Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook said, "The nation should 'Heng' (prosper), businesses should 'Huat' (prosper), and the people should 'Huat' (prosper)!" This is the slogan and goal of the unity government.
He said that while Federation of Chinese Associations of Malaysia (Hua Zong) President Tan Sri Goh Tian Chuan expressed concern that seeing cabinet members shout "Huat" during the Yee Sang toss might be a bit unfavorable to the people, he assured that the "Huat" from the ministers is not for officials to prosper but for the people to prosper.
To this end, he stated that the government will focus its efforts on economic development, because when the economic pie is expanded, the nation will develop better, the people's lives will improve, and society will certainly become more harmonious.
"Our focus, our work is to properly develop our economy, because when the economy is good, everyone benefits, and this is our most important task."
Loke made these remarks today during his speech at the 2025 Chinese New Year Grand Luncheon hosted by Hua Zong.
He also assured everyone that the unity government's cabinet members and leaders base their management of the nation on national unity and social harmony.
He pointed out that the recently contentious "Guideline for Muslims Attending Non-Muslim Religious Festivals" was blocked by the cabinet, which also proves that the decisions made by the unity government cabinet are based on religious harmony.
"Therefore, any decision or policy implementation is with national unity as our most important goal. I can assure everyone of this."
On another note, Loke stated that regardless of any challenges on the international stage, Malaysia and China will always be like family.
"Malaysia-China relations will certainly be strengthened because it's not just about economic trade, we also have long-standing cultural ties."
He gave an example that although Yee Sang is a unique culture in our country, he discovered that the Guangdong province's Foshan also has a culture of eating raw fish, and thus, he commissioned a historian to study this history this year.
"I have asked this historian to go to Foshan, China, to study how the local culinary culture (raw fish) developed and became Yee Sang that flourished in Malaysia."
He said that from the history of Yee Sang, it is evident that there are certainly many cultural ties between Malaysia and China, and thus the friendship between the two countries is not just 50 years but has actually been hundreds of years, which also needs to be defended by the peoples of both countries.