(Penang, Sunday): The
Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad yesterday predicted that “the
Opposition will suffer a crushing defeat in the next general election”, and if
he is right, and the DAP is reduced to two or three MPs, it will be an
unmitigated disaster for the Malaysian nation as UMNO and Barisan Nasional will
be totally without check and balance and would be able to do what they want.
In
the 1999 general election, the DAP suffered a severe electoral setback as a
result of the Barisan Nasional campaign of fear, lies and money politics. When
the DAP hopes of winning 30 to 35
Parliamentary seats were crushed,
the Malaysian nation and people paid a heavy price - in particular the “929
declaration” by Mahathir at the Gerakan national delegates’ conference on
September 29, 2001 that Malaysia is an Islamic state, disregarding the 44-year
Merdeka Constitution and the 1957 “social contract” reached by our
forefathers from the major communities and extended to the peoples of Sabah and
Sarawak in 1963 that Malaysia shall forever remain a democratic, secular,
multi-religious, tolerant and progressive nation with Islam as the official
religion but not an Islamic state.
Gerakan leaders have been attacking the DAP claiming that the DAP must be held responsible for three things:
On
the first point, I had pointed out the ridiculousness of the contention, as in
Kelantan and Terengganu, where Barisan Nasional lost 21 parliamentary seats,
there was not a single seat in the 1999 general election where the Chinese votes
could have made any difference. In
other words, even if there had been
a 100% turnout of the Chinese voters for the Barisan Nasional in the 1999
election, UMNO could not have won back anyone of these 21 seats.
On
the second point, I had countered that it was precisely because the DAP failed
to win 30 to 35 Parliamentary seats
to ensure a balanced multi-ethnic Opposition representation in Parliament that
led directly to Mahathir’s “929 declaration”. If Mahathir had to take into
account not only the 27 PAS MPs, but also 30 to 35 DAP MPs, then he would not
have made the “929 declaration”.
The
third point, the claim by Gerakan
leaders that the DAP must take the
blame for the Gerakan support for Mahathir’s “929 declaration”, as if
Gerakan acted on the “directive” of the DAP, is
so ridiculous and outrageous that
it is not worthy of
any response. It is pathetic that the Gerakan leaders are unable to blame
themselves, dare not blame Mahathir
and should want to find the easy way out by
blaming the DAP instead for Gerakan’s
support for Mahathir’s “929 declaration”.
If
Mahathir is right in his prediction yesterday, and the DAP is “crushed” in
the next general election, it would be taken as a national multi-racial,
multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural endorsement for Mahathir’s
“929 declaration” and the signal for Malaysia to formally embark on the road
of an Islamic state.
In
fact, there is no need for the DAP to be “crushed” to have this national
effect, as the DAP’s maintaining
its present ten parliamentary seats in the next general election would not be
able to stop the momentum started by the “929 declaration” to propel
Malaysia towards an Islamic state.
The
only way to stop such a “929” momentum towards an Islamic state is for
Malaysians to speak loud and clear in the next general election by electing into
Parliament at least 30 to 35 Members of Parliament who are openly committed to
the defence of the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and “social contract” that
Malaysia remain a democratic, secular, multi-religious, tolerant and progressive
nation with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic state.
There
have been a lot of queries as to why DAP Deputy National Chairman Sdr. Karpal
Singh and I helped in Jelutong yesterday to put up the Gerakan’s 4302 poster
bearing the photograph of the Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat and
myself at the “Solidarity with Fong Po Kuan” dinner in Kota Baharu on 4th
March 2002 (hence the 4302 number).
The
reasons are very simple - because the Gerakan’s “4302” posters are
dishonest, below-the-belt and contemptible “dirty” political tricks to
denigrate the Opposition and we want such Gerakan posters to be put up all over
Penang so that the people have the
opportunity to think and judge as to whether it
is right, honest and responsible
for any political party to indulge in such “dirty” politics.
The
Gerakan had successfully used such dirty political tricks in
the 1999 general elections to defeat Karpal Singh and myself, such as the
falsehood that a vote for the DAP was a vote for PAS and a vote for a Malaysia
where there would be no pork, no
alcohol, no temples, no Chinese primary schools, etc.
I
am sure that if the voters had the time to think about such “dirty” tricks
and propaganda, they would not have been influenced by such falsehoods as to
think that Karpal and I would go against what we stood and fought for over
three decades - and even being
detained under the Internal Security Act - for a just, fair and democratic
Malaysia where every citizen will have an equal place under the Malaysian sun.
However, in the intense heat of the
election campaign, such “dirty” political tricks worked.
This
is the best time, when we are not in the heat of an election campaign, for such
“dirty” tricks to be exposed, and I thank Gerakan for coming
out with such a “dirty” poster campaign in response to the DAP’s “No to
911, No to 929” people’s awareness campaign.
In
fact, the DAP is prepared to render all assistance to help the Gerakan
put up these “4302” posters as
an immediate lesson and case study of the type of dirty “political” tricks
the Gerakan is capable of. DAP is
prepared to accept a few thousands of the Gerakan’s “4302” posters to help
put them up in Penang. Alternatively, the DAP can have a trade-off with Gerakan,
where DAP will put up a few thousands of the Gerakan’s “4302” posters in
exchange for Gerakan putting up a few thousands of DAP’s “No to 929”
posters.
The
DAP is prepared to go one step further, to help Gerakan design its next poster
campaign which it had overlooked - the “8502” campaign, with the photograph
of the handshake between Mahathir and PAS
president Datuk Fadhil Nor at a public forum on the Palestinian issue in Kuala
Lumpur on Wednesday.
The
Gerakan’s “4302” poster campaign is based on the premise that any
political leader from another party who is seen publicly or who shakes hands
with a PAS leader is betraying his political principles to PAS, which is the reason for the Gerakan poster showing me with
Nik Aziz, and by such logic, Mahathir
would have committed political betrayal in meeting and shaking the hand of
Fadhil Nor - and even Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon as he must have met and shaken
hands with Nik Aziz countless times in the past decade in attending the
Conference of Chief Ministers and Mentri-Mentri Besar in the past decade.
(12/5/2002)