(Seremban, Friday): Today is Christmas Day and the full fourth month of the imprisonment of DAP Deputy Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Guan Eng.
Guan Eng has lost 21 pounds in the last four months of imprisonment. December 8 was his 38th birthday, the third birthday he spent when he had lost his personal liberty. The first two birthdays Guan Eng spent in custody was in 1987 and 1988 when he was detained, together with many other Opposition leaders and social activists.
On behalf of Guan Eng, I wish to thank the numerous Malaysians who have sent birthday cards to him in Kajang Prison with their well-wishers and support.
One supporter, in his electronic card, said he wished he could do two weeks for Guan Eng because of the gross injustice in Guan Eng’s case. When this electronic card was put on the Internet, there were several responses in the same vein expressing their readiness to substitute a week or two in Kajang Prison for Guan Eng if this is permissible.
If Malaysia has a system where it is possible for another person to serve in full or in part the jail sentence for another, even for a week or two, I have no doubt that there would be enough Malaysians who would be prepared to spend a spell in jail for Guan Eng’s behalf to cover the entire 18-month jail sentence imposed on Guan Eng.
But we do not have such a system in Malaysia and rightly so. However, it is the thought of Malaysians who feel so outraged that they wish they could serve a week or two of jail for Guan Eng that counts - as it show that the battle for justice, truth and freedom, however long, hardy and lonely, is not all lost.
The special prayer tonight should be for two purposes: the early release of Guan Eng so that he could return again to his commitment to represent the weak, defenceless and oppressed against the strong, powerful and the political bully, and to arouse greater public consciousness and commitment for more Malaysians to stand up in their ordinary life to fight for justice, freedom and truth.
(25/12/98)