Not only UMNO, but MCA and MIC are also behind the “Apa Malunya BOSSku” campaign to revive kleptocracy and plot the return of Najib Razak as Prime Minister of Malaysia

Yesterday, a news item reinforced the thought that it is not only UMNO, but also MCA and MIC which are behind the “Apa Malunya BOSSku” campaign to revive kleptocracy and plot the return of Najib Razak as Prime Minister of Malaysia.

It is something which the first four UMNO Presidents, Onn Jaffar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn in the first 35 years of UMNO’s life; the first four MCA Presidents, Tan Cheng Lock, Lim Chong Eu, Tan Siew Sin and Lee San Choon in the first 35 years of MCA’s life; and the first six Presidents of MIC including Devasar, Sambanthan and Manickavasagam in the first three decades of MIC life, would not have done, approved or countenanced.

This was when a MCA life member protested that he was being “disciplined” because the spirit of the “Apa Malunya BOSSku” campaign had successfully infiltrated and dominated the MCA at all levels of the MCA leadership, as illustrated in the recent Johor state general election where the sixth Malaysian Prime Minister openly and actively campaigned for the MCA to ensure its success in four Johor state assembly constituencies.

It is not only UMNO, but the MCA and MIC, which had lost their political honour and purpose and moral integrity after more than half-a-century of existence, so as now to be associated with kleptocracy causing Malaysia to suffer the global infamy, ignominy and iniquity of being a “kleptocracy at its worst”!

What a price and dishonour the present generation of leaderships of the three political parties have paid to their founding party leaders and members who had brought Independence to Malaya and then Malaysia!

The depth of political opportunism and immorality which these political parties have presently descended could be glimpsed from the propaganda attacks and cyber warfare which they had launched against the DAP - UMNO accusing the DAP of anti-Malay, MCA accusing the DAP of anti-Chinese and MIC accusing the DAP of being anti-Indian.

The DAP is not anti-Malay, anti-Indian, anti-Chinese, anti-Kadazan, anti-Iban or anti-Islam or anti any religion. We are Malaysians first and ethnic, religious or regional identities must come second.

We want every Malaysian, regardless of whether Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Iban, to regard himself or herself as Malaysian first – an identity which supersedes all other ethnic, religious or regional identities.

Malaysians are separately Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazams, Ibans or Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians or from Johore, Selangor, Perak, Penang, Sabah, Sarawak but we have a common identity superseding our separate identities – as a Malaysian!

Recently, MCA cyber warfare had been active to disseminate the idea that the DAP National Chairman, Lim Guan Eng, had said he was not a Chinese when he was appointed Finance Minister in May 2018.

This is a distortion of the truth, something which the founding fathers of UMNO, MCA and MIC would not have done or countenanced.

Nobody in Malaysia would deny his ethnic, religious and regional identities. I do not think there is anybody in Malaysia who would deny his Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Iban ethnicity, but the point is whether he or she accept that he or she is Malaysian first and his or her ethnic, religious and regional identities second.

Guan Eng was answering the question about being the third Chinese to be appointed Finance Minister, emphasising that he would approach his tasks and duties as a Finance Minister as a Malaysian looking after the interest of all races in Malaysia and not as a Chinese looking after the interest of only the Chinese in Malaysia.

On his official birthday over the weekend, the Yang di Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah urged the government and all parties, regardless of political beliefs, to formulate a long-term plan to bring the country back to the pinnacle of success in the post-pandemic era.

He said: “Unity and togetherness in a society with diverse backgrounds is actually a recipe and strength in shaping national aspirations. It is a pillar of the nation’s prosperity and contributes to peace and stability.”

I have proposed the formation of a Royal Commission of Inquiry to think long-term for Malaysia to become a world-class great nation by Malaysia’s Centennial whether 2057 or 2063, as we must think long term not only in years but in decades.

The Yang di Pertuan Agong is absolutely correct that the country’s desired recovery and revival are unlikely to become a reality if the people are divided and failed to create a landscape of stability.

We need a movement for Malaysia to be a world-class great nation by returning to the nation-building principles our founding fathers have agreed in the Malaysian Constitution and Rukun Negara – constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy, separation of powers, rule of law, good governance, public integrity, respect for human rights and national unity from our multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural diversity where there are no first-class and second-class citizens whether based on race, religion or region and not to become a kleptocracy again.

Lim Kit Siang MP for Iskandar Puteri