As I said at the launching of the Mas Gdading Member of Parliament, Mordi Bimol’s Service Centre in Lundu this morning, the Malaysian national anthem, the Sarawak state anthem and the DAP party anthem have one thing in common – they reflect the diversity and unity of a plural society where the different races, religions and cultures co-operate and co-exist to create understanding, tolerance and harmony.
The Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, who is visiting the United Nations and the United States, said Malaysia has huge potential to rise again as a dynamic economy.
He said Malaysia has the necessary resources and a qualified workforce, in addition to having policies such as the Madani Economy, the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) and the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP 2030) to support this goal.
Speaking at a dinner with Malaysian citizens and students in the US, Anwar said that the unity government was looking at ways to attract skilled Malaysians to return home and contribute to the country.
Anwar was speaking about the vision for the future of Malaysia so that Malaysia can rise again to become a great world-class nation, which was singularly missing for the last three years when Malaysia had two Prime Ministers, as the pre-occupation of the political leaders were the 3Rs- not to unite Malaysians of different races, religions and cultures but to keep them divided.
We must attract skilled Malaysians to return home to make Malaysia a great world-class nation, we must ensure that our policies and plans do not precipitate a second Malaysian Diaspora, as the over one million Malaysians who emigrated overseas in the first Malaysian Diaspora had cost Malaysia greatly in maintaining Malaysia as a great world-class nation.
One of the unique features of Malaysia is our diversity of races, languages, religions and cultures, which is not only reflected in the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukun Negara, but in all the national plans and policies whether Vision 2020 or the Multi Super Corridor project.
No wonder Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman aspired for Malaysia to be “a beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world”.
I call on Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or culture to make Malaysia one of the 20 best countries in the world and be a model of the world in inter-racial, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisation dialogue, understanding, tolerance and harmony.
Let the national vision to be one of the 20 best countries in the world be a challenge to all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, culture or region.