(Petaling Jaya, Friday): It is most regrettable that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in his UMNO Presidential Address this morning did not make a commitment to ensure that the next general election will be the most "free, fair and clean" rather than the dirtiest election in history.
In fact, from his speech to the UMNO General Assembly this morning, UMNO and Barisan Nasional appear set to conduct the dirtiest election in history by accusing opposition parties as being puppets of foreign powers which want to subjugate Malaysia’s national sovereignty as well as warning that there could be unrest and violence if support is given to the Opposition.
As the next general election will be the tenth in the nation’s 42-year history, let Malaysia demonstrate that we can hold a general election without the politics of fear, intimidation, hate, money, corruption, lies and falsehoods, where all political parties respect the intelligence of the Malaysian voters by giving them a chance to make an informed choice as to the party and candidate they want to support.
This is why the DAP had proposed that the Election Commission should convene an all-party meeting to draw up a Code of Conduct for Free, Fair and Clean Election, with all political parties making a commitment not to resort to the politics of fear, intimidation, hate, money, corruption, lies and falsehoods, as well as ensuring that during the election campaign period, there will be fair mass media treatment, whether printed or electronic, for all contesting parties.
In this connection, the Election Commission should carry out a special programme to ensure that the 650,000 new voters who registered in the recent voters’ registration exercise could exercise their constitutional right and cast their vote in the coming general election.
(18/6/99)