Abolition of inequalities and exploitation

Talk by DAP Organising Secretary, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, to the supporters and members of the protem committee of the DAP Branch, Cheras Road, 11 milestone on Friday, 26th April at 8.30 p.m.

The DAP is dedicated to the abolition of inequalities and exploitation of all forms in Malaysia.

The Alliance boasts that there is freedom in Malaysia. Their leaders never explain the nature of freedom available in Malaysia.

There is the freedom for the rich to grow richer and poor to get poorer. There is the freedom for the employer to victimise workers and crush unions and the freedom for workers to be victimized and unions to be crushed. There is the freedom for feudalist landlords to fleece the farmers and the freedom for the farmers to be fleeced. There is the freedom for children of the wealthy to get education and the freedom of the poor to be uneducated.

Unless there is equality, freedom means the unbridled licence for the strong to bully the weak and the rich to suppress the poor.

To us democratic socialists in the DAP, freedom means very different things. By freedom, we mean the freedom of the poor to stop being poor, the freedom of workers from victimisation and unions from being crushed by employers, the freedom of farmers from exploitation by feudalist landlords and the freedom of children of have-nots to get all educational opportunities within his capacity.

In other words, freedom for all Malaysians to be equal, whether politically, economically, socially or culturally as distinct from the present freedom to be unequal.

There are two big inequalities in Malaysia. They are the inequality between the haves and the have-nots and the inequality between the races.

Unless these inequalities are removed, there will be no social harmony and no Malaysian nation.

The sacred task the DAP is embarked on is a long and arduous one. All Malaysian youths must rally behind the democratic socialist movement, because if the DAP crusade fails, the Malaysian youths will have to face the consequences of a race-torn Malaysia, where racialism and unreason reigns supreme.

We in the DAP want long-distance runners, and not hundred yard sprinters. We want people with the stamina, the staying power and the conviction to dedicate themselves to a democratic socialist and Malaysian Malaysia. We do not want the political riff-raffs, the self-seekers, opportunists and fakes.