(Teluk Intan, Wednesday): The Parliamentary by-election of Teluk Intan is the focus of both national and international attention because the significance of the by-election transcends the question of who is to be elected as the new MP for Teluk Intan, but is a mid-term verdict on the Barisan Nasional government after its unprecedented landslide victory in the 1995 general elections, virtually crushing the Opposition with the DAP suffering its worst general elections debacle in our 30-year history.
In less than five months after the April 1995 general elections, the people of Bagan spoke out loud and clear in the Bagan parliamentary by-election on September 9, 1995 to declare loud and clear that the Barisan Nasional government had made a great error in interpreting its unprecedented landslide general elections victory as a rejection of the DAP as well as democracy in favour of development.
The people of Bagan struck a great blow for democracy by giving the DAP a majority 100 times greater than what we had less than four months ago to send the message to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and the Barisan Nasional Government that Malaysians want both democracy and development!
This was why Bagan deserved the title of "Bandar Democracy" as a result of the great feat of the voters of Bagan to defend and preserve democracy at a time when democracy faced its greatest peril in Malaysia and for giving heart to the DAP, which had suffered a great loss of morale and spirit following the party�s worst electoral debacle in history.
In September last year, history was made when for the first time in 18 years, the DAP succeeded in making a breakthrough in the Sarawak state general elections when it won three state assembly seats.
The Teluk Intan by-election on May 17 will be the party�s third great test after the 1995 general elections, as the party had not fully recovered from the trauma of the worst DAP electoral defeat in 30 years.
The Teluk Intan seat is the impregnable the fort of Barisan Nasional, regarded as a seat where Barisan Nasional cannot lose and the DAP cannot win, to the extent that the Gerakan President, Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik is quoted as having said that the Gerakan could win Teluk Intan without the support of the Chinese votes. Although Keng Yaik�s office had issued a denial, the retraction is most unimpressive and unconvincing.
If you ask me now what is my reading of the Teluk Intan by-election in 48 hours� time, I would say that as of now, the DAP cannot win the by-election, despite the great support which have been given to the DAP in the by-election campaign. However, there are 48 hours left to the countdown on Polling Day on Saturday, and the outcome will finally depend on whether the DAP campaign could get even greater support from the voters of Teluk Intan in the next two days to create the "political miracle" of a DAP win on Saturday.
If in a constituency where the DAP is regarded as a "no-hoper" in winning the seat, the DAP could do the impossible and achieve the political "miracle" of a victory with M. Kulasegaran elected as Member of Parliament for Teluk Intan, the DAP would be well on the way to full recovery from the trauma of the 1995 general elections disaster. Teluk Intan by-election a mid-term verdict on the Barisan Nasional government
Although a DAP victory in Teluk Intan would give a great fillip to the DAP to enable it to be well back on the road to recovery, the Teluk Intan by-election is of even greater importance to the Malaysian people and nation.
The Teluk Intan by-election is in fact a mid-term verdict on the Barisan Nasional government and as the voters of Teluk Intan are privileged to be the first in Malaysia to pass such a verdict, the outcome of the by-election on Saturday would be closely followed - being the first of six by-elections which have to be held in the next two months.
This is why in the Teluk Intan by-election campaign, the DAP had placed in the very forefront the most important national issues that should be decided by the voters of Teluk Intan on behalf of all Malaysian voters.
I do not say that the Barisan Nasional Government is 100 per cent wrong or 100 per cent bad, or that it has done not a single good thing for the people and country. The DAP is a reasonable opposition party, and I believe the people of Teluk Intan are reasonable voters. We have always been prepared to praise the Barisan Nasional Government where it has done right and to criticise, even condemn, where it has done wrong.
Malaysia, under the Barisan Nasional Government, has achieved good economic performance registering more than eight per cent growth every year continuously for more than eight years.
We commend the Barisan Nasional government for the buoyant economy, although it is the industry and enteprise of the people rather than the government which is responsible for the country�s good economy. We must also not forget that Malaysia should have been the "first little dragon" economy, as the country was in a better economic position than Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong when we achieved independence in 1957, richer than these countries which were very poor forty years ago. Today, although have graduated to become a successful economy, we have fallen way behind Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong which have all overtaken us to become more developed than Malaysia.
We also commend the Barisan Nasional Government for the "minor liberalisation" in education, language and culture policies although it is still a long way from the "full liberaflisation" that we want.
But the voters in Malaysia, including the voters of Teluk Intan, have already recorded their appreciation for these good points of the Barisan Nasional Government in the 1995 general elections, by giving the Barisan Nasional a landslide victory which almost crushed the DAP and these are not issues in the Teluk Intan by-election.
On Sunday, we presented for adoption by the voters of Teluk Intan "Ten Fundamental Demands and Aspirations of the Voters of Teluk Intan" to underline the message the voters want to convey in the by-election.
Tonight, we wish to present "Another Ten Fundamental Demands and Aspirations of the Voters of Teluk Intan" to be conveyed to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and the Barisan Nasional Government on Polling Day.
These "Another Ten Fundamental Demands and Aspirations of the Voters of Teluk Intan" are as follows:
12. DEMAND restoration of press freedom in Malaysia as guaranteed by Article 10 of the Malaysian Constitution on freedom of speech. The one-sided coverage amd unfairness of printed and electronic mass media can be seen by the reporting of the Teluk Intan by-election, where Gerakan leaders are given full exposure over radio and television while the DAP is completely shut out.
