UMNO wants the 15th General Election to be held in November but will Ismail Sabri be a copycat of Mahathir?
UMNO Deputy President, Mohamad Hasan wants the 15th General Election to be held in November - after the 2023 Budget is presented in Parliament on Friday, October 28, 2023 but without a full parliamentary debate or passage of the 2023 Budget by both Houses of Parliament and the giving of the Royal Assent.
This would be most irresponsible.
This is what the fourth Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad did for the 10th General Election.
The 2000 Budget was presented to Parliament on Oct. 29,1999 but midway during the policy debate on the budget and even before the Ministerial replies, Parliament was dissolved on November 11, 1999 for the 10th General Election.
Will Ismail Sabri by a copycat of Mahathir for the 15th General Election?
I do not know.
Ismail Sabri seems to expanding his political vision and is not the same Ismail Sabri before he unexpectedly became the Prime Minister in August last year.
How far Ismail Sabri has expanded his political vision and how permanent is this expansion I do not know.
Ismail Sabri coined his own slogan, Keluarga Malaysia, and from a mono-ethnic Malay Malaysian, he seems to now realise the need to accept that Malaysia is not a purely Malay nation but a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation and the need for inclusivity and that diversity in a plural society is a strength and not a weakness.
Only time will tell how permanent is Ismail’s acceptance of the vision that Malaysia can only succeed if the majority of Malaysians are Malaysian first, without forfeiting their ethnic, religious and cultural ties or loyalties.
Ismail has called on Malaysians as members of Keluarga Malaysia to adopt the concept of ‘tasamuh’ - an Arabic term meaning ‘tolerance’ or ‘open-mindedness’.
He said this meant that there should be an attitude of acceptance and mutual respect for the various religions and cultures practised in the country.
He said the diversity of cultures and customs in Malaysia was a uniqueness that should be celebrated, thus creating a peaceful and prosperous society.
"Any culture that is not against the Islamic faith can be accepted without any stigma and discrimination,” he said, adding that tasamuh was the main basis of uniting a multi-religious and multi-cultural society.
As Ismail spoke this at the opening ceremony of the National Al-Quran Recitation and Memorisation Competition, he seems to be better than his predecessor in Sri Perdana in being Malaysian First.
Let us hope that the expansion of the political vision of Ismail Sabri continues as a work-in-progress and even more important, be a permanent one and not an opportunistic conversion as happened to the sixth Prime Minister who abandoned the 1Malaysia concept for 1MDB.