AUGUST 21 ― On July 22 1967, about a month before our Merdeka Day celebration, the then Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak, launched Operation “Good Citizen”. This is what he said in his keynote address:

“The third essential of a good citizen is to be honest, not only with himself but also in all his dealings with his fellow citizens, because the only substitute for honesty is corruption. Nations have fallen apart and disintegrated in which honest policies did not exist and corruption took the place of honesty.”

Forty eight years have passed since the late Tun Abdul Razak made this speech, and today the Nation is on its travails ― assaulted, battered and subjugated from within by the evil forces of greed and corruption. Race and religion are being manipulated as political capital to incite fissiparous tendencies, preventing a unified effort in the war on corruption.

What is happening before us now is just the beginning of our painful decline. The serpentine venom spewed by the gland of greed is slowly but surely poisoning the bloodstream of our society, paralysing the pillars of our conscience.  The vicious venom often leaves us with a blurred vision, and all that is apparent to our eyes are the indicators of material progress ― good GDP growth, better per capita income, low inflation rate and so on. We are unable to look far into the pages of history and realise how the claws of corruption brought down and tore apart great nations of the past.

When our elected representatives refuse to relinquish their position of power amidst scandal after scandal and shamelessly expect the citizens of this country to respect the rule of law, where does that leave us? We are all left on our own, like a herd of sheep without a shepherd, lost, not knowing what to do next.

Our motherland, by the grace of God, has been blessed by peace and prosperity. Whilst others are suffering from war, famine, and natural disaster, we are living within the confines of our comfort zone, filled with all the luxuries life can offer. Maybe we have become too comfortable for our own good. Not used to the hardship faced by previous generation, we compromise our integrity just to find the easy way out. After all, a little donation to those with vested interest is not a crime, unless we are convicted ― innocent until proven guilty as the maxim goes.

The time has come for us to remind ourselves that the peace and prosperity that we enjoy today is a trust handed over to us by those who lay their life for the motherland; those who shed blood and tears so that we can continue living as a free and dignified nation.

It is now our cardinal duty to protect and defend this trust on behalf of the next generation. We must summon up all our courage and speak out against those who are dishonest. We must have the audacity to show our abhorrence and the firmness to be forthright. Know that the right to rancor is ours. Do not let our fighters of conscience bear the brunt of intimidation on their own. Support them by doing our part, no matter how small it is - at the very least, our words of encouragement. We must be in this fight together, for as long as it takes. Do not give up. If we give up, corruption will soon manifests itself into an incurable malady. If we give up, what right do we have to deserve the blessings of God over this great Nation?

As the 59th Merdeka Day approaches, let us cross the rubicon together and revive the spirit of Operation Good Citizen which has long been buried beneath piles of greed. Let us hope, in the words of the late Tun Abdul Razak:

“....that this Operation Good Citizen will set us thinking, and when every citizen stands before our Flag or before our National Anthem, he will be able to say, “Malaysia first and self second; Malaysia is part of me because I am part of Malaysia”.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.