Message by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, for the anniversary tea party of the Circular Road DAP Branch on Saturday, 2nd Dec. at 6 p.m.
MCA’s Mental Revolution and the May the Fourth Movement
The MCA has again called for Chinese unity under the MCA as a response to the coming together of the Malays in UMNO and Partai Islam.
They said that to do this there must be a mental revolution among the Chinese.
This is not the first time, nor will it be the last time, that the MCA has called for Chinese unity under the MCA. It is the first time, however, that the MCA is selling its call for Chinese unity under the MCA in package of ‘mental revolution’.
In fact, the MCA leaders want the people to associate its ‘Mental Revolution’ with the Great May the Fourth Movement in China in 1919.
Firstly, the May the Fourth Movement was a spontaneous movement spearheaded by the students and workers in protest against the Japanese militarists who wants to subjugate and enslave China politically, economically and culturally, as embodied in the infamous ‘Twenty-One Demands’ by the Japanese at the outbreak of the First World War.
Equally important, the May the Fourth Movement was a protest against traitors who occupied high office but who had sold thief soul to the Japanese expansionists and aggressors and who were prepared to accede to the Japanese demands to plunder China.
In its cultural aspects, the May the Fourth Movement heralded a new age, with the pioneering of ‘Pei Hwa’, which gave voice, shape and form to the pent-up feelings and sufferings of the masses through the ages.
There was an excitement of new ideas and new freedom, of fearless criticism and attack on the shackles of society and chains of government. Student study groups mushroomed throughout the land, and hundreds of journal and periodicals sprouted as if during springtime.
Can we find this spirit of springtime freedom of the May the Fourth Movement in the MCA’s Mental Revolution? Do we feel a sense of release, of liberation, of freedom, or do we feel an oppressive atmosphere pervading the entire land of ours?
The MCA’s Mental Revolution stands for all the things which was opposed and denounced in the May the Fourth Movement
The May the Fourth Movement was a spontaneous movement led by idealistic youths and workers to sweep out the cobwebs of the past and change the status quo, while the MCA’s Mental Revolution is a calculated scheme by power-crazed politicians to retain the status quo and preserve their vested interests, whether it be office, wealth or social position.
The May the Fourth Movement was the vehicle for the springtime of new ideas and new freedom, while the MCA’s Mental Revolution is a vehicle to condition the people to accept their denial of free thought, expression and criticism in Malaysia. For in Malaysia today, there is an all pervading fear to express one’s genuine feelings, hopes and needs
There is today a silent, voiceless Malaysia. There can only be a change and a mental revolution if the people can again speak out their real hopes, wants, fears and needs, and net as a now, bury them deep in their hearts.
In short, the May the Fourth Movement was an instrument for the liberation of the minds and energies of the Chinese people. The MCA’s Mutual Revolution, on the other hand, is a tool for the continued oppression of the people, and entrenchment of MCA in office.