion in the early nineties.
6. There would be no 1MDB scandal, which turned Malaysia into a kleptocracy. It is reported today that former Prime Minister Najib Razak had lodged a report with the MACC against Tim Leisner, a former Goldman Sachs senior manager who had pleaded guilty in a US court to bribing 1MDB officials and Malaysian government officials ultimately to obtain the list of Malaysian officials that Leisner had bribed.

But for almost two years, when he was Prime Minister, Najib was not bothered with the US Department of Justice’s kleptocratic litigation involving the 1MDB, where Najib was named as “Malaysian Official No. 1”.

Can Najib explain why he did not clear his name when the whole world knows that he was identified as “MO1” when he was Prime Minister?

7. Yesterday, Parliament was informed that out of the 992,764-strong civil service, 75.95% comprised Malays (754,040), 7.38% are Sabah bumiputeras (73,265), 4.75% are Sarawak bumiputeras (47,116), 6.9% are Chinese (68,542), 4.15% are Indians (41,168) and 0.87% (8,634) are others.

In a Keluarga Malaysia, the ethnic composition of the civil service will be closer to the ethnic compositon of the Malaysian population – which is 69% bumiputera, 23% Chinese, 7% Indians and 1% others.

8. In a Keluarga Malaysia, there would not be a Sheraton Move conspiracy which toppled a democratically-elected legitimate government and ushered in a backdoor, undemocratic and illegitimate government.
9. If there is a Keluarga Malaysia, the country will be able to leverage on its position as the confluence of four great civilisations in the world – Malay-Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western - to maximise their virtues and values to build a world-class great nation, and Malaysia would not today be overtaken by other countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore and from our poor performance in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic, may be overtaken by Cambodia, Indonesia and Philippines in the future if Malaysia does not pull up its bootstraps.

Does Ismail Sabri agree that a Keluarga Malaysia will not have the above ten attributes?