YESTERDAY’S (Dec 19) vote of confidence has solidified Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s tenure as Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister (PM) for five years although the guards must never be down on the possibility of a Sheraton Move 2.0 political conspiracy to topple the country’s unprecedented unity government.
Perikatan Nasional (PN) MPs made this point quite clear in their parliamentary debate although the masterminds of a Sheraton Move 2.0 political conspiracy must now realise that after the vote of confidence in Parliament yesterday, this is unlikely to happen in months as they originally expected.
The vote of confidence provides a much-needed breathing space for a reset of nation-building policies and for Malaysia to end the decline from a first-rate world-class nation to a second-rate mediocre country or in short, at risk of falling into the trajectory to become a failed, divided and kleptocratic state on Malaysia’s Centennial.
Although the PN MPs did not vote against the motion, it is unfortunate that the PN MPs chose to quibble over semantics instead on focussing on the urgent need to check the country’s national decline and to save Malaysia from ending up as a failed, divided and kleptocratic state.
There was only one MP who spoke about Malaysia’s national decline by urging fellow MPs to focus on fixing the economy instead of quarrelling over semantics.
UMNO Titiwangsa MP Datuk Seri Johari Ghani expressed disbelief that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) did not expand from 2018 to 2021 – which is at -0.1% – while Indonesia’s GDP recorded 11.8%, followed by Vietnam (24.2%), Thailand (9.7%) and the Philippines (19.3%).
He warned that Malaysia could go down the same path as Sri Lanka which suffered an economic crisis earlier this year if the government of the day fails to improve the economy.
He went on to caution that if politicking continued in the country, Malaysia would risk falling further behind Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand in terms of economic development.
He said: “We have wasted time with three PMs in the last four years and have fallen behind our regional neighbours.”
Johari nevertheless defended the necessity of the confidence vote to ensure the Government serves a full term and is given the opportunity to elevate the country’s economy by providing the political stability that will attract greater foreign direct investment (FDI).
MPs must use the “breathing space” provided by the vote of confidence to rebuild the economy and propel Malaysia into the information and technological era; unite Malaysians of diverse races, religions and regions; end the injustices and inequalities in the country; ensure our schools and universities are centres of educational excellence; install a clean, honest and incorruptible government recognised by the world; and leverage on the values and virtues of the four great civilisations which meet in confluence in Malaysia.
The PN MPs had no ideas how Malaysia can end the national decline to rebuild and propel Malaysia into the modern technological world.
The question is whether the PN MPs are capable of rising above polemics and semantics and join in the national effort to save the country for Malaysia to become great once again. – Dec 20, 2022
Retired DAP supremo and veteran lawmaker Lim Kit Siang was the former MP for Iskandar Puteri.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main pic credit: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Facebook
