In a week’s time, Malaysia will be celebrating the 66th National Day and in 34 years’ time, Malaysians will be Malaysia’s Centennial.
Most Malaysians who are in their forties or younger will live to see Malaysia’s
Centennial in 2057.
It is more than nine months since the 15th General Elections on November 19, 2022, and one important question about the future of Malaysia should be asked: Who are the national leaders who are Prime Minister-designates who are talking about the objective of Malaysia rising up again to become a great world-class nation?
The national leaders who are also Prime Minister-designates are only focused on their own personal interests or those of their political parties or coalitions, but not on the interests of Malaysia.
A PAS leader, for instance, was reported by online news today making the prediction that the upcoming Simpang Jeram by-election is the “gateway” for the “Perikatan Nasional wave” to spread to Johor, and he was not bothered if Malaysia end up as a divided, failed and corrupt state like Sri Lanka.
This PAS leader even predicted that Perikatan Nasional (PN) will take over Johor in another two and a half years and even reach Singapore.
I am Johore-born, having been born and grew up in Batu Pahat in the forties and fifties. I have been a Member of Parliament for five states namely Malacca, Selangor, Penang, Perak and Johore but I do not agree with this PAS leader as I do not expect Johor and Singapore to fall to PAS anytime.
But what bugged me was the thought: What is the use of PAS taking over Johor and Singapore if they are reduced to divided, failed and corrupt states as PAS and even PN have no plans whatsoever to make Johor, Malaysia and Singapore great world-class nations.
I believe Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans, Dayaks or Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs or Taoists, do not want Malaysia to be reduced to a Sri Lanka to become a divided, failed and corrupt state but to rise up again to become a great world-class nation!
The only person who is talking about Malaysia rising up again to become a great world-class nation is the Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, whose vision of Ekonomi Madani included the following targets:
- 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.
- Top 25 in the UN Human Development Index. Current rank is 62.
- Top 25 in the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Current rank is 61.
I am still waiting for Hadi and the PN and Bersatu Presidernt, Muhyiddin Yassin who still harboured Prime Ministerial ambitions to lay out their vision to make Malaysia a great world-class nation.
In the first five years of the annual Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 1995-1999, Malaysia was the top country in the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) on public integrity and probity.
In the 2000 and 2001 TI CPI, we lost out to Tunisia. In the last TI CPI 2022, Malaysia lost to four OIC countries, namely UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Hadi’s explanation was to blame non-Muslims for the corruption in Malaysia, ignoring the fact that if Malaysia’s trajectory in the TI CPIs is not reversed, China will overtake Malaysia in the TI CPI series by the end of this decade.
But the most shocking was Muhyiddin’s most startling “achievement” in fighting corruption – it took 22 years for Malaysia to drop from the inaugural TI CPI 1995 ranking of 23 out of 41 countries to 62 out of 180 countries in 2017, but it took Muhyiddin 10 months to drop from 51st ranking in 2019 to 62nd ranking in 2020.
Muhyiddin Yassin is the Prime Minister with the worst record in fighting corruption in Malaysia.
Both Muhyiddin and Hadi have no vision, plan or intention to make Malaysia rise up again to become a great world-class nation.
This is why Anwar deserves full support from Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, politics or region to make Malaysia rise up again to become a great world-class nation.