Talk by Dap Organising Secretary, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, at the establishment of the DAP Protem Committee in Kahang (12 miles from Kluang) Johore on Sunday, May 12 at 11 a.m.
The DAP was formed to make every citizen of this country proud to be a Malaysian.
The way to instill national pride among the citizens is not through a policy of racial discrimination or economic and social injustice, or by dividing the people into bumiputeras and non-bumiputeras. It is by giving equality of rights to all Malaysians, whether in economic activity, job opportunity, education, language or culture.
If the nation we are building in Malaysia is to become a Malay, Chinese or Indian nation, then the majority of the citizens will not be proud to be Malaysians.
Only a Malaysian Malaysia, where there is multi-racialism, multi-cultural tolerance, social and economic justice, can instill national pride and the sense of national belonging into the citizens of this country.
The Alliance and the MCA reject the concept of a Malaysian Malaysia because they reject multi-racialism in Malaysia.
The Alliance leaders have repeatedly declared that their policy was to build “one nation with one language.”
No other policy can be more divisive and disruptive of multi-racial harmony and integration in Malaysia than the Alliance’s “one nation, one language” concept.
For such a concept must mean the abolition of other languages in Malaysia, whether it be Chinese, Tamil or English. Logically, such a step must lead to other steps, like the abolition of non-Malay newspapers, non-Malay schools, non-Malay customs and costumes, non-signboards, etc. In fact, this was precisely the proposal made recently made by one staff writer in the Utusan Melayu, the UMNO-backed Malay newspaper.
The “one nation, one language” concept is not the formula to Malaysian nation-building. It is the sure guarantee, on the contrary, to nation-breaking.
Unless more and more Malaysians wake up from their political apathy and unite behind a movement committed to bring about a tolerant, multi-racial Malaysian Malaysia, then Malaysia is heading towards racial misunderstanding and conflict.
In present-day Malaysia, where there is still the system of one-man-one-vote, every citizen is duty bound to himself, his children, and the nation, to make his little contribution to save the country from racial conflict and ruin. He can do this by taking an interest and playing a role in politics. If every Malaysian makes a stand against racialism, opportunism and selfishness in Malaysian politics, then there is still hope of making Malaysia a secure haven in a region of turmoil and unrest. However, if the majority of Malaysians regards politics as the other man’s business, then when the country breaks up in Penang-type racial conflicts, it is not only the Alliance government, but the people as a whole, who must be equally blamed.
The time for action against injustice and racialism is NOW. For tomorrow, it may be too late.