(Pasir Bedamar New Village, Sunday): At the DAP Teluk Intan by-election ceramah two nights ago, I said the voters of Teluk Intan has a tryst with history, for on May 17, they could be the conscience and the tribune of the nation and all Malaysians to demand for a better nation and government not only for themselves, but for all Malaysians and future generations.
The voters of Teluk Intan have the opportunity to write history and create a miracle on May 17, although the DAP is not given any chance to win the seat at all, as the Barisan Nasional had won this constituency with a landslide majority of close to 14,000 votes in the 1995 general elections.
Whatever the final outcome of the Teluk Intan by-election result on May 17, let the voters of Teluk Intan stand on the side of history by speaking loud and clear on behalf of Malaysians of all races in all parts of the country their fundamental demands, aspirations and stands.
The people of Teluk Intan should make the Teluk Intan by-election even more meaningful and historic by adopting Ten Fundamental Demands and Aspirations of the Teluk Intan by-election for all Malaysians.
These Ten Fundamental Demands and Aspirations of the Teluk Intan by-election are as follows:
2. Call on the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah to uphold the Malaysian Constitution and the integrity of his office and to stop misuse of his discretionary prosecution powers and the selective prosecution against the Opposition and NGOs.
3. Pledge full support to Member of Parliament Lim Guan Eng in his brave and courageous battle to fight corruption and establish integrity in high political places regardless of his own personal risks, so that Malaysia can have a good international reputation, and declare that Lim Guan Eng should be rewarded for making a distinctive contribution in Malaysian nation-building rather than being persecuted and victimised as if he is an anti-national criminal.
4. Demand that the whole nation should make the war against corruption as the first item of national agenda with the national target to be among the 10 cleanest and least corrupt nations in the world - instead of being placed in the 26th position out of 54 countries in the Transparency International's international corruption perception index for 1996.
5. Endorse the need for a strong Opposition in Parliament to check on the excesses, abuses and arrogance of power of the Barisan Nasional government which not only commands two-thirds majority in Parliament, but close to 90 per cent of the Parliamentary seats, which is unhealthy and dangerous to the mature growth of democracy and advance of human rights in Malaysia.
6. Declare that development is the fundamental right of the people of Teluk Intan and Malaysia, and should not be used as a "government bribe" to get votes, as all citizens pay taxes to contribute to the government coffers and there should be no discrimination against the people in development on grounds of who is elected MP for the area.
7. Strongly protest against another round of electricity tariff increase by Tenaga Nasional causing more hardships to the consumers, as the last power tariff increase was only in March last year and there had been no improvement in the quality of electricity supply, with over 100,000 power breakdowns in Peninsular Malaysia a year. What is even more unacceptable, the tariff increase is nothing but to profit the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to enable them to make huge profits (one IPP made over RM700 million profits from sale of RM1.2 billion of electricity to Tenaga last year) at the expense of the consumers.
8. Call for a fair land distribution policy to Malaysians who need land, either for housing or cultivation, and specifically, the cancellation of the unfair and unjustifiable alienation of 1,000 acres of state land in Teluk Intan and the re-alienation of the 1,000 acres to the local people rather than to local authorities for profit.
9. Demand that there should be the fullest respect for all religions and cultures in Malaysia in keeping with the international speeches of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir whether in the United States and Japan in trying to attract international IT/multimedia companies to the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) that one of the assets of Malaysia is our multiculturalism. All Government officials, down to state and local government level, must undergo a re-education to fully respect all religions and cultures in Malaysia so that the Chitra Pauramani Incident at the Subramaniam Temple in Teluk Intan on 22nd April would not recur in Teluk Intan or be repeated in other parts of the country.
10. Demand that for the development of Teluk Intan, there should be
(ii) A RM500,000 grant to the San Min Chinese Independent Secondary School in appreciation of the contribution the school had made all these years towards education of qualified manpower in Teluk Intan and in Malaysia ;
(iii) A ringgit-to-ringgit or a million-ringgit for million-ringgit government contribution for the rebuilding of a new San Min National Secondary School;
(iv) The holding of local government elections for Teluk Intan to allow the people of Teluk Intan, as ratepayers, a meaningful say through elected town councillors in deciding on the future of local government;
(v) A Government IT Plan for Teluk Intan so that the people of Teluk Intan can be in the forefront of Information Technology revolution be one of the first parliamentary constituencies in Malaysia to adopt a "IT For All" Agenda with a "one family, one computer" strategy to benefit the new generation.
(11/5/97)