Speech by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, at a DAP Public Rally at Buntong on Sunday, 2nd June 1974 at 9 p.m.
Parliament may be dissolved in July and General Elections hold in August
With the end of Tun Razak’s trip to China and the establishment of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China, the ground is prepared for the general elections.
The way the National Front is exploiting the China issue is evident to observers that the ruling party is desperately hoping that the China issue would save their candidates from defeats in the next general elections.
One flaw and defect in the establishment of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China and Tun Razak’s state visit to China is the unashamed use by the National Front for its own party purposes an event which should transcend party politics.
Thus, tonight in Kuala Lumpur, the National Front is holding a public rally in the Selangor Padang. This is a party rally, not a government rally. Yet, for this party rally, school-children in their thousand are required to attend the rally, and bus companies in the various states compelled to provide free bus services for party supporters to attend the National Front rally.
While the people rejoice that Malaysia and China have at last established diplomatic relations, we must not forget the lessons of the American people.
In February 1972, President Nixon made the historic visit to China and met Chairman Mao Tse Tung. At the end of the same year, he won the largest national landslide in the history of American presidential elections. But it was precisely in the same year of 1972 that President Nixon and his aides began to abuse power for their own personal and political purposes, laying the seeds for the highly deplorable Watergate affair, which has reduced President Nixon to the most unpopular President after having won the presidential elections, thanks to his visit to China, on the biggest landslide.
Similarly, the people of Malaysia must not make the same mistake as the people of America, who, if they had realised that foreign policies and progress do not solve domestic problems, and should not provide a blank cheque for abuse of political power, would have been spared the agency, shame and disaster of Watergate today.
Tun Razak and the National Front leaders should therefore not abuse political power and governmental authority for partisan ends, for this is the road to a Watergate in Malaysia.
In our estimate, Parliament may be dissolved after its eight day meeting from July 10 to July 19, followed by general elections in August.
The Muslim Foreign Minister’s Conference in Kuala Lumpur next month, and the UMNO General Meeting, will be the other two preparatory, steps to the calling of general elections.