The importance of Kajang

Speech by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, at a Kajang by-election rally at Suntex Garden, on Tuesday, 30th October 1973 at 8 p.m.

Kajang voters urged to come out to the polls to vote solidly against the Alliance and for the Rocket to protest against rising food prices

Malaysians have just celebrated Deepavali and Hari Raya. Despite government talk of progress, prosperity and economic growth, the Deepavali and Hari Raya this year is the most subdued in recent years, for the simple reason that the people’s purchasing power are shrinking from day to day.

Food prices have shot up at a rate unseen in this generation, closely followed by the prices of all commodities and essential needs. Whether the products are imported from abroad or manufactured locally, they have all gone up in prices in large chunks.

Thus, while the poor become poorer, and more and more become unemployed, Alliance tycoons and compradors reap the fortune and profits of the sharp price increase for foodstuffs and commodities.

This is why the Alliance Government has allowed prices to catapult unchecked.

At this rate, the coming Christmas and Chinese New Year will be even more subdued, for by then, the people’s purchasing power would have become even less, with more price increases taking place.

The people of Kajang have an excellent opportunity this coming Saturday to register not only their protest, but the protest of the people of Malaysia, against the expensive food and high cost of living in the country, while their incomes remain static.

Let a vote in Kajang on Nov. 3, be a vote against rising prices. It is important that the people should come out to vote, for any low percentage of voting will benefit the Alliance, and give the Alliance a mandate to let prices soar up further.

However, it is essential that the voters of Kajang should not allow their votes to be split, for this again, will only benefit the Alliance

All concerned, whether it is the Alliance, or even the Pekemas President, Dr. Tan Chee Khoon, have admitted that the battle in Kajang is between the DAP and the Alliance. So let the people of Kajang cherish their vote on Nov. 3 and solidly vote for the Rocket to demonstrate the people’s protest against the Alliance policy in allowing prices of foodstuffs and all commodities to soar unchecked.

The importance of Kajang

Although the Kajang by-election cannot change the Selangor State Government, a solid popular vote by the people of Kajang will go a long way to force the Alliance to re-appraise the whole spectrum of its economic, educational, political and cultural policies if they are not to lose even more popular support in future. This will benefit the people and country.