Does PAS want to win Johor to reduce it to one of the poorest states in Malaysia like Kelantan?

(Versi BM)

Today is the nomination day for the Pulai parliamentary and Simpang Jeram state assembly by-elections because of the death of its incumbent, the late Salahuddin Ayub.

PAS leaders see the two by-elections in Johor as a “gateway” for the “Perikatan Nasional wave” to spread to Johor and win the state, and they urged the voters in Pulai and Simpang Jeram to “experiment” to ensure that the “PN wave” is maintained and send a strong signal to Pakatan Harapan and BN.

The voters of Pulai and Simpang Jeram should do the very opposite and inflict major defeats for Perikatan Nasional and PAS to demonstrate that the Johor voters do not want PAS to administer Johor to reduce it to one of the poorest states in Malaysia like Kelantan.

When Malaysia achieved independence in 1957, Kelantan’s GDP per capita was about half that of Malaysia. After over three decades of PAS rule, Kelantan GDP per capita has fallen to about one-third of Malaysia’s GDP per capita.

If PAS continues to rule in Kelantan and does not change its ways, Kelantan’s GDP per capita may fall of a quarter of the national GDP per capita when Malaysia marks its first Centennial on 2057!

I do not believe there is any state in Malaysia who wants to have a GDP per capita on Malaysia’s Centennial which is only one quarter of the national GDP per capita, as the people would want to be like Penang, Selangor, and Negeri Sembilan which have GDP per capita above the national average.

PN and PAS have made headway in the six state polls on August 12 because they had exploited the 3R issues and benefited from the sea of lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech prevalent in the social media era.

PAS President, Hadi Awang, for instance, has yet to present an iota of evidence to substantiate his wild and preposterous allegations that the DAPA is anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, communist, and promoting Islamophobia proving that he is one of the most dishonest, irresponsible, and untrustworthy political leaders in the country.

Islam, like the great religions of the world, do not teach any of its followers to use lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech to solicit support and votes.

(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Penang on Saturday, 26th August 2023)

(Speech by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang at the Batu Pahat DAP branches’ dinner to celebrate the conferment of “Tan Sri” on him by the Yang di Pertuan Agong in Batu Pahat on Saturday, 26th August at 8 pm)

Adakah PAS mahu menang di Johor atau menjadikan Johor salah satu negeri termiskin di Malaysia seperti Kelantan?

Hari ini adalah hari penamaan untuk pilihan raya kecil parlimen Pulai dan dewan undangan negeri Simpang Jeram yang perlu dijalankan selepas pemergian wakil rakyatnya sebelum ini, Salahuddin Ayub.

Para pemimpin PAS melihat kedua-dua pilihan raya kecil di Johor ini sebagai “gerbang” untuk “gelombang Perikatan Nasional” untuk tersebar ke Johor dan memenangi negeri tersebut, dan mereka telah menggesa para pengundi di Pulai dan Simpang Jeram untuk “bereksperimen” untuk memastikan “gelombang PN” dapat dikekalkan dan untuk menghantar tanda yang kuat kepada Pakatan Harapan dan BN.

Para pengundi di Pulai dan Simpang Jeram perlu melakukan perkara yang sebaliknya dan memberikan kekalahan besar kepada Perikatan Nasional dan PAS untuk menunjukkan yang para pengundi di Johor tidak mahu PAS untuk memerintah Johor dan menjadikan negeri tersebut salah satu dari negeri termiskin di Malaysia seperti Kelantan.

Semasa Malaysia mencapai kemerdekaan pada tahun 1957, KDNK per kapita Kelantan berada pada paras kira-kira separuh dari KDNK per kapita Malaysia. Selepas lebih dari tiga dekad diperintah PAS, KDNK per kapita Kelantan telah jatuh kepada paras satu per tiga KDNK per kapita Malaysia.

Sekiranya PAS terus memerintah Kelantan dan tidak mengubah caranya, KDNK per kapita Kelantan mungkin akan terus jatuh kepada paras suku kadar KDNK per kapita negara semasa negara kita menyambut ulang tahun ke-100 pada tahun 2057!

Saya tidak percaya ada mana-mana negeri di Malaysia yang mahu mempunyai KDNK per kapita pada paras hanya suku dari KDNK per kapita nasional, sebaliknya, rakyat mahu negeri mereka menjadi seperti Pulau Pinang, Selangor, dan Negeri Sembilan yang mempunyai kadar KDNK per kapita di atas garisan purata kebangsaan.

