Speech by the DAP candidate for the Serdang State by-election, Mr. Lim Kit Siang who is also DAP Organising Secretary, at the first DAP by-election rally at Salak South New Village on Sunday, December 1, 1968 at 8 p.m
The Democratic Action Party has entered the Serdang by-election to help bring about a new Malaysia where there is socialist and cultural democracy.
We want a socialist democracy because we want to end the economic and social exploitation of man by man, class by class, or race by race.
We want a cultural democracy because we stand for equality and justice for all races, languages and cultures.
The DAP is committed to the attainment of the following 20 points of socialist and cultural democracy, which I will henceforth call ‘Serdang’s 20 Points’.
Socialist Democracy:
1. LAND to be given to all landless, regardless of race. The only yardstick should be need.
The fact that since its establishment 18 years ago, no land had been allocated to the new villagers in the Serdang Bahru new village is a terrible indictment on the racialism and incompetence of the Alliance government on the question of land administration and distribution.
2. PRIORITY attention to rural health, social life and education to improve the livelihood of the farmers.
The absence of a health centre and clinic in the second largest new village in Malaysia, Serdang Bahru, is another glaring instance of Alliance mismanagement.
3. STATE SOCIAL SECURITY for the aged, infirm, sick, redundant and unemployed, to ensure that no Malaysian starve or go in want through no fault of his own;
4. MINIMUM WAGE for all manual workers, whether in estates, mines or factories, to ensure that every worker get a fair wage, to lead a decent and human life for himself and his family;
5. LOW-COST HOUSING for the people, both in urban and rural areas, at really low rental, unlike the Jalan Pekeliling low-cost housing flats in Kuala Lumpur, which only persons drawing more than $300 could afford;
6. ABOLITION of lower secondary school fees and provision of free school-meals for all rural school children, to develop a healthy and alert generation;
7. REVISION of the labour laws in the country to protect workers from management victimisation, intimidation, arbitrary actions, and to safeguard the worker’s fundamental rights.
8. CREATION of more job opportunities to solve the growing problem of unemployment.
In Serdang, a responsible government would have drawn up a blue-print to set up more industries to absorb the thousands of Serdang people who have either been thrown out of employment or could not find jobs.
9. LEGISLATION to control fragmentation of rubber estates, to ensure that no worker suffers as a result of it.
10. ELIMINATION of corruption, all levels of public life, particularly at high levels.
CULTURAL DEMOCRACY
11. ABOLITION of the division of Malaysians into ‘bumiputeras’ and ‘non-bumiputeras’.
12. OFFICIAL STATUS to be granted to Chinese, Tamil and English with Malay as the sole national language to be the common language of expression and communication among Malaysians.
13. FREE USE of Chinese, Tamil and English in the Parliament, State Assemblies and in public notices and government correspondence;
14. REPUDIATION of the Abdul Rahman Talib Education Report which seeks to convert all schools, whether primary or secondary, into schools of exclusively Malay-media in instruction and examination;
15. ABOLITION of the distinction between ‘national’ and ‘national-type’ schools;
16. ADOPTION of an integrated education system, with the major language as media of instruction and examination, and their recognition as ‘national’ schools so long as they are Malaysian-oriented and teach the National Language as a compulsory second language;
17. SUPPORT the Merdaka University and the National University projects;
18. IMMEDIATE solution of the question of recognition of Nanyang, Formosan, Middle Eastern, Indonesian and Indian degrees and qualification.
19. DEVELOPMENT of a Malaysian culture resulting from the free interplay and interaction of the diverse cultures in Malaysia, and not as a result of the hegemony of one culture over the rest.
20. ACCEPTANCE of Malaysian literature, all writing by Malaysians on Malaysian themes, irrespective of the language used, whether Malay, Chinese, Tamil or English.
If elected, I will set up permanent offices in the Serdang Bahru, Salak South new village and Sungei Way new Village to serve the people, to take up their grievances and problems and air their views.
We urge the people of Serdang to vote the Rocket on December 28, and let the winds of change go out from Serdang to all parts of Malaysia.
Tel: 563377
Audited by: Joyce T. and Faiz M.