The people's hope for a New Malaysia

After 61 years and winning 13 general elections, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) has suffered a historic defeat by a coalition of opposition parties under the umbrella Pakatan Harapan.

This is truly a turning point for Malaysia. From today Malaysia has a historic opportunity to build a truly multi-racial secular country with Islam being the religion of the majority of its people.

Our elected representatives have the responsibility and challenge to ensure that social justice, equal access to opportunities in every field and compassionate welfare provisions for the less fortunate are available to all Malaysians, and every Malaysian is equal before the law.

From today we should all strive to be Malaysians, not Chinese Malaysians or Indian Malaysians or Malay Malaysians, etc. We are all Malaysians! The road ahead to create a harmonious and prosperous Malaysia will be long and hard, with many pitfalls.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad today leads a coalition packed with politicians of differing political and economic philosophies and therefore, with possibly conflicting agendas about how to carry the nation forward.

Moreover, various civil society groups today are energised and empowered by their contributions that made a Harapan federal government possible and these groups naturally feel entitled to have their views heard as well.

The people now want to see the reality of constructive and positive work by all quarters. Harapan must now concentrate on ‘Rebuilding Malaysia’, like what they had promised.

The election campaigns are already over and it is time for the government to build the bridge and cooperate so that the public at large can see the positive development between the state and federal governments.

In order to rebuild the nation to its glory again, it is better to discuss matters in an orderly and constructive manner, for the benefit of the people and the country. This will help resolve, and take into consideration, many of the people’s needs and problems.

The people of Malaysia are looking forward to a new and better Malaysia in future. The people are relying on Harapan to transform Malaysia into a reliable, clean and transparent nation. -Mkini