The hijacking and turning of four commercial airliners into weapons of mass destruction killing thousands of people at the World Trade Centre in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and aboard the planes by suicidal terrorists are heinous crimes against humanity and the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 catastrophes must be brought to justice and the most severe punishment meted out to them, but not by indiscriminate reprisals and the taking of innocent lives.
All responsible political parties and politicians in Malaysia should stand united as one to condemn the New York and Washington holocausts, rejecting terrorism of any kind, whether abroad or at home, instead of trying cynically to exploit the Sept. 11 carnage in a most irresponsible, immoral and indecent manner for electoral gain for the Sept. 27 election in Sarawak.
It is most shocking that there are already political parties and candidates in the Sarawak state general election who have started resorting to such irresponsible, immoral and indecent campaigning, which is not only utterly devoid of dignity and decency but shows utter contempt for the thousands of lives lost in the New York/Washington holocausts.
The Election Commission should convene an emergency meeting of all political parties and candidates in the Sarawak state general elections to draw up a Code of Ethical Conduct to ensure that there is no politics of money, lies, fear or intimidation, and in particular that there would not be any irresponsible, immoral and indecent exploitation of the Sept. 11 terrorist mass murders in New York and Washington in the Sarawak election campaign - which will bring shame not only to the Sarawak state general elections but to the international reputation of Malaysia as well.
(19/9/2001)