The Democratic Action Party will contest in Sitiawan in the next general elections , the DAP Organising Secretary, Mr Lim Kit Siang, said last night.
Mr. Lim, who was speaking at a DAP meeting at Pekan Gurney, urged DAP members and supporters to work hard to return a DAP Member of Parliament for Sitiawan in the next Parliament.
Over 400 villagers from the surrounding areas attended the meeting.
Mr Lim said he was confident that the people of Sitiawan, like Malaysians in other constituencies, are utterly fed up with the yes – men in the Parliament and the State Assemblies.
He said: “ The people want true representatives of the ordinary men and women , who can fearlessly speak up for the people’s rights and interests, and put public service before self – interests.
“The people of Sitiawan can join large numbers of Malaysians elsewhere to bring about change and progress in Malaysia by sweeping out Alliance and MCA politicians in the next election, and bring into Parliament a band of sincere, dedicated and honest politicians with a mission to bring justice and equality to the nation.”
Mr. Lim criticised the Alliance government for neglecting the problems of the people.
He said: “The disastrous drop in the price of rubber for over a year has broken the rice bowls of thousands of tappers, workers and farmers.
“One way to help them will be to give them land to cultivate other crops. All Malaysian landless , regardless of their race, should be given a plot of land to eke out a living, as there are still vast stretches of virgin land in Malaysia.
“But the Alliance is not only failing to do this, it is fact going out of its way to cause more miseries and hardships to the people.
“In Sitiawan , there are about 500 families who had been cultivating land without title for 20 years. Now they have been asked to quit by June 30.
“The total number of people who will be affected by this heartless and cruel action will be in the region of 3,000 people.
“Legally speaking, these farmers had farmed illegally. But this problem must be regarded primarily as a social problem and not in the category of thefts, robberies, kidnappings and other illegal and criminal activities.
“The best solution will be to regularise the position of these farmers, not by evicting them, but by giving them permanent titles.
“A government with a social conscience will do this. Representatives of the people, whether at the Parliament or State Assembly level, who have a social conscience, will fight for this.
“This is because a government exists to serve the people, and not to harries and hound the people.
“We hope the Alliance government will seriously re-consider this matter, and work out a solution which will cause least hardship and suffering to the ordinary people.”