I commented last August that the National Day 2022 was diametrically different from the National Day 2020 and 2021 – there was hope and anticipation instead of black despair and a sense of hopelessness.
National Day 2020 was the first year after the greatest political betrayal in the nation’s history when the Sheraton Move political conspiracy toppled the Pakatan Harapan government and shortened its rule from a mandate for five years to 22 months.
The National Day 2021 was also after the Muhyiddin government, which unconstitutionally suspended Parliament, ended and was replaced by the Ismail Sabri premiership.
In both years, the National Day celebrations took place under the cloud of the world-wide Covid-19 pandemic, with Malaysia as one of the worst performers among the countries in the world with Malaysia’s ranking in the Bloomberg Covid Resilience Index tumbling from 16th place in January 2021 to 52nd ranking in July 2021 and Malaysia falling from a world ranking of No. 85 in November 2020 among countries with the most daily number of Covid-19 cases and overtook 59 countries to be ranked No. 26 with nearly 5 million Covid-19 cases and over 36,000 Covid-19 deaths.
But there was hope in August 2022 when for the last 30 months there was black despair that the promise of spring-time of reform heralded by the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 was completely wasted, but in August 2022 Malaysians could hope again that Malaysia could be saved from becoming a kleptocracy, kakistocracy, a failed and rogue state and Malaysia could rise up again to fulfil its aspiration to be a world-class great nation and to be “a beacon of light to a difficult and distracted world”.
The 15th General Election on November 19, 2022 and the recent six state polls on August 12 have not extinguished these hopes that Malaysia could reset and return to the original nation-building principles for a plural Malaysia which the nation’s founding fathers (which included the first three Prime Ministers who were also UMNO Presidents, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak Hussen and Hussein Onn as well as Tan Cheng Lock and V. T. Sambanthan) have written into the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukun Negara so that Malaysia can rise up again and become a great world-class nation.
Much now depends on what the Anwar unity government could do in the next four years to get Malaysia to rise up again as a great world-class nation, which is why all eyes are on the Special Parliament beginning on September 11, 2023.
There is now a shocking suggestion that Malaysians should celebrate different National Days, based on political beliefs.
This suggestion should not be acted upon, as Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or politics, should celebrate one common National Day as Malaysians as is the practice for 66 years.
Let us not further divide Malaysians.