VETERAN lawmaker Lim Kit Siang said Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin and Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Noor have made it easier to prove that there is no such thing as an “irresistible green tide” phenomenon to transform Malaysia into a theocratic state.
Lim noted that opposition leader Hamzah, in his Concorde Club speech on Wednesday (Jan 4) said Perikatan Nasional (PN) could capture Selangor in the next state polls and that PN has a 50-50 chance to capture Negri Sembilan.
He also noted Sanusi – who is the Kedah Menteri Besar and state PN chief – as saying that PN could capture 33 out of 36 state seats, although a month earlier he remarked that the coalition could win all 36 state seats in Kedah.
“All that is necessary to prove that there is no such thing as an irresistible ‘green tide’ is to prove that PN could not capture the Selangor state government and that it could not capture the Negri Sembilan state government either,” Lim pointed out.
“This also proves that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) coalitions that make up Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government could win more than three state seats in Kedah.”
However, he acknowledged that this is “too low a bar” for the six state elections and that the aim should be higher.
“The upcoming six state polls – Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Penang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu – will have special significance as it will be a mini-Parliamentary election,” Lim reckoned.
“It is a forerunner of the 16th general election as well as an acid test to determine whether Anwar’s government would have the political stability to last five years.
“It is also a battle for the future of the nation to determine whether we will mark Malaysia’s centennial in 2057 as a divided, failed and kleptocratic state, or if we will celebrate our first centennial as a world-class plural nation.” – Jan 6, 2023
