Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should be released to take part in a
“Save Malaysia” National Summit involving all political parties, NGOs and national elders as the real challenge confronting Malaysia today is to prevent the nation from becoming a rogue and failed state and not about the change of the Prime Minister. It is about the change of national policies.
Malaysia has clearly lost our way since the nation’s Merdeka 58 year ago and the formation of Malaysia 52 years ago, and a “Save Malaysia” National Summit involving all political parties, NGOs and national elders like former Prime Ministers like Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah, former Deputy Prime Ministers like Tun Musa Hitam, Anwar Ibrahim and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, political and NGO veterans like Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, Tan Sri Simon Sipaun, Datuk Seri Daniel Tajem, Datuk Ambiga Sreenivasan, Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, Rev Paul Tan and others is the best way to return to our bearings and what is the best medicine for the country to take at present.
Compare the achievements of Malaysia and Singapore after 50 years of separation, and Malaysian leaders cannot continue to belabor under the denial syndrome that everything in Malaysia is fine, when the country is sliding down the slippery slope of collapse of good governance, worsening corruption, losing out in the international competitiveness race for a robust economy and educated citizenry, accompanied by the most worrying national division caused the worst racial and religious polarization in the past few years.
A “Save Malaysia” National Summit pooling the talents, expertise, resources and experience of patriotic Malaysians should be able to come out with a blueprint to halt Malaysia from hurtling towards a rogue and failed state, and set the national direction to become a showcase to the world of an economically successful and political vibrant plural society, where democracy, rule of law and human rights are examples for the rest of region if not the world.
Malaysian democracy, rule of law and good governance took a turn for the worst sixteen days ago since July 28 when Deputy Prime Minister and the Attorney-General were summarily sacked.
This is why the past 16 days had been very dark days for Malaysia, the economic crisis ever-worsening, with the Malaysian ringgit falling to over 4 to a US dollar and near to 3 to a Singapore dollar, when 50 years ago the Malaysian ringgit was at par with the Singapore dollar.
The prospects on the political front and democracy, human rights, media freedom and the rule of law are equally forbidding.
The time has come to end the political and economic crisis and deadlock confronting Malaysia – for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or party affiliation to stand up on the “Save Malaysia” common platform as Malaysians instead of the country from hurtling towards a rogue and a failed state.
Malaysia not be allowed to degenerate into a rogue state by protecting and upholding our Constitutional guarantees of democracy, rule of law, human rights of free speech and assembly.
Let the nation’s representatives, from all the political parties, NGOs as well as the nation’s elders, congregate to find ways to break out of the present national impasse so that all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or even political affiliation can feel proud again of being a Malaysian, whether inside the country or abroad.
(Speech at the PKR Himpunan Selamat Malaysia ceramah at Pandan Indah, Ampang Jaya on Thursday, 13th August 2015 at 10 pm)