PN dan PAS mencatatkan kemajuan dalam enam pilihan raya negeri pada 12 Ogos kerana mereka telah mengekploitasi isu-isu 3R dan menerima manfaat dari kebanjiran penipuan, fitnah, berita palsu, dan ucapan kebencian yang berleluasa di media sosial.

Presiden PAS, Hadi Awang, misalnya, masih gagal untuk berikan satu pun bukti untuk tuduhan liar dan tidak masuk akalnya yang mengatakan kononnya DAP ini anti-Melayu, anti-Islam, anti-Raja, komunis, dan mempromosikan Islamofobia — membuktikan bahawa dia adalah salah seorang pemimpin politik yang paling tidak jujur, tidak bertanggungjawab, dan tidak boleh dipercayai di dalam negara.

Islam, seperti agama-agama lain, tidak mengajar umatnya untuk menggunakan penipuan, fitnah, berita palsu, dan ucapan kebencian untuk mendapatkan sokongan dan undian.

(Kenyataan Media veteran DAP Lim Kit Siang di Pulau Pinang pada hari Sabtu, 26 Ogos 2023)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 26 August 2023, 12:57 pm and is filed under
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Is the PAS candidate for Simpang Jeram Dr. Mohd Mazri another Hadi Awang who spread lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech without having to substantiate them?

I was shocked by the nomination day statement by the PAS candidate for Simpang Jeram, Dr. Mohd Mazri Yahya who pledged to break down a purported wall of racial animosity allegedly built by the DAP.

Is the PAS candidate for Simpang Jeram Dr. Mohd Mazri another Hadi Awang who spread lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech without having substantiate them?

I have been with the DAP for close to six decades and the creation of a wall of racial animosity among the races had never been an objective of the DAP!

In fact, the very opposite is the case. Right from the very first general election that the DAP contested in 1969, the DAP has put up a multil-racial slate of state assembly and parliamentary candidates.

Dr. Mazri may not know that in the 1969 General Election, two DAP Malay State Assemblymen were elected, but he should know that in 1987, I was accused of being anti-Chinese because Ahmad Nor was the DAP candidate in the Gopeng by-election, and although Ahmad Nor lost in the by-election, he went on to become the first DAP Malay Member of Parliament in 1990.

Dr. Mazri cannot be unaware that at present, the DAP has three Malay Members of Parliament, or is he suggesting that the three DAP Malay MPs, Syahredzan Johan, the MP for Bangi, Syerleena Abdul Rashid, the MP for Bukit Bendera and Young Syefura Othman, the MP for Bentong, are not Malays or Muslims?

Is Dr. Mazri aware that DAP MP for Bandar Melaka Lim Guan Eng went to jail in 1998 and sacrificed his parliamentary position and qualification in the defence of the dignity of an underaged Malay girl?

Is Dr. Mazri aware that in the Teluk Intan by-election in May 2014, Hadi reminded PAS members that DAP had helped PAS when the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition tried to oust the party from ruling Kelantan during the 1977 Kelantan Emergency?

Yes, Hadi subsequently repaid DAP’s help in 1977 by making wild and preposterous allegations that the DAP was anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, communist, and promoting Islamophobia, but Hadi had not been able to advance one iota of evidence to substantiate his allegations against the DAP or to lodge a report to the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) Islamophobia Observatory?

Is Dr. Mazri going to follow Hadi’s example to spread lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech without any substance or basis?

Is Dr. Mazri going to be an honest, responsible, and trustworthy politician whose every word is based on fact or reason, or is he going to be like Hadi Awang, to be a dishonest, irresponsible, and untrustworthy political leader who tell lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech?

Can Dr. Mazri explain why the wild and preposterous allegations that the DAP was anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, communist, and promoting Islamophobia were not made in the first 30 years of the DAP’s life, but after year 2000 starting with the infamous film Tanda Putera?

Lately, Hadi talked about UMNO and Amanah were “DAP’s Gurkha”.

Was Mahathir Mohamad acting as DAP’s Gurkha when he announced in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018 as Prime Minister that Malaysia would ratify all the UN international covenants, which caused Hadi to go on a rampage against the DAP for masterminding the plan to ratify the International Covenant of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)?

I await Dr. Mazri’s answers.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 27 August 2023, 10:11 am and is filed under
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In the first 20 years of my political life, I was accused of being an anti-Chinese educated or an CIA, MI6, KGB or Australian secret service agent but in the last 20 years, I was accused of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, communist, and promoting Islamophobia

(Versi BM)

I am probably most demonized Malaysian in politics.

