The six state polls on August 12 is not about race or religion as no race or religion in Malaysia is under threat but whether Malaysia can rise again and become a great world-class nation punching above its weight.
The ideal result is a two-thirds majority victory for the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional coalition in Penang, Selangor and Negri Sembilan and better performances for the PH-BN coalition in the three states of Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.
But the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition of PAS and Bersatu is talking about a clean sweep of the six states, although the PN Chairman Muhyiddin Yassin in his recent Reuters interview seems to have backed off from his earlier claim that PN can capture the Penang state power.
The August 12 state polls for Penang, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu will be a test-case whether in the era of social media, Malaysian voters in the six states will be drowned in a tsunami of lies, falsehood, fake news and hate speech.
Examples are that the Malay race and the Islamic religion in Malaysia is under threat, which are spread by two leaders who had been Prime Minister for a total of a quarter of a century.
If it is true that the Malay race and the Islamic religion in Malaysia is under threat after these two gentlemen have become Prime Minister for a total of a quarter of a century, then they must bear the greatest responsibility as Malaysia will only be 66 years old next month.
Another political leader had accused me of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, and a communist, but when challenged to substantiate the wild and preposterous allegations, he was unable to do so from my 58 years of political life.
The real issue for the six state polls is whether Malaysia can rise again and become a great world-class nation punching above its weight.
In launching the Ekonomi Madani yesterday, Anwar spelt out his economic vision for the country which included the following salient points:
- Top 30 biggest economies in the world. In terms of nominal gross domestic products, Malaysia currently ranks 35.
- Top 12 in IMD World Competitive Index. The current rank is 27.
- Income from labour at 45 percent of total income. The present 12th Malaysia Plan goal is 40 percent by 2025.
- A 60 percent female participation in the workforce, up from 55.1 percent in 2021.
- Top 25 in the UN Human Development Index. Current rank is 62.
- Top 25 in the TI Corruption Perception Index. Current rank is 61.
- Keeping the fiscal deficit within three percent of GDP. The deficit for this year is projected to be five percent.
I myself believe that there are several salient points of Ekomoni Madani which have been omitted, but the important question is whether Malaysia can reset and return to the original nation-building principles of a plural Malaysia our founding fathers have written into the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukun Negara (which included the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak Hussein, and Hussein Onn, who were also UMNO Presidents) — 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; Malay as the national language and the sustenance and preservation of other languages; special provision for the Malays and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak to abolish poverty and development backwardness and the legitimate interests of other communities; good governance with public integrity and minimum of 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.
With the current salient points in Ekonomi Madani, Anwar has set the country on the track for Malaysia to rise again and become a great world-class nation punching above its weight instead of continuing in the trajectory of the last few decades of national decline losing to one country after another. We have already lost out to Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam; are we going to lose out to Indonesia, China and India and even worse, are we to end up as a failed and divided state like Sri Lanka?
The Perikatan Nasional has no agenda to make Malaysia great again.
They disseminate the lies, falsehoods, fake news and hate speech that the Malay race and Islamic religion in Malaysia are facing extinction.
How can such lies, falsehoods, fake news and hate speech be believed?
Muslims will grow more than twice as fast as the overall world population between 2015 and 2060 and, in the second half of this century, will likely surpass Christians as the world’s largest religious group.
As of the 2020 Population and Housing Census, 63.5 percent of the population practices Islam; 18.7 percent Buddhism; 9.1 percent Christianity; 6.1 percent Hinduism; and 2.7 percent other religion or gave no information.
There are some 70,000 mosques in Malaysia.
Is Islam facing the threat of extinction in Malaysia?
This is unbelievable.
But will these lies, falsehood, fake news and hate speech achieve traction in the six state polls on August 12?