PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) efforts to reform the nation will come to nought if it loses the 15th General Election (GE15), said Lim Kit Siang.
Speaking at the “Harapan Sarawak Baru” dinner last night, the DAP supremo said the Malaysia Baru (New Malaysia) initiative needs more than one election cycle to realise its goals.
“If Pakatan Harapan loses the 15th General Election, then its kaput for a New Malaysia as a top world-class nation as this is a mission that will take a decade or two, definitely more than one general election cycle.
“We have made the crucial and critical shift in the 14th General Election from the trajectory of a failed, rogue and kleptocratic state and headed in a new direction, resetting nation-building policies to build a New Malaysia of unity, excellence, justice, freedom and integrity, to become a world-class nation.
“But there is no guarantee of success that we can inexorably reach the goal of a New Malaysia, for this is work of a decade or two and we can always be hijacked and the nation-building direction diverted along the way,“ he said.
The Iskandar Putri MP also expressed hope PH will be granted control by voters to govern Sarawak. The 12th Sarawak State election must be held by the middle of 2021.
“We want to achieve ‘history to history’, to follow our GE14 success by making history in the 12th GE in Sarawak to control Petrajaya and form the Sarawak State Government.
“Pakatan Harapan must convince Sarawakian voters to join in the venture to create a New Sarawak in tandem with the Federal promise to build a New Malaysia,“ he added.
Echoing his calls last week for the PH government to review its promises, Kit Siang urged its leaders to be honest in admitting their failures and reassuring the rakyat of their commitment to New Malaysia.
“We have made a good start in the last 14 months to build a New Malaysia where Malaysia can become a top world-class nation in every field of human endeavour but we must acknowledge widespread disappointment and disillusionment of the people that nothing much has changed or that more reforms could have been instituted.
“Let us be frank with the people and admit if we have promised the impossible for I believe Malaysians will appreciate our frankness with their support and confidence largely intact.”
