All Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, should be concerned about the future of Malaysia – is it to be a model state for the world as a successful plural nation or to be a divided, failed and kleptocratic state.
At a time when an ethnic Indian has become the Prime Minister of United Kingdom and leader of the British Conservative Party and an ethnic Pakistani has become the First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, we will be regressing if we continue to think of ourselves as Malay, Chinese, Indian, Dayak or Kadazan and not as Malaysians, where we regard ourselves as Malaysian First, and not Malay first, Chinese first, Indian first, Dayak first or Kadazan first.
We are not asking Malaysians to surrender their ethnic, religious and cultural identities, but to be Malaysian First and Malay, Chinese, Indian. Dayak or Kadazan second.
All Malaysians must ask two questions:
- Whether it is possible save Malaysia from becoming a kleptocracy, kakistocracy, a divided, rogue and failed state?
- Can Malaysia achieve a reset of our nation-building principles and policies as set out in the Malaysian Constitution and Rukun Negara namely constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy, separation of powers, rule of law, good governance, public integrity and minimal corruption, meritocracy, respect for human rights and national unity from our multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural diversity where there are no first-class and second-class citizens whether based on race, religion or region.
I do not expect to see a non-Malay to come the nation’s Prime Minister during my life time or that of my children, but if Malaysia had been formed with the clear stipulation in the Malaysian Constitution that a non-Malay, whether a Chinese, Indian, Dayak or Kadazan is constitutionally barred from becoming a Prime Minister, there would be no Malaysia and Malaysia would not be formed on 16th September 1963.
In the early years of nationhood, Malaysia nearly became a Tiger economy. Since then, we have been losing out to one nation after another – whether Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong or Vietnam.
From all indications, we are slated to lose out to more countries in the fight against corruption. China is set to overtake Malaysia in the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) before the end of this decade, and unless we quickly buck up and declare an unremitting war against corruption, Malaysia is also likely to lose out to India and Indonesia in future TI CPIs.
In the early years of the DAP, we rejected the cultural policy of assimilation and fought for an integration policy as our diversity of races, languages, religions and cultures should be a strength rather than a weakness.
UMNO lost Malay and non-Malay support in the 14th General Election in 2018 and saw Malay support for UMNO collapsed in the 15th General Election in 2022 – trailing behind Perikatan Nasional (PN) parties of PAS and Bersatu..
There are those who believe that the way for UMNO to regain its former electoral support is for Najib Razak to be pardoned.
I do not agree, as otherwise, the UMNO lessons of the 14th and 15th General Elections would not have happened.
I believe that the only way to restore UMNO as a leading political party is to play a leading role in the reset and return of Malaysia to the original nation-building principles and policies for a plural nation, which had the support of the first four UMNO President – Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn.
This includes leading the fight against corruption in Malaysia and restoring judicial independence.
History will tell whether UMNO, after two devastating results in the 14th and 15th General Elections, can play this role and whether the future of Malaysia is to be model state for the world as a successful plural nation or to be a divided, failed and kleptocratic state.