My first 81st birthday wish is for people of Johore representing Malaysians to tell the world on March 12 that Malaysians are capable of differentiating between right and wrong, what is corruption and abuses of power and what is not

I thank all Malaysians who send me greetings on my 81st birthday yesterday.

I have two 81st birthday wishes.

My first wish is for the people of Johore, representing Malaysians, to tell the world on March 12 that Malaysians are capable of differentiating between what is right and wrong, what is corruption and abuses of power and what is not.

The DAP and I have been accused of many fake and false things. The latest false accusation is that MUDA is the creation of DAP aimed at baiting Malay youths.

The DAP has also been accused of setting up Amanah.

These false accusations are like the false accusations of the then UMNO President who told the 2015 UMNO General Assembly that the DAP was anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

Although I was born, bred and schooled in Batu Pahat, there were allegations that I came from China when I was eighteen years old and there were also allegations that I was related to Chin Peng and Lee Kuan Yew, although they never explained how this could be so as Chin Peng is a Hockchia, Kuan Yew a Hakka and I a Hokkien.

I am now waiting for more idiotic accusations in the same vein – like instructing the PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang to support Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional and to oppose UMNO despite Muafakat Nasional.

In my 55 years in Malaysian politics, I have been demonised from one end of the spectrum to the other end.

I have been accused of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam on one hand accused of being anti-Chinese over the Jawi issue.

I am not anti-Malay or anti-Islam. No one can be a Malaysian leader if he or she is anti any race and religion in Malaysia, for he or she must be committed to Malaysia as a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysia.

Malaysia must be Truly Asia, not just to draw the tourists, but as an ineluctable fact of Malaysian life.

I have never changed my stand on the Jawi issue. I have always opposed the compulsory learning of Jawi but support the optional right of Malaysians to learn Jawi. In fact, I learnt Jawi in 1969 when I was first detained under the Internal Security Act for 17 months in the Muar detention centre.

My second 81st birthday wish is that Malaysia is capable of rising from the disappointments of our high hopes in the 14th General Election to continue the mission to unite Malaysia into a world-class great nation to fulfil Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman’s aspiration for Malaysia to be a “beacon of light to a difficult and distracted world” despite half-a-century of national decline, losing out to one nation after another - Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam.