Don’t just think of our grandkids, but think of the grandkids of all Malaysians

I must thank the Minister for Tourism and Culture, Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz for his being so solicitous over my welfare, suggesting that I should be caring my grandchildren in my twilight years.

But Nazri cannot be more wrong, for we should not just think of our grandchildren, but also about the grandchildren of all Malaysians.

In fact, I call on all Malaysians, regardless of age, to transcend race, religion or region, to be solicitous of the national welfare and should involve themselves in ensuring that the country is a better place of our grandchildren and their children.

I put Nazri’s suggestion on my Facebook yesterday, asking whether I should listen to his advice.

The overwhelming majority, almost unanimous, view was in the negative, and some of the comments are as follows:

Zeus Chng Nazri is such a loser! Dr M and Kit Siang are taking care of their grandchildren by ensuring that Malaysia stays relevant and not run by corrupted UMNO n BN! That is the grandest plan of making sure their future great grand children is proud of! MO1’s grandchildren will have no place to hide their face n will be humiliated forever! Trust me on this.

Shyam Lakshmanan To all Malaysians, If you care about what happens to your grandchildren and to your children, you have to make a stand against the injustices being meted out by bn-umno. Otherwise the children and grandchildren will have to pay for the excesses of bn-umno.

What will you say to your grandchildren when they are exported to neighboring countries one day as maids?

Ping Lew Taking care of the welfare of the nation and ensuring that their birth country is safe and sound IS taking care of your grandkids indirectly. It is a much bigger role than direct grandparenting.

Terry Chia They are doing exactly that, they are fighting for all the grand parents of this country to have the government changed for the better for all our grand children to have a chance for a better life in this country.

When I was in school in the fifties, I dreamt of a united, harmonious, democratic, progressive and prosperous Malaysia that can be a model of successful plural nation-building for the world.

We were reaching for the skies, as we saw no limit to the excellence and achievements which Malaysians were capable of.

When I was in Form III in the year of the nation’s independence in 1957, I composed the following poem for my class magazine in Batu Pahat High School:

One for all and all for one
We care not what colour, creed or religion you belong
For aren’t each of us Malaya’s son
Then why let silly racial quarrels prolong?

We will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of Malaya’s Merdeka in less than nine months.

Have our national commitment to be a sovereign, independent, secular, liberal and democratic state been fulfilled in the past six decades?
No, if we go by the Prime Minister’s UMNO Presidential speech on Nov. 30 where he virtually condemned “secular” and “liberal” as dirty words in Malaysian nation-building – the former the lodestar of the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman and the latter, a favourite of the second Prime Minister, Tun Razak – Najib’s father – which was why it was highlighted in Rukunegara.

When I was in school, there were no significant religious problems in Malaysia, but today, religious polarization has joined racial polarization as among the greatest threats to the Malaysian nation-building process.

When I was in school, corruption was hardly heard of as a problem, but today, Malaysia has “distinguished” itself as a global kleptocracy, the subject of the largest kleptocratic action by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) with regard to the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal.

When I was in school, Malaysia’s educational system, primary, secondary and tertiary, were among the best in the world. Today, Malaysia was caught cheating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 causing Malaysia to be excluded in the PISA 2015 rankings for mathematic, science and reading subjects although we had no difficulties when taking part in the PISA tests, regarded as world’s school report, in 2009 and 2012.

For university education, we had fallen from top world-class standards to a level where we had to pick and choose university-rankings providers so as to ensure that Malaysian universities are not excluded.

Economically, we have lost our place during Merdeka when we were the most developed country in Asia after Japan, losing out to countries like South Korea and Taiwan which were much poorer than us in the fifties and have now become developed and prosperous nations – not to mention Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong which have so outdistanced us. More mortifying, Malaysia is in danger of being overtaken by Vietnam and Thailand while other countries like Indonesia, Philippines and Myanmar are closing their gaps with Malaysia.

Malaysia is danger of being stuck in the trajectory hurtling towards a failed and rogue state.

We do not want the grandchildren of Malaysians to grow up to be citizens of a failed and rogue state – this is why grandparents today must do their part to save Malaysia to avoid such an outcome.