(Bentong, Sunday): For
44 years after Merdeka, very few Malaysians know where is Ketari, but now it is
the focus of national and even international attention.
Today,
the Australian newpaper, the Melbourne Age,
even carried a news report about the Ketari by-election, which described
the by-election as “a test of Mahathir’s popularity”.
The
Melbourne Age reported:
“The
result of the byelection will have no impact on the ability of the Mahathir-backed
state government to rule, because it already holds 30 of the 38 seats in
Pahang's legislature.
“But
the poll is an important test for Mahathir's federal coalition government, which
is on the rebound after losing ground to opponents at 1999 general elections.”
This
shows that what the voters of Ketari decide on polling day on March 31 is being
closely followed not only by the country but also by the world - as their
decision will decide not only who will be their new State Assemblyman, but will have far-reaching influence on
the future of nation-building policies in Malaysia
after the traumatic events of September 11 terrorist attacks on the United
States.
The
Barisan Nasional and Gerakan election propaganda machinery have started playing
the 911 “terror” card, in the
way that they had exploited May 13
“fear” card for the past three decades, to manipulate
the people’s fears of terrorism and extremism and desire for peace, law
and order, to arm-twist the voters to give a blank-cheque of support for the
Barisan Nasional government policies - including the declaration by the
Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at the Gerakan general
assembly on September 29 that Malaysia is already an Islamic state and
Mahathir’s interview with seven Chinese newspapers on March 14 reaffirming the
“ultimate objective” of the national education policy.
Tonight’s
China Press for instance carried the Gerakan Ketari by-election propaganda diet
of falsehoods and distortions of its 911 “terror card” where
Gerakan vice chairman Dr. Kang Chin Seng made the serious accusation
linking PAS with Kumpulan Militant Malaysia (KMM) and the crimes of bank
robbery, arms heists, bombings of Christian churches and Hindu temples and even
the assassination of the Lunas State Assemblyman Dr. Joe Fernandez.
It
is not for me to defend PAS, as PAS is capable of defending itself - but we have
a right to demand that any allegation, let alone serious accusation linking a
political party with terrorism and the crimes of bank robbery, arms heists,
arson and even assassination, should be substantiated with facts.
As
far as I can recollect, even the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and
the Inspector-General of Police have not linked PAS with the
terrorist and criminal acts of bank robbery, arms heists, bombings of
Christian churches and Hindu temples or even the assassination of the former
Lunas State Assemblyman, let alone with the KMM, but Gerakan leaders seem to be
privy to information which even the government and the police do not have - and
they should share such information with the public and in particular, the voters
of Ketari.
Kang
said that with Nik Aziz as the head of the PAS Dewan Ulama and his son, Nik Adli
as the “supreme leader” of the KMM, who could say that there is no link
between PAS and KMM and the terrorist and the criminal acts of bank robbery,
arms heists, arson and even assassination of Dr. Joe Fernandez.
Up
to now, the government has not only failed to produce a full report on the KMM,
what is most inexplicable and indefensible
is why no one, including Nik Adli, had been charged and tried in court
for the various serious offences alleged against them, whether armed robbery,
arson, arms heists or murder.
I
cannot but view with great suspicion when the government has to resort to
the Internal Security Act to detain indefinitely persons
without trial, for this can only mean that the government has no evidence
which could stand up to scrutiny in a public trial and that the allegations are
more political than factual - and I can speak from experience as I had twice
been detained under the Internal Security Act - just like many other DAP leaders
- when I had committed no offences
whatsoever under the law.
The
people of Ketari must set three objectives for the Ketari by-election on March
31:
Firstly,
to make clear that although the people support government efforts against
terrorism to ensure that the September 11 events cannot happen in Malaysia, this
is not a popular mandate of support for the declaration by Mahathir that
Malaysia is an Islamic state as this is a violation of the 44-year “social
contract” of our forefathers from
the three communities in the 1957
Merdeka Constitution, reaffirmed by the peoples of Sarawak and Sabah in 1963, of
Malaysia as a democratic, secular,
multi-religious, tolerant and progressive nation with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic state.
Secondly,
also to make clear that the people’s concerns about 911 is also not a mandate
for the “ultimate objective” of the Barisan Nasional national education
policy reiterated by Mahahtir in his interview with seven Chinese newspapers on
March 14.
Thirdly,
to manifest and promote the spirit
of Lim Fong Seng to spearhead a national movement for
21st Century Charter for comprehensive system of
mother-tongue education from
primary to tertiary level in Malaysia, which for Chinese education in Malaysia,
would include the repeal of the “ultimate objective” of the national
education policy; uninhibited building of new Chinese primary
schools; the re-opening of
the original
Damansara Chinese primary school in Petaling Jaya as a “community
school” for the pupils in the immediate locality; withdrawal of the
Vision School projects; allow new or re-establishment of
Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Pahang and the country;
government recognition of Unified
Examinations Certificate (UEC) of Chinese Independent
Secondary Schools and the establishment of a university using
Chinese as a medium of instruction.
(24/3/2002)