Today is a special day because it happens to be my 50th birthday. And there is nothing more satisfying and gratifying when celebrating the special occasion by contributing towards a just and most worthy cause.
For those who keep track of news, you’d remember that I have contributed the large ‘Langkah Sheraton’ 121cm by 152cm oil painting to the Theatre Impian project honoring and celebrating Lim Kit Siang’s 80th birthday in February 2021.
‘Langkah Sheraton’ records moments leading to the notorious ‘Sheraton Move’ as key political players maneuvered and out- maneuvered each other in the attempt to secure majority control of the Malaysian Parliament.
Today, I would officially gift the painting, which has received much acclaim, to the Democratic Action Party (DAP) by handing it over to Anthony Loke, the party’s Secretary-General.
The purpose of the gift is to help the party raise much needed precious funds to campaign in the upcoming general elections. Raising funds to fight and election campaign has always been difficult, especially for an opposition party.
Our political foes have always mocked us for always carrying out fund-raising dinners or exercises (You can read all the snide remarks made on our social media posts).
However, there lies the difference between the BN and PN ruling parties. We do not abuse our power, indulge in corruption or misappropriate tax-payer’s money to top up our personal and political kitties.
Whatever we collect from our fund-raising campaigns are genuine contributions from the rakyat who wants what we want – a clean competent government to secure a better future for Malaysia and Malaysians.
It took me a fairly long time to figure out the best approach to ‘sell’ the painting to raise funds for the party.
A typical sale would often see a painting stored in a collector’s private gallery or storeroom, while no Government-owned gallery would acquire such a ‘sensitive’ or controversial piece, even if it was of historical import.
The advancement of blockchain technology and increasing maturity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) however, opened up a whole new world of possibilities. The painting can now be acquired not just by one person, but instead be meaningfully owned, collectively among thousands of Malaysians.
Via the rapidly developing NFT platforms, it could unlock a higher value, and hence raise more funds for the Party and the cause.
Thus, the Langkah Sheraton NFT project was born. 8,888 NFTs will be minted for sale, where each NFT will represent 1 of 8,888 share of the physical painting.
Tony Pua
Member of Parliament for Damansara
