(Teluk Intan, Monday): Two days ago, Gerakan President and Primary Industries Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, announced that he had submitted the report on the defeat of the Gerakan candidate Dr. Chee See Choke in the Teluk Intan by-election to the Cabinet, showing that a Minister of three decades’ experience does not know the basic and important distinction between government and party.
It is no wonder that the Gerakan lost so badly in the Teluk Intan by-election on May 17, creating a Richter 6 "political earthquake" - as the Barisan Nasional have won such an unprecedented landslide victory in the 1995 general elections and had been in power for so long that they have forgotten that in a democracy, it is not the elected representatives but the voters who are the masters!
This is why in the by-election, S. Kulasegaran not only wiped out the huge Barisan Nasional majority of 13,968 votes in Teluk Intan, but secured an impressive majority of 2,916 votes - which was an awesome turnaround of 16,884 votes in a matter of two years.
But Keng Yaik and the Gerakan leadership do not seem to have learnt anything from the Teluk Intan by-election. He firstly blamed China Press for the major cause of the Gerakan defeat in Teluk Intan, got the Home Ministry to impose an unprecedented press control and censorship of China Press where the newspaper editors agreed, on pain of closure of the newspaper, not to carry any report or articles critical of Keng Yaik and other Gerakan and Barisan Nasional leaders for the next six months!
Instead of helping the press, especially Chinese newspapers to have more space and freedom, Keng Yaik is now responsible for the latest press control and censorship of the Chinese press. Let the people of Teluk Intan tell the Gerakan President - Keng Yaik, Shame On You!
Then, Keng Yaik went to the Repah by-election and insulted the voters of Teluk Intan by declaring that the voters of Teluk Intan had been misled by the DAP to vote for Kulasegaran, and that after the by-election, many voters of Teluk Intan have expressed their regret of supporting the DAP.
This is the latest untruth of a long catalogue of untruths in the political life-hiistory of Lim Keng Yaik! Again, let the people of Teluk Intan tell Keng Yaik - Shame On You!
If Keng Yaik is honest, let him salute Teluk Intan as "Defend Constitution Town" and admit that the voters of Teluk Intan "wrote history and created miracle" in support of the Teluk Intan 20-Point Fundamental Demands and Aspirations of the people of Teluk Intan on behalf of all Malaysians for justice, fair play, a clean and honest government and the vision of a developed, prosperous but equitable Malaysia.
Instead of presenting a fictitious report to the Cabinet as to how the Gerakan lost Teluk Intan, a Barisan Nasional stronghold all Barisan leaders regard as un-losable, Keng Yaik should table the Teluk Intan 20 Points on Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, and in particular, to draw its attention to the following six points:
Let Keng Yaik declare the stand of the Gerakan on the Teluk Intan 20 Points, whether he is prepared to table them on behalf of the people of Teluk Intan on Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting instead of his fictitious report about why Gerakan lost in the by-election. Let Keng Yaik tell the people after Wednesday’s meeting whether he has carried out or violated the 20-Point mandate of the people of Teluk Intan in the by-election.
During the Teluk Intan by-election, UMNO Youth leader, Datuk Zahid Hamidi, asked the government to revoke the citizenship of DAP Deputy Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Guan Eng, accusing Guan Eng of "being disloyal to the country for continuing to show contempt for the courts and accusing them as being controlled by the Government."
Guan Eng had lodged a police report against Zahid for committing the offence of publishing "false news" under the Printing Presses and Publications Act as he had not attacked the Malacca High Court judgement finding him guilty of the charges of sedition and "false news". What Guan Eng and other DAP leaders had done was to question the abuse of discretionary powers by the Attorney-General.
Zahid had not only committed the offence of publishing "false news" under the Printing Presses and Publications Act, he had committed the offence of sedition in questioning one of the four sensitive issues entrenched in the Malaysian Constitution.
In 1971, Article 10 of the Malaysian Constitution was amended to entrench four sensitive issues to place them beyond the pale of public discussion and debate, namely Part III of the Constitution on citizenship, Article 152 on national language, Article 153 on special rights for Malays and bumiputeras and Article 181 on the sovereignty of the Rulers.
The sedition law was amended to create a new offence of sedition for questioning anyone of the four entrenched sensitive issues, the penalty including the automatic disqualification for a Member of Parliament on conviction, regardless of the sentence - i.e. whether one ringgit fine or RM2,000 fine.
This means that if Zahid is charged and found guilty of sedition for questioning one of the four entrenched issues, namely citizenship, when he called for the revocation of the citizenship of Lim Guan Eng, then the UMNO Youth leader would be automatically disqualified as a Member of Parliament, regardless of the sentence.
The Attorney-General should charge Zahid for the offence of sedition in questioning the sensitive issue of citizenship to show that he does not apply double standards when exercising his discretionary powers on prosecution.
(2/6/97)