Speech by DAP Organising Secretary, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, at the Johore DAP State Committee meeting held in Kluang on Saturday, 17th Nov. 1968 at 3.30 p.m. to discuss plans and preparations for the general elections.
After the Segamat Utara Parliamentary by-election, Alliance Ministers began to attack the DAP. Even the Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, referred specifically to the DAP when he went down to Tampoi early this month. Tun Razak said the DAP is a dangerous party. What he meant is that the DAP is dangerous to the Alliance.
If the DAP had lost badly in Segamat Utara Parliamentary by-election, no Alliance Minister, least of all Tun Abdul Razak, would have bothered to talk about the DAP.
They are concentrating their attack on the DAP because they are worried about the DAP’s result at the Segamat Utara Parliamentary by-election.
The Alliance knew that the DAP was short of money, material resources, manpower; that in fact the Alliance had over 20 times the material, manpower and financial resources of the DAP. The Alliance also knew that they had used the penghulus to get out over 90 per cent of the rural voters, and that over 1,000 voters in traditionally anti-Alliance areas had been arbitrarily cancelled from the electoral register.
But despite all these obstacles, the DAP, within a short period of three weeks without previous organisation in the constituency, was able to poll 5,731 votes, more than any previous Opposition vote, and reduced Alliance total vote and majority in 1964.
It is clear to Alliance strategists that the DAP ideology and message is fast catching on among thinking Malaysians.
Although we did creditably well in the Segamat Utara Parliamentary by-election, we must improve on our performance. We must not be satisfied until we win.
There is no doubt that we have the best message for a multi-racial Malaysian nation. We are seeking a multi-racial nation, where there is cultural democracy, where all languages and cultures have an equal place and opportunity to develop, and social democracy, where every Malaysian will not know what is poverty, backwardness, ignorance, and exploitation.
We can have the best message in the world, but unless we have the organisation and men to get that message across to every Malaysian, we are likely to fail in our objective. The best message, if uncommunicated to the people, remains no message.
This is the task of every branch, to get the DAP message across to every Malaysian, to rally all who support us to join in our political and national crusade.
In every area, there are large numbers of Malaysians who support the DAP’s objective – a Malaysian Malaysia.
But we must convince them that it is not enough to support us individually. They must band together with other like-minded Malaysians to form a national movement to work for the realisation of the common objective.
Audited on 2021-03-11