Speech by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, when speaking to members of the DAP Sitiawan Branch in Pekan Gurney, Sitiawan on Friday, 19th May 1972 at 7.30 p.m.
Call to DAP members and supporters throughout the country to rededicate themselves to the DAP cause for a Malaysian Malaysia.
We meet here tonight not to mourn over the defection and treachery of Richard Ho, who for his own selfish personal interest has dedicate ourselves to the DAP struggle interests and rights, but to rededicate ourselves to the DAP struggle in Setiawan and in Malaysia for a Malaysian Malaysia.
I know many of you are sad, and some even wept at the first news of Richard Ho’s treachery. You shed tears, not for Richard Ho, who does not deserve them, but for the people and for yourselves who had placed your trust and confidence in him.
I know that many of you had made great personal sacrifices during the 1969 general elections to strive for the DAP cause and get Richard Ho elected as a Member of Parliament for Sitiawan. A few of you even went to jail for Richard Ho.
But Richard Ho has forgotten your sufferings and sacrifices, forgotten the jail sentences some of you served for him, forgotten the aspirations and hopes you and the new generation of Malaysians had placed on him.
It is a bitter truth that in every age, in every country, there are traitors and enemies of the people.
From Chinese history, there is a long line of traitors and enemies of the people. Countless patriots and dedicated officials, and entire generations were betrayed, and underwent persecution and suffering because of the treachery of traitors like Chin Kwai, Goh Sam Kwee and Wang Chin Wei. But these traitors are cursed and denounced to the end of time by posterity.
In Malaysia, we have our share of enemies and traitors of the people, the Yeoh Eng Chyes, and now the Walter Lohs and the Richard Hos.
They claim to be the champion of the people’s interests and sufferings, but are in fact, “with human mask but animal heart” self-seekers, soldiers of fortune and parasites of the people.
The basic issues however are bigger than the man. When the people of Sitiawan voted for Richard Ho, when the party members and supporters suffered and sacrificed for Richard Ho in 1969, they did so not because of the personal qualities of Richard Ho, but because of the principles he claimed that he stood for.
Richard Ho’s treachery of the DAP cause has not made the people’s yearning for a more just and equal, more democratic Malaysia burn less fiercely in their hearts.
Richard Ho has tried to persuade Sdr. Phang Teik Hwa, DAP State Assemblyman for Lumut, to join him in defecting to the MCA. Richard Ho also tried to get the DAP members in Sitiawan to follow him too.
I am proud that Sdr. Phang Teik Hwa and our Sitiawan DAP members have spurned these suggestions, for they are men with strong convictions, dedication and idealism.
I know that Walter Loh, in Kuala Lumpur, had tried to persuade DAP Members of Parliament to follow them to keep them company, so that they will not feel so lonely.
Both Richard Ho and Walter Loh deliberately timed their treachery and the eve of the Ulu Selangor by-election, thinking it will damage the DAP chances there.
Richard Ho and Walter Loh can do their worst, for whatever they do, not all the waters of the South China Sea can wash away the ignominy of their betrayal of the people.
The DAP is embarked on a long-term political struggle to bring about radical changes in the political, economic, social, cultural and education patterns in Malaysian society.
Corrupt, decadent political opportunists and parasites can come and go, but the battle for a Malaysian Malaysia goes on. Let us all, members and believers of the cause for a Malaysian Malaysia, rededicate ourselves to our sacred struggle.