Hope that the five constituencies I have represented as MP in my 57 years in Malaysian politics will be strong bases to preach the Malaysian Dream for Malaysia to become a world-class great plural nation in another three or four decades

In my 57 years in Malaysian politics, I have stood for election in five states in Malacca, Selangor, Penang, Perak and Johore – all in pursuit of the Malaysian Dream for Malaysia to be a great world-class plural nation which could in Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman’s words be “a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world”.

I hope that the five constituencies which I have represented as Member of Parliament in the last six decades – Kota Melaka, Petaling in Selangor, Tanjong in Penang, Ipoh Timur in Perak and Iskandar Puteri in Johore – will be strong bases to preach the Malaysian Dream where there is unity in diversity with everyone regarding himself as “Malaysian First” be they Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Dayaks or Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Taoists, whether from Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah or Sarawak.

Malaysia has potential to be among the best countries in the world, as we are at the confluence of four great civilisations – Malay/Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western – but we have not been able to leverage on the best values and virtues of the four great civilisations and have lost our way in the last six decades of nation-building.

We started well in the early days of our nation, writing into the Constitution and the Rukun Negara the nation-building principles which if followed will make Malaysia a great world-class plural nation – constitutional monarchy, separation of powers, the rule of law, parliamentary democracy, an independent judiciary, good governance, public integrity with minimal corruption, respect for human rights and unity in diversity in a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious nation.

But we took a wrong turn in nation-bu8lding and instead of becoming a first-class great nation, we have become a second-class mediocre country which, if not checked, will deteriorate to become a third-class failed and rogue state like Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in three or four decades’ time.

We have lost out to Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Vietnam and unless we buck up, we will lose to more nations.

In 1965, one Singapore dollar is equal to one Malaysian ringgit. Today, one Singapore dollar is equal to 3.345 Malaysian ringgit.

When Transparency International (TI) started its annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI) series in 1995, we were far ahead of China, India and Indonesia in having a clean, honest and least corrupt government; but China will overtake Malaysia by the end of this decade, and India and Indonesia will overtake Malaysia in the next decade, if political leaders continue to tell lies and deny the 1MDB scandal is “kleptocracy at its worst” with rampant corruption in public life.

Our schools and universities were among the top ones in the world but they have deteriorated steadily, with Malaysia in the bottom one-third of the countries in the world in international assessment of science and mathematics.

I asked Malaysian voters to ask two questions before :Polling Day on November 19, 2022: whether Malaysia can be saved and whether it is worth saving Malaysia.

If Malaysia is not save-able or not worth saving, then that is the end of the story.

But Malaysia is still “save-able” and worth saving.

Malaysia has not reached the stage of a totally broken, divided and failed nation like Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe although we have fallen considerably from our expectations of a world-class great plural nation.

But this salvation effort will take not one or five years or one general election, but decades and several general elections. But we must start now.

I call on the voters of the five parliamentary constituencies I have represented as Member of Parliament – Kota Melaka, Petaling, Tanjong, Ipoh Timur and Iskandar Puteri – to play a leading role in this national campaign to Save Malaysia to become a great world-class plural nation recognised by the world as one of the best countries in the world – instead of being mocked and despised as being a kleptocracy, kakistocracy and an impending failed state.