Selamat Hari Kebangsaan and Selamat Hari Malaysia, my dear fellow Malaysians.
For the past five years, I have shared my thoughts with you around National Day.
Each year, I reflected on the many challenges facing our beloved nation; our economy, education, corruption, political reforms, climate change, artificial intelligence and the rapidly changing world around us.
These challenges remain relevant and important. This year, I would like to speak about something even more fundamental – who we are as a people.
I often ask myself a simple question. What do all Malaysians have in common?
Before we are Malays, Chinese, Indians, Ibans, Kadazans, Orang Asli or Eurasian and before we belong to different political parties or hold different opinions – who are we?
We are all sons and daughters of Malaysia. Many of us become husbands and wives. Many become mothers and fathers. We celebrate when our children succeed. We lose sleep when they struggle. We worry when our parents grow old. We grieve when those we love leave us. We hope that the next generation will enjoy a better life than we did.
When we strip away everything else, we discover something beautiful and enlightening. We are far more alike than we are different.
I grew up in a small town called Pusing in Perak. My closest childhood friends were Malays, Chinese and Indians. We played sports together. We swam in the old mining pools and rivers together. We often visited and slept over in one another’s homes.
I honestly cannot remember asking anyone what race they were before deciding whether they could be my friend. Children have a remarkable gift. They see people before they see labels. Perhaps somewhere along the journey of adulthood, we lose a little of that wisdom.
Every child born into this world is a gift to humankind. None of us had the privilege to choose the colour of our skin and where we were born. Faith is indeed a deeply personal matter. None of us chose our first language and the family into which we entered this world.
Every one of us can decide, every single day, what kind of Malaysian we want to become. That choice has always been ours. And it will always be.
Whatever our faith may be, all religions teach us the same fundamental truth and wisdom, that every human life possesses dignity. Whatever our faith, surely none teaches us to despise another human being because of race or religion.
At Sunway, I always strive to ensure we are “colour-blind, passport-blind and
religion-blind”.
As a nation of diverse cultures and creeds, our diversity is indeed a strength to be cherished.
We must deepen our resolve to build a country where all may live with dignity and a true sense of belonging.
Hatred is learnt. Respect can also be learnt. Division is cultivated. Unity can also be cultivated. The question before us is not whether Malaysia can become a more united nation. The question is whether each of us is prepared to become a more generous Malaysian. Because nations do not become better by themselves. People do.
Throughout history, there have always been those who unite people. Unfortunately, there are also those who sought to divide us.
Division is easy. It takes little effort to convince one community to fear another. It takes far greater courage to build trust. Oftentimes, there is a heavy price to pay for doing what is right and just.
We must remain steadfast in our convictions to uphold the ideals that bind us as a nation. Every generation is eventually remembered by the bridges it built, or the walls it left behind.
Our generation will be no different. Sometimes I wonder how much further Malaysia might already have progressed if we had devoted the same energy to
solving our common problems as we have spent fighting and arguing over our differences.
Imagine if we competed to build better schools instead of sharper slogans, if we invested more in educating our children than in insulting one another. Imagine if we became known not for the loudest voices, but for the wisest ideas on how to build a better nation.
On a global scale, imagine if America and China chose to work together as brothers and not rivals, the world would be a far better place for all humanity.
When I was a young boy, poverty shaped my life. It taught me that education is the most powerful pathway out of hardship and misery towards a life of dignity. That conviction never left me.
The success of my business career has given me the privilege to set up the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation to make quality education accessible to as many young Malaysians as possible, regardless of race and background.
This is why I transferred, in perpetuity, my entire equity in the Sunway Education Group (Sunway International Schools, Sunway Colleges and Sunway University) to the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation in a not-for-profit structure.
The foundation no longer belongs to me nor my family. It belongs to Malaysia for the benefit of present and future generations of Malaysians.
More than RM4bil has been gifted and endowed in perpetuity through the foundation, with over RM1.05bil in scholarships and grants awarded to date.
Every scholarship awarded is not simply another student entering college or university. It is a family lifted out of the vicious cycle of poverty and misery. A dream restored. A future rewritten. That, to me, is nation-building.
Yet governments alone cannot build a great nation. Businesses, schools, religious organisations and parents cannot do it alone. Every citizen has a part to play. A better Malaysia is not something we inherit. It is something we build together.
The world will not wait for us. Artificial Intelligence is transforming how we live, learn and work. Climate change is reshaping our future. Our neighbours and other countries around the world are investing heavily in innovation, education and human capital.
While the world races forward, Malaysia cannot afford to be left behind and be distracted by fear, suspicion and endless division. Our children deserve better than that. They deserve a nation confident enough to compete with the rest of the world.
Whether Malaysia remains competitive regionally or globally is really a question of how well prepared our next generation is for that competition. Our duty as fathers, mothers and grandparents is to prepare our next generation to meet this very fierce, intensive and relentless competition.
In spite of all the challenges before us, I remain hopeful. Whenever I meet young Malaysians, I am encouraged by their curiosity, creativity, compassion and confidence.
Perhaps they will succeed where previous generations, including mine, have sometimes fallen short. Perhaps they will finally build the Malaysia we have always dreamed of. I sincerely believe they can and pray they will succeed.
Every one of us will leave this world one day. People are unlikely to remember which political party we supported. They will probably not remember the arguments we fought and debated on social media.
But they will remember whether we left Malaysia in a better state than we found it. Kinder, fairer, more united, more stable and more hopeful. That, to me, is the true meaning of patriotism.
Not merely loving our country for what it is today but loving it enough to help it become the Malaysia that we can all be proud of. This is our home and shared inheritance. This is our responsibility and shared destiny.
Let us build bridges strong enough for the next generation to cross. Let us foster a more stable, just, inclusive and sustainable future for our beloved country.
Because the Malaysia we leave behind is the Malaysia our children will inherit.
Together, with conviction, let us build a nation worthy of them. We are all in this together and may we all be blessed, always.
Selamat Hari Kebangsaan.
Selamat Hari Malaysia.
Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah KBE AO
A fellow Malaysian
