This is the first time I am outside a general election nomination centre for 53 years since 1969.
While waiting for the completion of the nomination process for the Pakatan Harapan candidate for Tanjong, my daughter Lim Hui Ying, I thought about the future of Malaysia.
In my 57 years in Malaysian politics, I have stood for parliamentary 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 call on the voters in the five constituencies which I have represented as Member of Parliament in the last six decades – Kota Melaka (1969-78, 1982-86), Petaling in Selangor (1978-1982), Tanjong in Penang (1986-1999), Ipoh Timur in Perak (2004-2013) and Gelang Patah (2013-2018) Iskandar Puteri (2018 – 2022) in Johore – to be strong bases to spread the message of 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.
PAS President Hadi Awang said Malaysian Dream is to forget we are Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Dayaks or Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians.
Hadi is very wrong. Bangsa Malaysia does not ask Malaysians to forget or extinguish their ethnic identities as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Dayaks or give up their religious identities as Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Christians, but to celebrate their diverse racial and religious identities with an overarching common identity as Malaysians First.
Bangsa Malaysia means the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Dayaks in Malaysia are closer to each other than with their counterparts in other countries.
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.