I declined DAP Secretary-General Anthony Loke’s proposal that I become DAP mentor after I announced my retirement from front-line politics last March, partly because I believe that the DAP was in good hands under a younger generation of DAP leaders but also because I want to establish that when I expressed my views, it was not the DAP’s official views but the views of one person, Lim Kit Siang.
That was why I had not sought the views of the DAP leadership during this period when expressing my views.
I believe that I have succeeded in this objective since my political retirement at the DAP Congress more than a year ago, and that I am not representing DAP in any way when I expressed my views.
I can say that since my retirement from front-line politics more than a year ago, I have not for a single day not thought about the future of Malaysia.
Some of these thoughts are:
- Is it possible to reverse the national decline of the last half a century, where we have lost out to Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam. Come 2040 or 2050, are we going to lose out to more countries, including Indonesia and the Philippines? In fighting corruption, we are losing out to China, India and Indonesia. What is our future.
- Is it possible to reset the national policies of the last half a century, for instance the New Economic Policy, which was meant to last a span of 20 years but have lasted over half a century creating UMNO-putras while leaving the Malay masses as poor as ever.
- Can we convince Malaysians that Malaysia has only a future if we reset and return to the founding principles of Malaysia as set out in the Constitution and the Rukun Negara – constitutional monarchy, separation of powers, parliamentary democracy, an independent judiciary, rule of law, good governance, public integrity and minimal corruption, Islam as the official religion and freedom of religion for all faiths, respect for human rights, unity in diversity for plural Malaysia?
- Is the Malaysian Dream for Malaysia to become a world-class great country an impossible dream?
Recently, an all-engrossing question is how long the Anwar unity government will last.
I have said that the chances of the Anwar unity government can last the full term of five years is positive, but it must not self-destruct by embarking on polices which are totally at variance with its core values and the principles of the original nation-building principles for a plural Malaysia which had the support of the first four UMNO Presidents like fighting corruption and restoring an independent judiciary.
The frenzy of the past week can be fathomed by the writing of the political scientist, Wong Chin Huat, who wrote a piece entitled “Unity government ends if Najib walks free”.
The immediate problem to the survival of the Anwar unity government seems to be internal rather than external.
I think it’s a fallacy to believe that UMNO can only return to its glory days if Najib is pardoned. On the contrary, I believe Najib’s pardon now will not benefit UMNO at all but will benefit PAS and Bersatu instead, apart from causing the collapse of the Anwar unity government.
The only way for UMNO to restore greatness is to take the lead in a reset and return to the original nation-building principles for a plural Malaysia.
Malaysia will lose its opportunity to reset and return to the original nation-building principles for a plural Malaysia and which had the support of the first four UMNO Presidents – Onn Jaafar, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak Hussein and Hussein Onn – and be a model to the world of inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisational understanding, tolerance and harmony if the Anwar unity government collapses at the end of the month.
Does Malaysia has a death-wish to return to the trajectory of a divided, failed and kleptocratic state? I will leave these issues to be deal with by your retreat.