Can Malaysia get rid of the infamy of being “ kleptocracy at its worst” in the world when the RM29,125 monthly salary of the Chief Secretary to the Government is deemed “too little” by a former Prime Minister?

For the past half a century, Malaysia has, in the words of 76-year-old Yusuf Hashim, become “a broken country” – once a potential Tiger but now possibly one of the greatest kleptocracies in the world!

We have lost out to Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong in economic development in the past half a century. Would we lose out to more countries in the next half a century – even to Indonesia and the Philippines?

We have produced the first Malaysian Diaspora where over a million of the best and brightest Malaysians have gone all over the world to make other countries great, when they should be in Malaysia, to make Malaysia great.

The more than two years of Covid-19 pandemic has prevented the Second Malaysian Diaspora from taking place. Now that Covid-19 is transitioning from a pandemic to an endemic, and Malaysia and the world are opening up, can we reignite hope among Malaysians that there is a better future for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region to prevent the Second Malaysian Diaspora from taking place?

Yesterday, I asked myself: Can Malaysia get rid of the infamy of being “kleptocracy at its worst” in the world when the RM29,125 monthly salary of the Chief Secretary to the Government is deemed by a former Prime Minister as “too little”?

If the RM29,125 monthly salary of the Chief Secretary to the Government – the Number One civil servant in the country – is deemed “too low”, what about the salaries of the other 1.6 million civil servants in the country?

Malaysia had clearly lost its way in nation-building in the last half-a-century and the only salvation for Malaysia to be a world-class great nation is to have a movement to return 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.

I entered Parliament for the first time in February 1971, and I have been proved right in my warning in my first speech in Parliament 51 years ago about the abuses of the New Economic Policy. I said in Parliament in 1971:

“As democratic socialists we are dedicated to the abolition of poverty and economic backwardness regardless of race… We support any measure which will help better the lot of the Malay poor. But we are strongly opposed to the use of Malay special rights to enrich the new Malay rich to make them richer, while the mass of peasantry and poor are exploited as ever.”

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 propose 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 all have a Malaysian Dream – to make Malaysia a better country for our children and grandchildren, a world-class great nation and not a failed state in the world.

I am now an octogenarian but I still hold strongly to the Malaysian Dream for hope springs eternal in the human breast.

The fact that Malaysians in the First Malaysian Diaspora came back to vote in 2018 showed that despite their long absence from Malaysia, they still cared for Malaysia and were inspired when they felt there was hope for change for the better.

I have visited China a few times, but I did not feel at home in China. When I flew back to Malaysia, there was the feeling of home-coming. I think this is the feeling of Malaysian Chinese as well as Malaysian Indians.

The DAP had been demonised as anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Indian, and lately by MCA/Gerakan propagandists as anti-Chinese.

The DAP is not anti-Malay, anti-Indian, anti-Chinese, anti-Kadazan, anti-Iban or anti-Islam or anti any religion. We are pro-Malaysia. 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, Kadazans, Ibans or Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians or from Johore, Selangor, Perak, Penang, Sabah, Sarawak but we have a common identity superseding our separate identities – a Malaysian!

Malaysia’s future as a world-class great nation would be assured when we reach the “tipping point” where the majority of the races in Malaysia regard themselves as Malaysian First.

There is no reason whatsoever for Malaysia not to achieve the Malaysian Dream to be a united world-class great nation for Malaysia is in the privileged position of being at the confluence of four great civilisations – Malay/Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western - if we can return to the founding nation-building principles in the Malaysian Constitution and Rukun Negara.