The six state polls on August 12 will be a strong indicator of things to come in Malaysia – whether the nation will continue in the path of reform, to reset and return to the original nation-building principles of plural Malaysia that the nation’s founding fathers (which included the first three Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn) have written into the Malaysian Constitution and Rukun Negara or whether our future is that of a divided, failed and corrupt state in the coming decades.
This is why the six state polls are important not only for Penang, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, but for the country as a whole.
I will be happy to see a form of status quo on Polling Day on August 12 – the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional coalition winning Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan with two-thirds majority in the respective State Assemblies and Perikatan Nasional (PN) winning Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu but with PH-BN coalition making more headway in the three states.
The PH-BN coalition winning Kedah and Terengganu will exceed my expectations for the six state polls, but if this can be accomplished, then the future for Malaysia to become a great world-class nation will be very bright.
Let Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, age or gender, unite as Malaysians in the six state polls to build better tomorrow in Malaysia for our children and children’s children.
Nobody is asking the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Dayaks to forget their ethnic or religious identities, but we should all be “Malaysians First”.
There are political forces which are spreading lies, falsehoods, fake news and hate speech to make Malaysians suspicious about each other and polarise the country, whether based on race, religion or culture.
Let us not fall into their trap.
Malaysians should be proud of their legacy of the four great civilisations of the world – Malay/Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western – and work on Malaysia to become the role model for the world in inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisation dialogue, understanding, tolerance and harmony.
Let us show the world that Malaysians can be world champions again.