I must thank the longest-serving Inspector-General of Police, Tun Hanif Omar, for the declassification of a 1969 Official Secrets Act document – the statement which I made to the police while in police custody at the Kuala Selangor Police Station lock-up under the Internal Security Act after I rejected advice not to return to Malaysia and flew back to Malaysia on 18th May 1969.
I was asked by the police in 1969 what were my political beliefs and I made eight points 54 years ago:
- Malaysia is a multi-racial, multi-lingual ad multi-cultural society and that a viable Malaysian nation can only be formed if all the races and groups in the country are given an equal stake under the Malaysian sun;
- Unless Malaysians of all races have more in common with one another than with their ‘blood brothers’ counterpart in China, India or Indonesia, Malaysia cannot be said to have become “A Nation of Malaysians”;
- In a multi-racial society like Malaysia, violence and any ideology of force can only lead to the disintegration of the country because it quickly degenerates into racial conflict. I therefore deplore force and violence of all forms;
- In a multi-racial society, if any racial group feels it is backward, either educationally, economically, culturally, linguistically, or politically, then racial antagonism will be created. Every attempt must be made to remove these imbalances between the races and groups;
- Poverty is not a communal problem. It is a socio-economic problem. To regard poverty as a racial problem is to increase racial antagonism in this country;
- I want a clean, honest, efficient, incorruptible and effective government;
- only parliamentary democracy can prevent a racial clash. Any other form of government will only lead to racial mistrust;
- communism is unconducive in a multi-racial society like Malaysia.
I have lived by these eight points in my political life for over half a century and they should be basis for Malaysia to undergo a reset and return to the original nation-building principles our founding fathers have written into the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukun Negara for a plural Malaysia — constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy, separation of powers, rule of law, an independent judiciary, Islam as the official religion and freedom of religion for all faiths in the country, good governance, public integrity with minimum corruption, a clean and honest government, meritocracy, respect for human rights, an end to the various injustices and inequalities in the country, a world-class economic, educational, health and social system, and national unity, understanding and harmony from our multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural diversity.
Nobody is asking a Malaysian to cease to be a Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban or Kadazan or Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Taoist or Sikkhist, but we must be Malaysian first and our ethnic, religious or regional identity second.
Since 1966 when the Democratic Action Party was founded, we strived to represent all Malaysians comprising different races, religions and regions, and that is why from the first general elections DAP contested in 1969, DAP always presented a multi-racial and multi-religious slate of candidates.
On Monday when I was conferred by the Yang di Pertuan Agong with the award of “Tan Sri”, the police wanted to give me protection as there were extremist and perverted messages on the social media accusing me of causing the May 13, 1969 riots; 9 not being Malaysian-born but China-born who came to Malaysia when was I was 18 and a communist.
Yesterday, the PAS President Hadi Awang again raised the May 13 spectre in warning against the “false narratives’ spread by DAP to sway Chinese and Indian youths.
It is Hadi who is trying to sway Malaysians with a false narrative instead of encouraging Malaysians to be world champions again and to play a significant role in contributing to global peace, understanding and diversity.
I have said before that Hadi has failed to be a responsible, honest and respected Islamic leader because he made wild and preposterous allegations against the DAP and me but which he could not substantiate when challenged to do so.
I am issuing three new challenges to Hadi to prove that I was in Kuala Lumpur and had caused the May 13, 1969 racial riots, that I was born in China and not born in Batu Pahat in Johore and that I was a communist.
The first three Prime Ministers who were also UMNO Presidents, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn were among the nation’s founding fathers who had set out the original nation-building principles for a plural Malaysia but from which we had deviated in the last few decades.
Malaysia has to reset and to return to these nation-building principles for a plural Malaysia to make Malaysians world champions again and be a role model to the world for inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisation dialogue, understanding, tolerance and harmony.
We should cease to compete with ourselves and to end up as a divided, failed, rogue and kleptocratic state but compete with the rest of the world to be a role model for the international society for inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisational dialogue, understanding, tolerance and harmony and to prevent a clash of civilisations.