PRIME Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is the weakest prime minister in Malaysian history and is completely lost about the Melaka state general election which would have far-reaching implications for Malaysia for many years to come, said DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang.
According to the veteran politician, Nomination Day of the Melaka state polls on Monday (Nov 8) will see multiple contests between Pakatan Harapan and the Government parties on the one hand as well as between Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Barisan Nasional (BN) on the other.
“The country is searching for a new political equilibrium and equation after two important political developments, namely the toppling of the UMNO-BN government in the 2018 and the Sheraton Move in February 2020,” he remarked in a statement.
The Sheraton Move, Lim elaborated, toppled a legitimate and democratically-elected Pakatan Harapan government after 22 months when it was to serve for five years, ushering in a backdoor, undemocratic and illegitimate government in Malaysia for the first time in over six decades.
“The 14th General Election (GE14) destroyed the political hegemony of UMNO which it had abused for decades, but the Sheraton Move conspiracy disrupted the political and democratic process and the country had since then been seeking for a new, healthy and stable political equilibrium and equation,” he pointed out.
“Just as the 22-month COVID-19 pandemic is forcing a new norm in Malaysian social and economic life, the country is in search for a new norm in Malaysian politics after GE14 and the Sheraton Move conspiracy.
“Now, we have a political situation where no single political party can exercise political hegemony in Malaysia for the days when a single political party can command a simple majority in Parliament are over.”
Learning to cooperate with one another
According to Lim, the days for meaningful coalition politics in Malaysia has arrived, and political parties must learn to cooperate with one another for the good of the nation rather than for personal and political party self-aggrandisement.
However, he stressed the importance of the principles of justice, freedom, fair-play and wellbeing for all Malaysians so that Malaysia can become a world-class nation while avoiding the “traps of kleptocracy, kakistocracy and a failed state”.
“I was sent by DAP to Melaka to spearhead the DAP cause in 1969 and was MP for Bandar and then Kota Malacca for three terms – in 1969, 1974 and again in 1982,” Lim recalled.
“In the 70s and 80s, Melaka was the front-line state in Malaysia for the nation to become a world-class great nation, which could leverage on the virtues and values of the four great civilisations – Malay/Muslim, Chinese, Indian and Western – which meet in confluence in Malaysia.
“Since then, the torch as the frontline state for Malaysia to be a world-class great nation has passed to other states – Penang, Perak, Selangor and Johor.
“Now the torch has come back to Malacca to light the way forward for Malaysia in this Malacca general election.”
Brushing off comments that the Melaka state polls is important, Lim went on to remark that the Melaka and the Sarawak state elections will be important frontrunners to the country’s 15th General Election (GE15) to decide whether the “Malaysian Dream” has come to an end.
“In fact, the outcome of the Malacca and Sarawak state general elections may decide whether the Confidence-Supply-Reform (CSR) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Ismail Sabri and the four Pakatan Harapan leaders on Sept 13, 2021 should be torn up and the 15th General Election held early next year,” he added. – Nov 8, 2021
