(Kajang, Friday): Sixteen NGOs have
endorsed the appeal to the Yang di Pertuan Agong for pardon for Lim Guan
Eng, whose conviction under the Sedition Act and Printing Presses
and Publications Act and concurrent sentence of 18 months� jail each was
confirmed by the Federal Court on August 25, 1998 so that he would not
be disqualified as a Member of Parliament and could continue to serve the
nation and people, for three important reasons:
The 16 NGOs who have endorsed the appeal to the Yang di Pertuan Agong
to seek pardon for Guan Eng are:
Apart from these 16 NGOs, HAKAM has sent in a petition for pardon to the Yang di Pertua Negeri, Malacca while the Malaysian Consultative Council on Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism has sent a petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong for pardon for Guan Eng. I understand that the Bar Council will also be petitioning the Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Yang di Pertua Negeri for pardon on Guan Eng�s behalf.
In the first phase of ten days of the nation-wide mass signature campaign to appeal to theYang di Pertuan Agong to pardon Guan Eng so that he would not be disqualified as MP and could continue his good work for people and country, a record-breaking 203,993 signatures werer collected.
The mass nation-wide signature campaign, launched by the Council for Justice, Freedom, Democracy and Good Governance, has now entered into the second phase, which has two prongs:
Firstly, to collect another 200,000 signatures in the second phase of the campaign - which will last for one month; and
Secondly, to get endorsement of the signature campaign not only from individuals but also from organisations.
Every state, district, town and kampong can launch a campaign to get the various organisations, whether consumer organisations, trade unions, associations, clans, old boys� associations, co-operatives, etc. to sign and endorse the petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong. Finally, the issue at stake is not merely about justice for Guan Eng, but justice for all Malaysians.
If a Member of Parliament like Guan Eng cannot get justice, if a social activist like Irene Fernandez cannot get justice, when a Deputy Prime Minister like Anwar Ibrahim cannot get justice, how can the ordinary 21 million Malaysians get justice?
(11/9/98)