The Penang chief minister said the dream, characterised by “freedom, justice, integrity, democracy and prosperity”, was not a monopoly of any one generation, gender or ethnic group.
In obvious reference to former prime minister and PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad, he said: “We can be 93 years old and still want change for a better future for our children.”
“This Malaysian dream promises a future for all our children, not just the children of the few cronies and well-connected in power.
“Never ever let our children’s future be stolen as ours were stolen with the numerous financial and corruption scandals,” Lim said in a statement today to bid farewell to 2017 and usher in the new year,
“We can dream of a Malaysia which is not a kleptocracy, free from corruption scandals such as 1MDB,” he said.
“We can dream of Malaysians free from paying GST or a country free from police custodial deaths.
“We can dream of a country that cherishes facts and truth, not fake news and lies. We can dream of a country that fights corruption, not use it as a political weapon to frame up and smear the reputation of political opponents,” he added.
Lim said the dream could be of a country that protects fundamental rights, the environment, permanent rainforests and the rights of women to make their own decisions free from harassment and blame.
“Why can we not dream of a country that helps the rakyat (people) instead of robbing them of their funds, rights, freedom, intelligence and even privacy?
“Why can we not dream of a government that promotes unity and mutual respect in our multi-racial society, instead of division and fear to the extent that extremist and racist calls are met with silence,” he added.
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