SELANGOR Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari was right. The state polls in July and August will be a “litmus test” for the federal government not only in Selangor but in the other five states that will also be holding their state polls: Penang, Negri Sembilan, Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu.
They in fact represent six steps to show that there is no “green wave” in Malaysia.
These six steps are:
- The Anwar unity government need to perform better in Penang in the state polls than in the 2018 state general election;
- The Anwar unity government need to retain its state government in Selangor;
- The Anwar unity government need to retain its state government in Negri Sembilan;
- The Anwar unity government need to win more than three seats in Kedah state polls;
- The Anwar unity government need to win one or more state assembly seats in the Kelantan state polls; and
- The Anwar unity government need to win one or more state assembly seats in the Terengganu state polls.
Perikatan Nasional (PN) leaders have publicly stated that PN can form the Selangor state government has a 50-50 chance of forming the Negri Sembilan state government, that the Anwar unity government cannot win more than three state assembly seats in Kedah, and that PN will sweep all the state assembly seats in Kelantan and Terengganu.

The Anwar unity government’s election strategists should bear in mind what the defeated Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate in Padang Serai by-election after the 15th General Election (GE15) said was the cause of his defeat.
The PH candidate Dr Mohamad Sofee Razak said PN leaders used racial and religious issues to poison the minds of Undi18 voters because they were innocent and believed the lies of PN leaders that there was a threat to the Malays and Islam in the country.
There must be an effective counter-strategy to these racial and religious lies and falsehoods in the state polls in the six states, as at stake is not only the survival of the Anwar unity government but the future of Malaysia as to whether Malaysia can reset and return to the original nation-building principles of the nation’s founding fathers (which include the first four UMNO Presidents) to again become a successful world-class nation and avoid the fate of a divided, failed, and kleptocratic state.
No race or religion in Malaysia is under threat.
The question is whether Malaysia can be great by being a “beacon of light in a difficult and distracted world” and showing the world the way to democracy, good governance in the fight against corruption, as well as the achievement of inter-racial, inter-religious, inter-cultural, and inter-civilisational understanding, harmony, and peace.
We want Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, to be great on the world stage and not a divided, failed, and kleptocratic state. — March 26, 2023
Retired DAP supremo and former Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang, 82, has a colourful political career spanning 57 years.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main photo credit: Fulcrum.sg