13. SUPPORT that a vote of no confidence be moved in the July meeting of Parliament against the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah for his series of highly controversial decisions made in pursuance of the exercise of his discretionary powers provided under Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution to "institute, conduct or discontinue any proceedings for an offence", which show a pattern of bias and selective prosecution against the Opposition and NGOs, seriously undermining public confidence in the independence and integrity of the office of Attorney-General.
Among the series of highly controversial decisions as Attorney-General, Mohtar Abdullah should explain the unprecedented and most extraordinary decision to publicly announce on 30th April 1997 that the Attorney-General�s Chambers would appeal against the sentences imposed on DAP Deputy Secretary-General, DAPSY National Chairman and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Guan Eng, as inadequate "in view of the gravity of the offences which is against the administration of justice".
Furthermore, the Attorney-General should give a satisfactory accounting as to which case is more serious, the case involving Lim Guan Eng or the case of the High Court judge who wrote a 33-page poison-pen pamphlet alleging corruption, abuses of power and misconduct against the Judiciary, specifically making 112 allegations against 12 judges.
On 15th March 1996, the Attorney-General announced that he had directed the Police to launch investigations into the poison-pen pamphlet, declaring:
"The investigation is aimed at striking at the venomous elements who are out to discredit the judiciary and subvert justice in our beloved country.
"As Attorney-General and Public Prosecutor, it is my duty and responsibility to ensure that the judiciary and the legal profession is cleansed of these treacherous elements who, by their vile, insidious, devious and scurrillous allegation in this pamphlet had sought to undermine the integrity of the judiciary and the administration of justice in this country.
"Today is the Ides of March. But unlike that fateful day in ancient Rome when brutish beasts succeeded in killing Caesar, today we launch this pre-emptive strike at these conspirators and Insya Allah, we will ferret them out, whoever they are, and bring them to justice.
On 9th July 1996, the Attorney-General announced his decision not to prosecute the author of the 33-page poison-pen pamphlet against the Judiciary - a High Court judge whom he also refused to name - on the ground that the High Court judge concerned had resigned as a judge.
The Malaysian public want to know which person - Lim Guan Eng or the unnamed High Court judge - has done more to undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.
14. DEMAND the amendment of the election laws to provide that threats to voters that they would be left out of the mainstream of development if they vote opposition should be regarded as a form of "corruption" and an election offence leading to the disqualification of the candidate on whose behalf they were issued.
15. DEFEND the constitutional rights of Malaysians, in particular the fundamental rights of liberty of the person, freedom of speech, expression, assembly and association from erosion which would blight Malaysia�s future in the same way as the unchecked erosion of Sungai Perak and Sungai Bidor in the past few decades have turned Teluk Intan into a sinking town.
16. PAY TRIBUTE to the voters of Bagan, who gave DAP and democracy a new lease of life when democracy was at its darkest hour, by giving the DAP a 11,802-vote majority in the Bagan by-election on 9th September 1995, which was 100 times the DAP majority of 118 votes four months earlier, declaring that the people of Malaysia want democracy as well as development, earning the appellation of "Bandar Democracy" for Bagan; and RESOLVE to continue in the defence of democracy as well as the protection of the fundamental constitutional rights of all Malaysians to oppose any form of erosion, so that Teluk Intan, though a sinking town, can be known in history as the defender of the constitutional rights of Malaysians, or "Defend Constitution Town".
17. EXPRESS FULL SUPPORT for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who recently said that action would be taken against government leaders who lead a lifestyle beyond their income and that "government leaders must not only be clean but also seen to be clean" and CALLS on all Mentris Besar and Chief Ministers to positively respond to the Prime Minister�s concerns by publicly declaring their assets and subjecting to public scrutiny their lifestyles as to whether they are living beyond their known sources of income.
18. SUPPORT that the Rent Control Act 1966 should be repealed but DEMAND that the Government should adopt a Charter of three principles for tenants of rent-controlled premises in the repeal, which is not recognised in the Rent Control (Repeal) Bill 1997. The three principles for the repeal of rent control are:
19. DEMAND that Members of Parliament should be responsible, conscientious and hardworking and express great regret that many Members of Parliament are irresponsible and even lazy, to the extent that there is often no quorum in Parliament despite the Barisan Nasional winning nearly 90 per cent of all the Parliamentary seats, as well as having MPs like Chia Kwang Thye (Gerakan - Bukit Bendera) who show contempt and total lack of sympathy for the hardships of the people and DECLARE that Teluk Intan does not want to have another Chia Kwang Thye as Member of Parliament.
20. CALL on Gerakan to stop playing the politics of race and to cherish the multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious nature of Malaysian society, as the Gerakan had been calling on Chinese voters in the Teluk Intan by-election to vote for a Chinese candidate and the Penang Chief Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon had also played the "Chinese education" card calling on the Chinese voters to reject the DAP candidate, M. Kulasegaran on the ground that an Indian cannot support Chinese education; and DEPLORE the narrow racialist line of the Chief Minister of Penang, who should be the model for multi-racial politics and not be the shameless practitioner of the politics of race!
(14/5/97)