DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, today issued the following statement (23.1.1973)
The Democratic Action Party joins the peace-loving people of the world in hailing the complete ceasefire in Vietnam announced simultaneously in Hanoi, Saigon and Washington.
The complete ceasefire in Vietnam marks a turning point in the history of the twentieth century. It rings down the curtain of an era where a super-power can dictate the destiny of another nation, however small and undeveloped, by sheer brute force and material plenty.
The Vietnamese ceasefire is in fact a triumph of ideas over bullets, of resolution and human tenacity over all the arsenal of death which modern science has harnessed to rain down on man from the skies, the seas and the land.
More bombs have been drooped in small Vietnam than the First and Second World War put together. All the B52s, napalm bombs, tanks, backed by the richest treasury in the world, could not cow however a small, economically-backward Asian people but was instead fought to a standstill and stalemate.
The Vietnamese peace accord, details of which are expected to be announced, will end a generation of conflict and warfare in the Indochinese peninsula. An entire generation of Vietnamese who have never known peace and quiet can now turn their minds, energies and efforts to the peaceful reconstruction of their country and economy.
All the nations in the world and international agencies, in particular the United Nations, should have as their common priority the assistance of the Vietnamese people to rebuild their broken homes, lives and economies.
The South East Asian countries must also get used to a new international situation in this part of the world, and learn to live with new power realities.
In this connection, it is with regret that the DAP notes that the Malaysian Government has now adjusted itself to changing international patterns and situations, and have not, for instance, set up friendly relations and diplomatic ties with the communist countries in Asia, whether it be Peking, Pyongyang or Hanoi.
The Malaysian Government should not procrastinate any longer, and set the relations between Malaysian and all countries in Asia on a proper, friendly and mutual basis.