In the first 20 years of my political life, I was accused of being anti-Chinese educated or an CIA, MI6, KGB or Australian secret service agent, but in my last 20 years, I was accused of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, communist, and promoting Islamophobia.

I am none of these but a Malaysian nationalist and patriot who regards Malaysia as my only home and country, who is born, bred, and will die in Malaysia.

I believe that Malaysia is a plural country which can be a role model to the world of inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural, and inter-civilisational dialogue, understanding, tolerance, and harmony.

I was a voracious reader. I read English and Chinese publications, including the Chinese “fighting” stories rented from the roadside stalls. I was also a regular cinema goer, seeing the English and Chinese films in particular from the two cheap cinemas in Batu Pahat at 40 sen per session (there were four cinemas in BP altogether).

I was a librarian at the Batu Pahat High School in my secondary school days and later became a librarian at the Batu Pahat Library.

My ideas came from my school days in Batu Pahat, Johore.

Yesterday, I visited one of my “mother” schools — Cheng Siu Chinese primary school.

In my young days, I pestered my mother that I wanted to go to school. But I was underaged and my mother could only put me in a kindergarten near my house in Jalan Penggaram, Batu Pahat.

Then I enrolled in Cheng Siu Chinese primary school in Std. I and Std. Two in 1947 and 1948, and in 1949, I switched to Batu Pahat English School to receive six years of primary and five years of secondary education. But I continued in Cheng Siu night to complete nine years of Chinese education.

It is in the schools that one learns the great precepts in life, like the story of the Song general Yue Fei, whose mother tattooed on his back the four words, jìn zhōng bào guó 盡忠報國 (‘serve the country with the utmost loyalty’), but the country here is Malaysia and not China or the story of Wen Tianxiang 文天祥 and his immortal words,

人生自古誰無死

留取丹心照汗青

(What man is ever immune from death?

Leave me with a loyal heart shining in the pages of history)

These precepts have guided me in my over eight decades of life.

Cheng Siu Chinese primary schools have grown and become two schools — School 1 and School 2.

This is in accordance with what we believe should be the basis of nation-building of a plural Malaysia, where Malaysia can be a role model to the world of inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural, and inter-civilisation dialogue, understanding, tolerance, and harmony.

In the early years of DAP, we fought for a nation-building policy of integration as against assimilation to achieve the objectives of “Unity in Diversity”.

It was not an easy battle but finally we prevailed and even Mahathir Mohamad, before he resigned after being the Prime Minister for 22 years, said in December 2002 that the Barisan Nasional (BN) wants to continue the integration policy practised in Malaysia to ensure racial harmony and stability in the long run.

He said that such a policy had worked very well for the country because it was fortunate to have political parties which were not extreme.

“Political parties in the BN accept the fact this is a multiracial, multicultural, and multireligious country and therefore we should be tolerant of other races, cultures, religions and languages.”

Mahathir said that the government of the day did not intend to assimilate anybody as the idea had been rejected by the people previously.

He said:

“What we want is to integrate different races and different tribal groups into one society, each one playing its own role with no one higher than the other… this (integration) has worked very well but not assimilation.”

Mahathir said that unlike in other countries where migrants had to accept the culture, language, and sometimes the religion of the majority, Malaysia did not want to assimilate its people to become one race.

There was no bitterness and anger between the different races because Malaysia was one of the few countries in the world, developed or developing, that allowed the people to have their education in their own languages, have their own schools and yet conformed to the general education policy of the country.

Mahathir said a characteristic of Malaysians was to be “sensitive about other people’s feeling and we do not do things that will aggravate matters that can cause tension among us.”

I was reminded of this Mahathir’s speech when I visited Cheng Siu yesterday and hoped that we can live up to it.

(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Penang on Monday, 28th August 2023)

Dalam 20 tahun pertama kehidupan politik saya, saya telah dituduh sebagai anti-pendidikan Cina atau agen CIA, MI6, KGB, atau Perkhidmatan Risikan Australia, tetapi dalam 20 tahun terakhir pula, saya dituduh sebagai anti-Melayu, anti-Islam, anti-Raja, komunis, dan mempromosikan Islamofobia

Saya ini mungkin rakyat Malaysia yang paling banyak difitnah.

