Call on Kajang voters to do the impossible in the by-election by making the Barisan Nasional candidate lose deposit

[Speech (Part 2) at the 5th Pakatan Rakyat Convention at Setia City Convention Centre, Shah Alam on Saturday, 8th March 2014 at 4.30 pm]

The Kajang voters should do the impossible in the by-election on March 23 by making the Barisan Nasional candidate lose deposit.

It is not enough for the Pakatan Rakyat/PKR candidate just to win, or even to win with a bigger majority than last year during the 13th general election.

Pakatan Rakyat should set out to ensure the achievement of the impossible in the Kajang by-election by getting the Barisan Nasional candidate to lose the deposit.

This is a very “tall order” but the occasion warrants going for such an extraordinary result.

This will a clear and unmistakable verdict that the people disapproves of any return to authoritarian rule or reversion to blatant and flagrant subversion of the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary and other important national institutions to serve the political interests of the powers-that-be, as is clearly evident in the five-year jail conviction of Anwar Ibrahim yesterday.

I have been saying that in the past 10 months since the 13th General Elections on May 5 last year, the country has been plagued by a quintuplet (i.e. five) of national crisis – nation-building, economic, educational, security and corruption.

Today, it is not only Malaysians, investors and tourists who do not feel safe in the country because of the prevalence of crime in the country – even police personnel themselves are no longer safe as evident from a recent incident.

Since yesterday, a sixth national crisis has been added to the list to make the country face a sextuplet of national crisis – a return of the crisis of the judiciary because of the relapse in the long and hard journey to ensure that there is a truly independent judiciary and just rule of law in Malaysia.

The voters of Kajang in the by-election of March 23 has a special responsibility to address this sextuplet of national crisis plaguing the country.

Never before in the nation’s history has Malaysia been so polarized than in the past 10 months because of incessant incitement of racial and religious ill-will, animosities and hatred through lies and falsehoods, and what is worse, the ability of the instigators and extremists to carry out their nefarious and treacherous plots and activities with immunity and impunity without fear that they would be brought to book because of their open defiance and breaches of the law.

Earlier this week, the UMNO organ, Utusan Malaysia made the preposterous allegation that DAP has “a grand licence” to cause extreme racial and religious provocations without fear of action of the authorities.

The Utusan editors know that nobody believes such garbage, as Pakatan Rakyat leaders are often victims of selective and malicious prosecution evenwhen there had been no transgressions against the law.

But Utusan still went ahead with such garbage for their purpose is to send a strong message to the powers-that-be that they should continue to enjoy “immunity and impunity” for their incessant incitement of racial and religious animosities and hatred through lies and falsehoods, which is why I had described such Utusan writings as “Thief Shouting Thief”.

As a result, the fabric of Malaysian society faces the gravest threat from such irresponsible and reckless attempts to pit race against race and religion against religion, with the authorities abdicating their responsibilities to protect the peace, harmony, goodwill and tolerance in our multi-racial and multi-religious nation.

Today, the Pakatan Rakyat of PKR, PAS and DAP is the only political coalition of Malaysian patriots which stands up to protect the peace, harmony, goodwill, progress and prosperity of multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia, as UMNO and Barisan Nasional parties retire to the sidelines to allow the instigators and extremists to do their worst to incite racial and religious animosities and hatred even if this can result in racial chaos and religious conflagration.

This is why Pakatan Rakyat must ask the Kajang by-election voters to be in the very forefront of the “Love Malaysia, Save Malaysia” campaign to rescue the nation from the plots and machinations of the instigators and extremists who want Malaysia to fall apart through the incessant incitement of racial and religious animosities and hatred.

Let Malaysians, regardless of race and religion, be united by a common Malaysian Dream to ensure that our nation can succeed in building an united, harmonious, free, just, progressive and prosperous society for all our citizens – starting with the Kajang by-election on March 23.