From Lahad Datu, I call on voters in Malaysia to create a political tsunami with voter turnout of over 80 per cent on Polling Day on Nov. 19 to elect Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia and to save the country from becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state in 30-40 years’ time

I call on voters in Malaysia to create a political tsunami with voter turnout of over 80 per cent on Polling Day on Nov. 19 to elect Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia and to save the country from becoming a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state in 30-40 years’ time.

Let this political tsunami of over 80% voter turn-out start with Lahad Datu with Pakatan Harapan winning the 15th General Election – a political tsunami to match the monsoon season of heavy rain and disastrous flooding throughout the country.

The political mood is changing rapidly since the dissolution of Parliament on Oct. 10, 2022 when the UMNO/Barisan Nasional President, Zahid Hamidi said the 15th General Election was the “mother of all elections” to save UMNO/BN leaders from being charged in court for corruption and sent to jail!

Let the Malaysian voters tell the political leaders of all political parties on Nov. 19, 2022 that if they are corrupt, then they should be in jail, like Najib Razak, who is in Kajang Prison for his first batch of 1MDB corruption offences, where he was convicted by nine judges at all levels of the judiciary and sentenced to 12 years’ jail and RM210 million fine.

It is now clear that Malaysians are not so short-sighted as Zahid who want a general election to save UMNO/BN leaders from being charged in court for corruption and being sent to jail, but the 15th General Election’s objective should be to “stop the rot” in Malaysian nation-building and save Malaysia from deteriorating further from a first-rate world-class nation in the early years of Malaysia to a second-rate mediocre country today, and to a failed rogue and kleptocratic state in 30-40 years’ time.

When Parliament was dissolved on Oct. 10, UMNO and BN were sure that they would be returned as the Federal Government in Putrajaya.

After three weeks on Nomination Day on 5th November, 2022, UMNO/BN were not so sure that the 15GE was in their favour.

In the two weeks from Nomination Day to Polling Day on Nov. 19, the political equation has completely changed, and the question is whether there is time to produce a political tsunami on Nov. 19 to send Pakatan Harapan back to Putrajaya, with Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia.

This will depend on a high voter turnout as a low voter turnout will be advantageous to UMNO/BN, as shown by the Malacca and Johore state general elections earlier.

Let us start from Lahad Datu to make Malaysia great again.

In my school-days in the fifties, 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 our country 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)

Let all Malaysian voters have the spirit of Ye Fei and Wen Tianxiang.

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 six decades ago to a second-rate mediocre country today, and deteriorating further to become a third-rate failed and rogue kleptocratic state in another 30 to 40 years.

The questions voters in Lahad Datu and Malaysia must ask themselves before Polling Day on Nov. 19 is whether Malaysia is save-able and secondly, whether Malaysia is worth saving. I believe Malaysia is still save-able and 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 last 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 Malaysians 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 only be great and world-class if the government can unite Malaysians from all races, religions and regions in the country.

Lim Kit Siang DAP Veteran