New Merdeka for Malaysia

Datuk Zaid Ibrahim took the floor at the Pakatan Rakyat’s First Convention and fired up the party faithful by declaring the pact ready to kick the corrupt Barisan Nasional (BN) out and ready to form the  new government..

“The rakyat are tired of racial politics, they are tired of being fooled..I assure you, after this, we will hold our next convention in Putrajaya,” he said, sparking thunderous applause from the crowd who attended today’s convention.

"Today we take One Decisive, Deliberate and Historic Step to Free our country from the corrupt government of BN, in the past we had gain our freedom and independence from the British empire and today we shall have our Merdeka from the misrule of UMNO."

“This step is our joint agreement to a Common Policy Framework (CPF). This is our compass. This is our guiding light. This is what distinguishes us from our opponents. We must steer by this compass to arrive at our destination – which is no less and no more than the liberation of Malaysia,” he asserted in ringing tones.

Calling BN rule “a pestilence”, Zaid said the CPF was Pakatan's path to the hearts and minds of Malaysians.

“We want them to back us so that we can check the downward spiral of this nation. We have not only to check, we have to reverse the slide and restore this nation to the fullness of its promises at its founding in 1957 and at its enlargement in 1963,” he elaborated. 

In addition, he said BN seems to believe that if they can clean up their act, change their captain, and rebrand their image and the ruling coalition would be back to its strength of old.

But Zaid, a former Umno minister, held that BN cannot change.

“True, it has changed its captain. He is like a magician come to do conjuring tricks at a children's party. But the biggest trick that he must do is that of his own disappearance. That he has to do, but he cannot do. And that is the reason why the BN cannot change.

“It has a skipper that must bring about his own disappearance for change to have any meaning. There's one thing the BN has deeply entrenched in its culture: the art of self-preservation.

“That culture reigns supreme in the BN. Once a BN leader gains the seat of paramount authority, it will take a political tsunami to dislodge him, which occurred to (former premier) Abdullah Badawi,” said Zaid.