Odyssey of a Malaysia patriot in search of the Malaysia Dream of Malaysia as among the best nations in the world

I am 81 years old and am not a candidate for the 15th Malaysian parliamentary general election on Nov. 19, 2022.

For the first time in 53 years since the 1969 general election, I was outside the Nomination Day centre as only three persons were allowed into the Nomination Centre – the candidate, the proposer and the seconder of which I was not one of the three.

I spent the one-hour nomination on November 5, 2022 going over my 57 years in Malaysian politics, whether I have wasted my whole life.

In school two events impressed me considerably:

Firstly, the general Yue Fei, whose mother tattooed on his back the four words, jin Zhong boa guo盡忠報國 (‘serve the country with the utmost loyalty’), but the country here is Malaysia and not China.

Secondly, the story of Wen Tianxiang 文天祥 and his immortal words,

人生自古誰無死 留取丹心照汗青

(Humans, since antiquity, have all found death; (Leave our red hearts to shrine in the writ of history) or

(What man is ever immune from death? (Leave me with a loyal heart shining in the pages of history)

I saw the film ‘Soul of Nation” twice, first when I was in school, the second time when I was detained for the first time under the Internal Security Act and was incarcerated in the Muar Detention Centre.

That was when I was 18 and 28 years old (as I was elected MP for Bandar Melaka and detained for the first time under the ISA when I was 28 years old) respectively, but looking back my 57 years in Malaysian politics when I am now 81 years old, Wen Tianxiang’s immortal words take on a different meaning.

When you are 18 or 28 years old, Wen Tiangxiang’s immortal words served as ideals and objectives in life, but when you are 81 years old, they served as a yardstick to judge whether you have wasted your life or made the best use of it.

I think this is particularly relevant for the 15th General Election, which is probably the most important and critical general election in Malaysian history.

This is probably the last chance to save Malaysia from deteriorating from among the best nations in the world to a second-rate mediocre country, and deteriorating further to become a third-rate failed and rogue kleptocratic state in another 30 to 40 years.

The questions voters in Malacca and Malaysia must ask themselves before Polling Day on Nov. 19 is whether Malaysia is save-able and secondly, whether Malaysia is worth saving.

In the early years of Malaysia, the nation was among the best countries in the world. We were the most prosperous country in Asia, apart from Japan, but along the way in the six decades, we have lost our way and we have lost out to Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Vietnam, and if we continue at this rate, we will lose out to more countries in the coming years and decades.

In 1965, one Singapore dollar was equal to one Malaysian ringgit. Fifty-seven years later, in 2022, one Singapore dollar is equal to RM3.39. Does this show the success or failure of Malaysian nation-building?

A few decades ago, Malaysia was regarded as head and shoulders above China, India and Indonesia in having a good government in the battle against corruption. But China is likely to overtake Malaysia in the annual Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) before 2030 and Indonesia and India will overtake Malaysia in the TI CPI before 2040.

Why is this so? Why is corruption and abuses of power so prevalent in Malaysia, and will soon be worse than China, Indonesia and India?

Why is Singapore great and world-class?

One of the reasons is because of Malaysians who went to Singapore because they cannot find justice and dignity in Malaysia and went to Singapore to help make Singapore great and world-class.

We have over a million Malaysians in UK, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to help make these nations great when they should remain in Malaysia to make Malaysia great.

This is what the 15GE on Nov. 19 is all about – to have a good government in Putrajaya to make Malaysia great again by returning to the original nation-building principles – constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy, separation of powers, public integrity with minimum of corruption, respect for human rights, and most important of all, recognition that Malaysia can be great and world-class only if the government can unite Malaysians from all races, religions and regions in the country.

In the 15th General Election, the voters will decide whether we have a good government in Putrajaya and whether Anwar Ibrahim will be the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The other candidates for the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia are Zahid Hamidi of UMNO/Barisan Nasional, Muhyiddin Yassin or Hadi Awang of Perikatan Nasional depending on whether Bersatu or PAS wins more parliamentary seats in the 15GE.

Zahid has made it clear in his speech at the MIC Assembly on Oct. 10 that the primary agenda of UMNO and Barisan Nasionnal is the free UMNO and BN leaders from being charged in court for corruption and being sent to jail. Let the voters in the 15GE make their stand clear: Malaysians must fight corruption and those who are corrupt must go to jail.

This is proof that Zahid’s subsequent talk of “stability” and “prosperity” in the Barisan Nasional had not credibility, as up to now, nether Zahid, UMNO, MCA or MIC had ever condemned the 1MDB scandal which had made Malaysia a “kleptocracy at its worst”.

Muhyiddin is a major figure in the Sheraton Move political conspiracy which toppled the Pakatan Harapan Government in 22 months while Hadi Awang has shown he has no compunction to tell lies and falsehoods – as accusing the DAP falsely of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty and lately being communist – for his political interests.

Zahid, Muhyiddin and Hadi had never admitted that Malaysia is losing out to more and more countries, including OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) Muslim nations.

Only Anwar has the vision and commitment to make Malaysia great again by recognising and uniting Malaysians in a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious nation, firstly by having a good government in Putrajaya, secondly, fight corruption and abuses of power, and thirdly, make Malaysia a great world-class plural nation.

If we miss this opportunity in the 15GE to save Malaysia, Malaysia will start the process to sink to the level of a third-rate failed, rogue and kleptocratic state in three or four decades and we may spark a Second Malaysia Diaspora in the world. We will end up like Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

This is why there must be a high voter-turnout to ensure that there is a good government in Putrajaya and Anwar Ibrahim is elected the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia.

On looking back, my 57 years in Malaysian politics is like an Odyssey of a Malaysia patriot in search of the Malaysia Dream of Malaysia among the best nations in the world. Regardless of age, we must give every ounce of our energy to realise the Malaysian Dream for all Malaysians.