Dalam 20 tahun pertama kehidupan politik saya, saya telah dituduh sebagai anti-pendidikan Cina atau agen CIA, MI6, KGB, atau Perkhidmatan Risikan Australia, tetapi dalam 20 tahun terakhir pula, saya dituduh sebagai anti-Melayu, anti-Islam, anti-Raja, komunis, dan mempromosikan Islamofobia.

Saya bukanlah seperti yang dituduh ini, sebaliknya saya adalah seorang nasionalis dan patriot yang menganggap Malaysia sebagai satu-satunya rumah dan negara saya, yang dilahirkan, dibesarkan, dan akan mati di Malaysia.

Saya percaya yang Malaysia adalah sebuah negara majmuk yang boleh menjadi contoh tauladan dialog, persefahaman, toleransi, dan keharmonian antara etnik, agama, budaya, dan tamadun kepada dunia.

Saya adalah seorang pembaca yang rakus. Saya membaca penerbitan dalam bahasa Inggeris dan Cina, termasuklah kisah “pertempuran” Cina yang dipinjam dari gerai-gerai tepi jalan. Saya juga seorang yang kerap ke panggung wayang, untuk menonton filem-filem Inggeris dan Cina, terutamanya di dua pawagam murah di Batu Pahat yang mengenakan bayaran 40 sen untuk satu tayangan (ada empat pawagam di Batu Pahat).

Saya merupakan pustakawan di Sekolah Tinggi Batu Pahat semasa hari-hari sekolah menengah saya dan kemudiannya menjadi seorang pustakawan di Perpustakaan Batu Pahat.

Idea-idea saya datang dari zaman persekolahan saya di Batu Pahat, Johor.

Semalam, saya telah melawat salah satu dari “ibu” sekolah saya – sekolah rendah Cina Cheng Siu.

Pada waktu muda saya, saya kerap meminta kepada ibu saya untuk ke sekolah. Namun saya berada di bawah umur dan ibu saya hanya boleh menghantar saya ke tadika berdekatan dengan rumah saya di Jalan Penggaram, Batu Pahat.

Kemudian, saya telah mendaftar ke sekolah rendah Cina Cheng Siu dalam darjah satu dan dua pada tahun 1947 dan 1948 dan pada tahun 1949, saya telah berpindah ke Sekolah Inggeris Batu Pahat untuk menerima enam tahun pendidikan peringkat rendah dan lima tahun pendidikan peringkat menengah. Pada masa yang sama, saya terus ke Cheng Siu pada waktu malam untuk melengkapkan sembilan tahun pendidikan Cina.

Sekolahlah tempatnya di mana kita belajar pengajaran utama kehidupan, seperti kisah General dinasti Song, Yue Fei, yang mana ibunya telah mencacahkan empat perkataan di belakang badannya, jìn zhōng bào guó 盡忠報國 (berkhidmat untuk negara dengan kesetiaan penuh), tetapi negaranya di sini untuk semua orang adalah Malaysia dan bukannya China atau kisah Wen Tianxiang dan kata-katanya ulungnya:

人生自古誰無死

留取丹心照汗青。

(Manusia, sejak dari awal zaman, semuanya telah menemui kematian;)

(Tinggalkan hati keramat kita dalam naskhah sejarah)

Ajaran-ajaran ini telah menjadi panduan hidup saya selama lebih dari lapan dekad.

Sekolah rendah Cina Cheng Siu kini sudah semakin besar dan sudah menjadi dua sekolah — Sekolah 1 dan Sekolah 2.

Perkara ini selari dengan apa yang kita percaya sepatutnya menjadi asas pembinaan negara majmuk Malaysia, di mana Malaysia boleh menjadi contoh tauladan dialog, persefahaman, toleransi, dan keharmonian antara etnik, agama, budaya, dan tamadun kepada dunia.

Dalam tahun-tahun awal DAP, kami memperjuangkan dasar integrasi sebagai asas pembinaan negara untuk mencapai matlamat “Perpaduan dari Kepelbagaian” dan menentang dasar asimilasi.

Perjuangan ini tidak mudah tetapi kami akhirnya berjaya, malah Mahathir Mohamad sendiri, sebelum meletakkan jawatan selepas menjadi Perdana Menteri selama 22 tahun, telah mengatakan pada bulan Disember 2002 yang Barisan Nasional (BN) mahu untuk meneruskan dasar integrasi yang diamalkan di Malaysia untuk menjamin keharmonian kaum dan kestabilan dalam jangka masa panjang.

Dia mengatakan yang dasar seperti ini berkesan baik untuk negara kita kerana negara kita bertuah kerana tidak mempunyai parti-parti politik yang bersifat pelampau.

