The dinner was held at the new wing of Royale Bintang Damansara at Mutiara Damansara, and a keynote address was given by the Chief Minister of Penang, YAB Lim Guan Eng.
Besides the free food (which was mediocre, at best), I was looking forward to the speech by the Chief Minister, titled "The Future of Race Based Politics".
I had high hopes of a persuasive discourse on the extinction of governing along the racial lines, and for him to explain how the political landscape in the near future will be shaped differently. I anticipated a speech where he would seek to convince us that his party, DAP and the coalition that they have formed with Keadilan and PAS, will be a more than adequate alternative to the current Barisan government.
I was sorely disappointed.
Granted, the time allocated for him to talk could be far too limited to venture into such lofty agendas, but it would still have been more beneficial for him and the guest if he had not stuck to his usual script and rehash points of discussions which have been raised to death in all types of media such as newspapers, radios, television.
He spent the evening listing the goals that his state government have achieved and defending himself against accusations that they have sidelined the Malay populace in Penang.
It was a wasted opportunity, in my opinion.
There were distinguished guest amongst the crowd that night (and some of them did raise interesting, albeit contentious points, during the question and answer session), and he could have been more specific and dynamic in his address.
The Chief Minister's speech did however provoke an urge in me to consider my position in this whole discussion on whether our country can survive in a political system free from the shackles of race and racial sensitivities.
I will pen down my thoughts on this matter in a future post.
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