With independence day around the corner, I would like to emphasize the importance of understanding history and the struggles it took to gain independence in 1957.
We have to be grateful to our founding fathers and conscientious citizens who made great sacrifices for Independence in 1957.They created a system to accommodate all communities that is very much felt to this day, exemplified by the day to day interaction of common citizens of different ethnic backgrounds.
Our nation has evolved from a simple nation to a nation of multi-racial and religious character with Islam as an official religion. We are grateful to our initial leaders at the time of independence for their integrity and accommodative attitude and vice versa from our non Malay leaders and this has brought about peace stability to the nation over the years.
Having empathy for the other irrespective of race and religion has been a source of stability to our nation and we have done it relatively well in comparison to other nations who are going through decades of ethnic conflicts.
We experienced a kind of second independence in the year 2018. It was a great battle by a coalition of opposition political parties called Pakatan Harapan against a kleptocratic Barisan National government that has lost its sense of ideals of hard fought independence. This brought about a political change to a country that was under the spell of Umno-BN hegemony for 60 years.
There were significant changes introduced to the governing system where there were greater checks and balances to the Authority of the Government besides bringing significant corruption charges against prominent political personalities. For once we were able to press charges against culprits of grand corruption.
But due to greed for power a back door government was engineered by traitors within the Pakatan Harapan coalition. Sadly we are back to an old system that favors vested interest.
The present Perikatan government is weak and it has just a simple majority in Parliament. This razor thin majority has caused nervousness to foreign Investors who feel insecure to invest in the present economic climate. It looks like only a fresh General Election could bring about some sense of confidence among the business community.
Currently over 700,000 workers are out of job and unemployed. The unemployment rate has skyrocketed to over 5% and serious new initiatives are required to address these issues. We need a government that is sensitive to the needs of small businesses,because the flourishing of such businesses would create jobs for the local community.
For an example when we were in Government there were plans to spur up little India to become a haven for tourism. We had plans in creating lanes like the Concubine lane in Old Town. This initiative would have created new businesses and jobs for the locals. We also had plans for a museum etc.
We hope the sense of true independence that empowers local communities embodied by little India would prevail in the years to come. This would only be possible if Pakatan Harapan is given the mandate to govern again.
I appreciate little India Association (NGO) for inviting us to launch this event. I am grateful to M/s Kala, Sdr. Ravi, En Zain and many others who have made this event a great success.
On top of all this the NGO also contributed RM500 towards Lim Guan Eng solidarity fund. It is heartening to see many people coming forward to contribute to this fund.