“Parti-parti politik dalam BN menerima fakta yang negara ini adalah negara berbilang kaum, berbilang budaya, dan berbilang agama dan oleh itu kita perlu bertoleransi dengan kaum, budaya, agama, dan bahasa lain.”

Mahathir mengatakan yang kerajaan pada hari ini tidak berniat untuk memaksa asimilasi ke atas sesiapa kerana idea ini telah pun ditolak rakyat sebelum ini.

Dia mengatakan: “Apa yang kita mahu adalah integrasi pelbagai kaum dan puak menjadi satu masyarakat, dengan semua pihak memainkan peranan masing-masing di mana tidak ada sesiapa diletakkan lebih tinggi berbanding dengan yang lain… perkara ini (integrasi) telah berfungsi dengan sangat baik, tetapi tidak untuk asimilasi.”

Mahathir mengatakan, tidak seperti negara lain di mana migran perlu menerima budaya, bahasa, malah kadang-kalanya, agama pihak majoriti, Malaysia tidak mahu mengasimilasi rakyatnya untuk menjadi satu kaum.

Tidak ada kemarahan dan kebencian di antara kaum-kaum di Malaysia kerana Malaysia adalah antara beberapa negara di dunia, baik dalam kalangan negara maju atau membangun, yang membolehkan rakyat untuk menerima pendidikan dalam bahasa mereka sendiri, ada sekolah sendiri, tetapi pada masa yang sama, mematuhi dasar pendidikan negara.

Mahathir mengatakan yang sifat orang Malaysia adalah “sensitif dengan perasaan orang lain dan kita tidak mahu perkara menjadi lebih buruk yang hanya akan menimbulkan ketegangan di antara kita.”

Saya teringat dengan ucapan Mahathir ini ketika saya melawat Cheng Siu semalam dan saya harap kita dapat memenuhi aspirasi ini.

(Kenyataan Media veteran DAP Lim Kit Siang di Pulau Pinang pada hari Isnin, 28 Ogos 2023)

                This entry was posted on Monday, 28 August 2023, 2:25 pm and is filed under
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Hadi developed an animus toward me, making wild and preposterous allegations against me, including the lie that I am promoting Islamophobia, because I never proposed him to be Prime Minister of Malaysia

I fully endorse the statement by the DAP Secretary-General Anthony Loke that DAP had never told PAS to abandon Islam during the years when the two parties worked together, whether during Barisan Alternatif from 1999 to 2001 and in Pakatan Rakyat from 2008 to 2015.

Thankfully, the Amanah President, Mohamad Sabu, had clarified the matter.

I was perplexed by the statement by the PAS President, Hadi Awang in Simpang Jeram.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the reason for Hadi’s animus for the DAP, to the extent that he was prepared to tell lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech against the DAP, was because the DAP never proposed that he became the Prime Minister instead of Anwar Ibrahim.

During the Kajang Move in 2014 where Anwar and Wan Azizah Wan Ismail were thwarted in their plan to become the Menteri Besar of Selangor, Hadi had seen me to solicit DAP support for PAS’ opposition to Anwar as the Prime Minister-designate in the General Election.

Hadi suggested Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah should replace Anwar as Pakatan Rakyat’s Prime Minister-designate.

I disagreed and reminded Hadi of the Pakatan Rakyat’s decision to name Anwar as the Prime Minister-designate.

Had I at that time agreed to Hadi’s proposal to replace Anwar with Razaleigh, or better still, suggested that Hadi should be the PM-designate instead, I would today be hailed by Hadi as a great champion of and fighter for Islam instead of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, communist, and promoting Islamophobia!

Yes, I was opposed to Hadi as the Prime Minister of Malaysia and events have proved me right.

Hadi is now the greatest threat to inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural, and inter-civilisation dialogue, understanding, tolerance and harmony in the history of Malaysia, for he has not only defamed the non-Malays and non-Muslims, he has also defamed the Malays and Muslims.

Malaysians, whether Malays or non-Malays, Muslims or non-Muslims want political stability but Hadi wants political turmoil and upheaval.

Malaysians, whether Malays or non-Malays, Muslims or Non-Muslims, want national unity of the various races, religions and cultures in Malaysia but Hadi wants polarisation and disagreement.

Fortunately, polarisation in Malaysia has not reached the extreme level as in other countries.

According the Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report 2023, Malaysia is not in the worst category of six countries which are “severely polarised”, or is it among the second category of nine countries which are “in danger of severe polarisation” or third category of six countries which are “extremely divided”.

