Kit Siang: New gathering of political forces soon

The country may be ready for a realignment of progressive and patriotic political forces to save Malaysia and keep faith with the vision of a united country.

(FMT) – The country may be ready for a realignment of progressive and patriotic political forces to save Malaysia and keep faith with the vision of a united country.

Those outside the corridors of power are also in a dilemma as to how get out of the political cul de sac to stop an unpopular Prime Minister from dragging the country in the direction of a failed and rogue state, noted suspended Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang in a statement.

For the past year, added Lim who is also DAP Parliamentary Leader, he had been on a “Save Malaysia” campaign which transcends race, religion, region, politics and individuals to stop the nation’s trajectory towards a failed and rogue state status.

Even former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, claimed Lim, seemed to have come around to the view.

Firstly, he said, the best way was for the country to have two political parties as this would ensure that one or the other would win a majority to form the government.

Secondly, everybody should act as patriotic citizens, irrespective of party affiliation or loyalties, to save the nation from heading for perdition.

The country may be ready for a realignment of progressive and patriotic political forces to save Malaysia and to keep faith with the vision of a united, inclusive, moderate, democratic and prosperous country, continued Lim. “The coming weeks will seek to give an answer to this question.”

“There’s rampant corruption, socio-economic injustice, collapse of governance, unbridled racial extremism and religious intolerance and bigotry and an emerging rogue state scenario because of violations of democracy, rule of law, free speech and egalitarianism.”

If people are selfish and only think of their self interest, whether of political parties or individuals, they should not upset the status quo, conceded Lim. “The best thing to do was to wait for the next General Election in 2018. Umno/Barisan Nasional (BN) under Najib Abdul Razak cannot be weaker and more vulnerable.”

However, warned Lim, this would not be in the best interests of the nation. “Malaysia would have descended further in the next two years down the slope towards a failed and a rogue state.”

Lim lamented that there has been one scandal after another, catapulting Malaysia to the stratosphere of being Number Three for the world’s “worst corruption scandal in 2015”, and falling four places in the Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2015.

“Najib has cracked down on democratic freedoms and human rights like the recent action against The Malaysian Insider,” said the DAP veteran. “The image and credibility has never been so low for a Malaysian Prime Minister, whether nationally or internationally.”