Despicable and dirty election tactics in Kuala Kedah by-election

Press Statement by Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, on 20.1.1973

I am shocked to receive reports that the Alliance election workers in Kuala Kedah have resorted to the most despicable and dirty election tactics on the last day of the parliamentary by-election.

For today’s polling day, Alliance election workers are flooding Kuala Kedah constituency in tens of thousands of copies of spurious, false, counterfeit joint appeal purported to be signed by the Independent Candidate, Cik Siti Nor Binti Hamid Tuah and his father, Cik Hamid Tuah, urging the voters to vote the Alliance.

In this ‘cooked-up’ appeal, Cik Siti and his father were alleged to have said that they have realized that they were being made used off by opposition parties to betray the race and country.

The Alliance election strategists, in fear of a trouncing, are resorting to this despicable tactic on the last day – in order to create maximum confusion and damage as the Independent Candidate would have no time to rebut and expose the trickery and deception.

In this way, Alliance election strategists hope that the voters who would otherwise vote for the Independent Candidate, Cik Siti Nor Binti Hamid Tuah, would be deceived into voting for the Alliance.

I am doubly shocked that in a parliamentary by-election in which the UMNO Secretary-General, Datuk Senu bin Abdul Rahman is himself contesting, the Alliance should resort to such immoral and despicable tactics.

It makes a farce of all the Rukunegara precepts about good behaviour and morality.

Let the people of Malaysia know more about the true character and nature of the Alliance party, and its partners.