Malaysia belongs to the fourth and best category of seven countries which are “less polarised” with few deep divisions, together with Singapore, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, China, and India.

We must not allow irresponsible leaders like Hadi to plunge Malaysia into the other three categories where polarisation becomes severe with entrenched deep divisions, and this is why the Pulai parliamentary and Simpang Jeram State Assembly by-elections on Sept. 9 are important, not just who is going to be the new MP for Pulai and the new Johore State Assemblyman for Simpang Jeram, but to show Malaysia and the world that it is possible to stop the tsunami of lies, falsehoods, fake news and hate speech in the era of social media.

Hadi has proved to be a very dishonest, irresponsible and untrustworthy political leader as he had not only violated his instruction to PAS members to remember that DAP had helped PAS when the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition tried to oust the party from ruling Kelantan during the 1977 Kelantan Emergency, he had made wild and preposterous allegations against the DAP which he had not been able to substanstiate.

Furthermore, because I am critical of his political leadership, he accused me of promoting Islamophobia!

Clearly, Hadi developed an animus towards me, making wild and preposterous allegations against me, including the lie that I am promoting Islamophobia, because I never proposed him to be Prime Minister of Malaysia.

(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Penang on Tuesday, August 29, 2023)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 29 August 2023, 2:04 pm and is filed under
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Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections are in the frontline to save Malaysia by ending the irresponsible attempts of political forces to create polarisation among the diverse races and religions in plural Malaysia and to prevent Malaysia from rising up again to become a great world-class nation

Last August, I commented that the 65th National Day was diametrically different from the National Day in the previous two years of 2020 and 2021 — as there was hope and anticipation in 2022 instead of black despair and a sense of hopelessness in 2020 and 2021.

In 2020 was the first National Day after the greatest political betrayal in the nation’s history when the Sheraton Move political conspiracy toppled the Pakatan Harapan government and shortened its rule from a mandate for five years to 22 months.

In 2021, the National Day was also subdued with the toppling of the Muhyiddin government and the beginning of Ismail Sabri premiership.

In both years, the National Day celebrations took place under the cloud of the world-wide Covid-19 pandemic, with Malaysia as one of the worst performers among the countries in the world with Malaysia’s ranking in the Bloomberg Covid Resilience Index tumbling from 16th place in January 2021 to 52nd ranking in July 2021 and Malaysia falling from a world ranking of No. 85 in November 2020 among countries with the most daily number of Covid-19 cases and overtook 59 countries as we are now ranked No. 26 with nearly 5 million Covid-19 cases and over 36,000 Covid-19 deaths.

But there was hope last August when for the previous 30 months there was black despair that the promise of spring-time of reform when UMNO-BN political hegemony was ended in the 14th General Election on May 9, 2018 was completely wasted, but the 65th National Day was the time for Malaysians to hope again that Malaysia can be saved from becoming a kleptocracy, kakistocracy, a failed, and rogue state, and that it was possible to hope again that Malaysia could fulfil Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman’s aspiration to be “a beacon of light to a difficult and distracted world”.

In the 66th National Day tomorrow, this hope and anticipation can continue.

Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections are now in the frontline to save Malaysia by ending the irresponsible attempts of political forces to create polarisation among the diverse races and religions in plural Malaysia and to prevent Malaysia from rising up again to become a great world-class nation

May 9, 2018 will go down in Malaysian history as an important date but it was the first step in a long struggle for change and reform.

Malaysians who had toiled from all over the world in the Malaysian Diaspora in the 14th General Election to ensure that their votes were counted in the 2018 political miracle but every Malaysian inside and outside the county must dare to continue to dream the Malaysian Dream.

There are desperate forces trying to prevent the country from returning to the original nation-building principles and policies as enshrined in the Constitution and Rukun Negara — constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy, separation of powers, rule of law, good governance, public integrity, meritocracy, respect for human rights, and national unity from our multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural diversity where there are no first-class and second-class citizens whether based on race, religion or region.

But the battle is not lost.

In the last nine months, the Anwar unity government has been valiant attempts for Malaysia to rise up again and to become a great world-class nation.

Mistakes had been made and it is not possible under the political situation to carry out to far-reaching political changes and institutional reforms.

The Anwar unity government needs four more years of political stability and national unity for Malaysia to rise up again to become a great world-class nation, and Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections must provide strong support for the additional four years for Malaysia to rise up again to become a great world-class nation.

