SELAMAT Hari Kebangsaan, my dear fellow Malaysians!

I am proud to join all of you in celebrating our 67th National Day and, soon, our 61st Malaysia Day.

This is the fourth consecutive year I am sharing my thoughts with you. The responses to my previous essays have been very encouraging, and I have enjoyed engaging with all of you who responded directly to me.

Let me start with some good news. Over the past 12 months, we have experienced several positive developments and joyous occasions.

Our economy is registering strong growth with encouraging foreign direct investment, our ringgit is strengthening, and inflation is under control.

However, the impact of these economic realities on the ground is somewhat uneven and scattered, and not all Malaysians enjoy equal benefits. We need to do better in this regard.

As a true-blue Malaysian, I was especially happy to witness two events which united all Malaysians, and which we celebrated as one nation.

The first was the installation of our 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Raja Permaisuri Agong. The second was the remarkable spectacle of how we came together as a nation to support and cheer our sports heroes at the Paris Olympics.

Why can’t we be like this all the time?

Instead, I believe there are growing concerns of a deepening polarisation in our diverse society.

Of course, this is not a phenomenon that is unique to Malaysia.

For example, the divide and polarisation in the US, the world’s biggest power, leading up to their elections in November, is worrying.

And, in Great Britain with their recent riots. It was also evident during the recent European Union parliamentary polls, where far-right parties made major gains.

There are many reasons fueling this rise of divisive politics, but I personally believe that the growing influence and toxicity of social media bears much of the blame.

A lot of this can be attributed to social media platforms designed to amplify extreme views and sensationalise events.

To gain attention or popularity, much of the language used in these posts is often offensive and crude, which only degrades conversations that should be conducted with civility and sincerity.

The situation may well worsen with the rapid advance of artificial intelligence or AI and the dangerous rise of disinformation, deepfakes and online scams.

I believe that curbing this toxicity in social media requires enlightened leadership in all sectors of society, individual responsibility and an emphasis on basic human decency – where we address the issues instead of attacking the person.

We must strongly uphold our shared values and what we have in common with one another as Malaysians, rather than constantly harping on our differences.

Education, I believe, plays a crucial role in this effort to counter the negativity. Clearly, we must enhance our education system to take into account the latest advances in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), as well as instilling critical thinking skills and inculcating ethical values.

It is also vital that we build an ecosystem of educational excellence and research to strengthen our human capital development, in order to attract foreign investments that will lead to the creation of high-value employment opportunities.

By doing so, we can stem the brain drain and achieve our goal of becoming a developed nation.

I have always believed that quality education offers the best route out of poverty and misery.

That was why as soon as I was able to, I established the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation to help make quality education and research more affordable and accessible.

The foundation operates under a not-for-profit structure.

To date, I am happy to share that the foundation has awarded scholarships and grants amounting to RM745 million to thousands of deserving young Malaysians.

Our work at the foundation has helped retain our own young talent to help Malaysia achieve its goals and aspirations.

It should also be noted that the West is no longer as welcoming of migrants and that the grass is not always greener on the other side.

Asia is poised to be the engine of global economic growth and Malaysia is at the heart of this Asian renaissance. Opportunities are abundant right here in Malaysia.

Even though I was a little-known individual from the small and poverty-ridden town of Pusing, in Perak, I am an entrepreneur who is deeply grateful to my country for the opportunities it has blessed me with.

In fact, the Sunway Group that I have built is celebrating our 50th anniversary this year.

Yes, we do have problems and issues to address as a country. I do not mean to imply that we cannot disagree with one another.

After all, we are a democracy. But what I am emphasising here is that we should not allow our differences to divide us and break the bonds that bind us together as true-blue Malaysians.

As long as we engage with one another with civility, sincerity and decency, we can build the Malaysia of our dreams and aspirations that all of us can cherish and treasure.

In pursuit of this goal, I urge that we adopt integrity as our guide, humility as our virtue and the pursuit of excellence as our choice.

We are all in this together, my fellow Malaysians!

TAN SRI DR JEFFREY CHEAH

A hopeful citizen of Malaysia