“UNDOING the misgovernance of the past to make Malaysia great again” perhaps best sums up retired DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang’s one final lobby for Opposition leader and Prime Minister (PM)-in-waiting for far too long, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to be Malaysia’s 10th premier.
But the veteran lawmaker who himself has served as MP for 11 terms is very well aware that before Anwar can become PM, he has to first pass the hurdle of winning the Tambun parliamentary seat which features incumbent and Bersatu deputy president Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu of Perikatan Nasional (PN).
Even as Ahmad Faizal or Peja as he is popularly known has been deemed a ‘traitor’ for he had previously contested under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) ticket which could have contributed to his GE14 victory, it must be borne in mind that he is also both a local boy and currently the PN Perak state chairman.
Both Peja and Anwar who himself has moved his base from Port Dickson to Tambun will be engaged in a four-corner flight on Nov 19 with Tambun UMNO division chief Datuk Aminuddin Md. Hanafiah who is contesting as Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate and Abdul Rahim Tahir of Pejuang.
Therefore, it is little wonder that Kit Siang who made Chemor (which is just 21km away from Tambun) his first stop in a PH nationwide campaign this morning (Nov 6), went all-out to rally the Tambun electorate “to have the highest voter turnout in the country and to vote for Anwar in the quest to save Malaysia from the fate of Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe”.
“The misgovernance of Malaysia will need more than one general election and will take decades to undo, but we must start the reset of nation-building principles and policies immediately,” contended the 81-year-old who is stepping down from politics after a career spanning 57 years.
“… we have to stop the national bleeding which has made Malaysia a second-rate mediocre country and created a Malaysian diaspora of more than million Malaysians all over the globe.”
The veteran lawmaker further justified that Malaysia is capable of being among the best countries in the world – a great world-class plural nation – but the misgovernance has caused Malaysia to lose out to Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Vietnam.
“In terms of a clean and honest government, we are losing out to China by end of this decade and to India and even Indonesia in the next decade,” he cautioned.
In Kit Siang’s contention, only Anwar is capable to stop Malaysia from being a kleptocracy among the GE15 PM candidates.
“Definitely not UMNO president Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi who wants GE15 to ensure that UMNO and BN leaders are not charged in court for corruption and sent to jail,” he asserted. “Neither are (PN chairman Tan Sri) Muyhyiddin Yassin or (PAS president Tan Sri) Hadi Awang principled and strong enough to turn the kleptocracy clock back.” – Nov 6, 2022
Main pic credit: Bernama