(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang Penang on Tuesday, 30th August 2023)

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 30 August 2023, 11:53 am and is filed under
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Invoking the spirit of 1957

I was in Form Three and the students of Batu Pahat High School were gathered at the school padang to hear the Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, declare the independence of the nation.

Before reading the Proclamation of Independence, Tunku called on everyone in the new country, regardless of race or religion, “to dedicate yourselves to the service of the new Malaya: to work and strive with hand and brain to create a new nation, inspired by the ideals of justice and liberty — a beacon of light in a disturbed and distracted world”.

It was a new dawn for the country and everyone was excited by the new challenges for the country to take its place among the top nations in the world.

That was 66 years ago. Much water has flowed under the bridge. But the country has never been more divided than today and Malaysia has ceased to be regarded as one of the top nations in the world.

The Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim’s National Day Address could not be more apt when he said that Malaysia had a mediocre performance over the past 20 years and that the unity of among the races was especially important, with Madani government committed to uphold the rights of all citizens if Malaysia is to rise up again to become a great world-class nation.

The Anwar unity government is the only political coalition in the country which comprise political parties which are committed to the goal of Malaysia rising up again to be a great world-class nation.

As no other political coalition wants Malaysia to rise up again to become a great world-class nation, the Anwar unity government should be given four years until the 16th General Elections in 2027 before a judgement is made as to whether it has failed or succeeded in its task to make Malaysia one of the top nations in the world.

For the sake of the country, Anwar’s call for an end to the sowing of doubts as well as racial and political hostility should be heeded, and all energies devoted to one single task — to invoke the Spirit of 1957 for national unity for Malaysia to rise up again to become a great world-class nation.

(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Penang on 66th National Day 31st August 2023)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 31 August 2023, 3:44 pm and is filed under
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Objective of voters of Pulai and Simpang Jeram is to ensure that Johor joins the club of Malaysian states before the next general election in 2027 with higher GDP per capita than the Malaysian average instead of joining Kelantan whose GDP per capita has dropped to less than one third of Malaysian average

The objective of voters of Pulai and Simpang Jeram in the two by-elections on Sept. 9 is to ensure that Johor joins the club of Malaysian states before the next general election in 2027 with higher GDP per capita than the Malaysian average instead of joining Kelantan whose GDP per capita has dropped to less than one third of Malaysian average after over three decades of PAS Government.

This is obvious from the following table:

2022 GDP Per Capita (RM)

Percentage of Malaysian Average

Kuala Lumpur

127,199

231.7

Labuan

81,652

148.9

Sarawak

80,857

147.4

Penang

69,684

127.1

Selangor

59,908

109.3

Malacca

50,407

91.9

Negeri Sembilan

49,804

90.9

Pahang

47,177

86.1

Johor

41,058

75.0

Perak

36,924

67.3

Sabah

36,020

65.7

Terengganu

32,199

58.7

Kedah

25,967

47.4

Perlis

23,126

42.1

Kelantan

16,567

30.3

Malaysia

54,863

These data are from the Department of Statistics, Malaysia.

(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Penang on Friday, 1st September 2023)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 1 September 2023, 12:28 pm and is filed under
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Johor to make history next Saturday which will be a test to decide whether the Anwar unity government forges ahead with reforms to make Malaysia a great world-class nation or Malaysia backtrack to become a divided, failed, and corrupt state

Johor will make history next Saturday which will be a test to decide whether the Anwar unity government forges ahead with reforms to make Malaysia a great world-class nation or Malaysia backtrack to become a divided, failed, and corrupt state.

PAS President, Hadi Awang said a great win for the Perikatan Nasional and PAS in the two by-elections in Pulai and Simpang Jeram would lead to the toppling of Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister and change of government.

I am quite skeptical of this as the loss of Pulai parliamentary seat will only mean the loss of the two-thirds parliamentary majority of the Anwar unity government, but this is no small matter, as it will decide on the quality and speed of policy changes and institutional reforms for the next four years.

There are many unhappy with the quality and speed of policy changes and institutional reforms but real time for judgement is not now but in four years’ time in the 16th General Election in 2027.

It is then that Malaysians should pass a judgement of the reform efforts of the Anwar Unity Government, which has also to spend time to fob off Sheraton Move 2 efforts to topple the Anwar Unity Government.

