Statement by DAP Secretary-general and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, at a Press Conference in Ipoh on Monday, 17th April, 1972 at 11.00a.m.
DAP not forming any coalition in Selangor
For the last two days, I have been touring the Batu Gajah Parliamentary constituency. This is part of my nation-wide tour of all DAP Parliamentary and State Assembly constituencies to firstly, see for myself the constituency work and service of our DAP Members of Parliament and State Assemblymen, and secondly, to meet a cross-section of the people on the ground to get their views about the problems of the people and country.
I am satisfied with my Batu Gajah visit, as from the response of the people in the area, particularly from their mass turn-out for the public rally at Batu Gajah on Saturday night and the public meetings at Bali and Papan, it is clear that the people of Batu Gajah still believe firmly and fervently in the DAP struggle for a more just and equal Malaysian Malaysia.
The areas I visited in the last two days include Pusing, Si-Puteh, Mambang, Tronoh, Nallah, Sungei Durian, Batu Gajah, Kampong Batu Dua, Tanjong Tualang, Chenderong, Kinta Valley, Papan, and Bali.
The hottest topic of the people for the last two days was of course the coalition government between the PPP and the Alliance in Perak State. This matter is of particular concern that area because one of the State Assembly seats is held by the PPP.
It will be no exaggeration to say that the people that I met hold very strong views against the coalition government.
When I was in Chenderong New Village, I was shown a poster by the people there. This was the poster the PPP printed in the 1969 General Election, which carried the photograph of the late D.R. Seenivasagam, with the injunction “REMEMBER D.R.SEENIVASAGAM”.
This was the first time I saw the poster, although I was told that during the 1969 General Election, the PPP printed tens of thousands of it. (In 1969 General Election, I did not come up to Perak). The PPP exhorted the people of Perak to remember the spirit and soul of D.R. Seenivasagam in his great, fearless fight against all forms of injustice and inequality in Malaysia, and to continue to vote and support the PPP.
It is clear that it is not the people who have forgotten D.R. Seenivasagam. It is the PPP itself which has not remembered the late D.R. Seenivasagam.
I was very much impressed by this incident, for it shows how deeply the people feel about the PPP coalition with Alliance.
We are told the PPP coalition is at the State and Municipal level, and does not extend to the Parliament.
Any person of common sense will know that it is not possible to enter into a coalition with the Alliance at State level, without also at the same time, supporting the basic political, economic, social and cultural politics of the Alliance at the Federal level.
Even at the State level, it would be interesting to know what the PPP thinks it can do. We are told that with the PPP in the Perak State Government, it will be able to provide service for the people.
I would ask the PPP to prove its sincerity. Tomorrow, the first batch of Perak State Assemblymen will go overseas at public expense on pleasure trips. The DAP State Assemblymen have objected to this trip as a waste of public funds, at a time when the people are suffering from a series of oppressive taxes, like the 5% sales Tax, the five cents increase in sugar price, the collapse in the rubber price, and the high unemployment. All the five DAP State Assemblymen in Perak are boycotting this trip which is wasteful.
I ask the PPP, which is forming the coalition government in Perak, to get the Perak State Government to cancel this wasteful use of scarce public funds, and secondly to get the Perak State Assemblymen to come out and oppose this free overseas trip for State Assemblymen. This will show whether the PPP in the Perak State Government can look after the interest of the people.
DAP Plans in Perak
For over a year, I have been restraining my members and supporters in Perak from opening up branches in many areas. Although there is no written agreement between the DAP and the PPP, we had regarded the PPP as comrades-at-arms in the great fight for justice and equality in Malaysia.
Now that the PPP has joined the Alliance in the Perak State Government, and other people have undergone changes in their political views and positions, I have no more cogent reason in restraining DAP members and supporters from opening up branches in all parts of the Kinta Valley.
I have therefore today given the green light for the establishment of DAP branches in Buntong, Gunong Rapat, Menglembu, Tanjong Rambutan, Pasir Pinji, Kampong Simee, Simpang Pulai, Kampong Pengkala Raham and Lahat.
The DAP will also hold a series of rallies in Perak to explain the changed political situation in the State and country.
The public rallies in Perak in the month of May are:
May 1: Jelapang New Village
May 6: Teluk Anson
May 20: Ipoh.
Selangor: No coalition by DAP
There is speculation of a coalition government in Selangor following the formation of coalition government in Penang and Perak.
Let me state here: that the DAP has not entered into negotiations or discussions for the formation of any coalition government in Selangor or elsewhere.
The DAP will not form a coalition government in Selangor. If DAP leaders want power or office, we would not have rejected offers to us last year to become Ministers.