The two by-elections have also a special meaning for Johor — to decide whether Johor will clearly join the “high-income” states like Penang, Sarawak, and Selangor, which have GDP per capita above the Malaysian average, or join Kelantan to be a poor low-income state, with Kelantan slipping from over half the Malaysian GDP per capita in the early years of Merdeka in 1957 to only less than one-third of the Malaysian GDP per capita after over three decades of PAS State Government.

(Media Statement by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang in Penang on Saturday, 2nd September 2023)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 2 September 2023, 11:34 am and is filed under
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Call on voters of Pulai and Simpang Jeram to save the country so that Malaysia can rise up again to become a great world-class nation

I call on the voters of Pulai parliamentary and Simpang Jeram state assembly by-elections next Saturday to have a high voter turnout with two objectives:

Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections are important not only for their constituencies and Johor state, but important to save Malaysia so that the country can reverse the national decline of the last two decades and rise up again to become a great world-class nation; and

To vote not only for now and for themselves, but for the future in 20 or 30 years’ time and for their children and children’s children’s sake so that they can live in a nation where there is “Unity in diversity”, freedom, justice, development, and prosperity

The Pulai and Simpang Jeram by-elections cannot cause the Anwar unity government at the federal level to fall, but it can affect the speed and quality of the policy changes and institutional reforms in the next four years to make Malaysia a great world-class nation.

If we want a better Malaysia for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, we need a strong vote of support for the Anwar unity government in both the by-elections so that there is political stability and national unity of diverse races, religions, and cultures in Malaysia to make the country rise up again as a great world-class nation,

Pulai and Simpang Jeram can show Malaysia and the world that lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech cannot succeed or decide the nation’s future.

I have been accused of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, cause of the May 13, 1969 riots in Kuala Lumpur, communist, and spreading Islamophobia but those who spread these lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech like the PAS President, Hadi Awang, cannot produce an iota of evidence from my 58 years of political work — yet they refuse to withdraw and retract these wild and preposterous allegations.

The DAP has been in power in Penang since 2008, but they could not produce a single instance of the 15-year DAP Government in Penang to substantiate their allegations that the DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam, and anti-Royalty, communist or spreading Islamophobia.

Yet they continue to spread these lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech.

We must show the nation and the world that the voters of Pulai and Simpang Jeram have no time for lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech, but want political stability and national unity for the next four years for Malaysia to rise up again to be a great world-class nation.

(Speech by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang at a Pulai PH/BN ceramah on Saturday, 2nd September 2023 at 9 pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 3 September 2023, 11:42 am and is filed under
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Malaysia cannot rise up again to become a great world-class nation unless there is unity and common purpose among the diverse races, religions, and cultures in the country

In the first twenty years of my political life, I was accused of being anti-Chinese educated and anti-Indian to prevent the DAP from getting support from the non-Malays in the urban areas. The irresponsible purveyors of these lies and falsehoods failed.

In the last twenty years of my political life, I was accused of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, and spreading Islamophobia to prevent the Malays in the rural and semi-rural areas from supporting the DAP. I am confident that these tactics would also fail because there is no truth of these demonisation, whether the DAP is anti-Chinese educated and anti-Indian, or anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty or spreading islamophobia.

DAP wants all Malaysians, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans or Dayaks or Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Sikhists or Taoists, to prosper and flourish because as a plural nation, Malaysia can only prosper and flourish if all races and religions can prosper and flourish and there is political stability, national unity and common purpose among Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region.

The very fact that there is not an of iota evidence to show that I was anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, and spreading Islamophobia from my 58 years of political life shows that the purveyors of these untruths, led by the PAS leader Hadi Awang, were just spreading lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech just as they cannot point to a single instance of proof that the Penang State Government had been anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty, and spreading Islamophobia after 15 years of DAP-controlled Penang State Government from 2008–2013.

I want to ask when Hadi still stop lying and spreading falsehoods and fake news after PKR deputy Information chief, Razeef Rakimin, asked Abdul Hadi Awang whether he had feigned being ill after a police interview of the latter was postponed due to health reasons.

Razeef asked if poor health was used as an excuse by Hadi to avoid being probed over a speech at PAS Bakri’s headquarters in Muar on Aug 26, in which the Islamist party’s leader was believed to have questioned the authority of the Pardons Board.

Can Hadi cite examples of Muslim leaders becoming Muslim leaders because they tell lies, falsehoods, fake news, and hate speech?

(Media Statement by DAP veteran after tour of coffee shops in Perling in support of the Pulai by-election candidate Suhaizan Kaiat on Sunday, 3rd September 2023)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 3 September 2023, 4:36 pm and is filed under
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