Speech by DAP Secretary-General, Lim Kit Siang, at a Pre-General Elections Rally at Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, on Saturday 3rd August 1974 at 9 p.m.
Four Reasons why the 210,835 Federal Territory voters should vote solidly for the DAP in the General Elections
There are at least four reasons why the 210,835 voters in the five Federal Territory Parliamentary seats should vote solidly for all the five DAP candidates who will be contesting in the Federal Capital.
Firstly, the quarter of a million voters in the Federal Territory should reject all the National Front candidates to demonstrate their protest and opposition to the constant tampering with the Constitution which, among other things, abolished eight State Assembly seats in Kuala Lumpur and abrogated their basic democratic right, to have their own Assemblymen.
If the National Front is sincere about their professions of wanting a democratic society, then there should be an elected City Council for Kuala Lumpur where the people can elect their own representatives to run their own Bandaraya, elected representatives who will be responsive to their needs and problems.
Let the people in the Federal territory vote for the DAP to back our demand for a Elected Bandaraya and an Elected Dato Bandar.
Secondly, the 210,835 voters of the Federal Territory should vote against the National Front candidates to register their protest and opposition to another Constitutional amendment which denied them full and equal parliamentary representation. If we go by the national average, the Federal Territory, with close to a quarter of a million voters, should be entitled to have 10 Parliamentarians, but are given only five.
Thirdly, the Federal Territory voters should vote for a strong, consistent and effective Opposition which is prepared to stand up for the people’s rights in Parliament and the State Assemblies. The DAP has proved itself in the last five years as the party with political principle, unlike others, like the Pekemas which has one foot in the government and one foot in the opposition and which is, according to the founder-leaders of Pekemas, K. George, financed by the MCA and the National Front.
Fourthly, the Federal Territory voters should reject the National Front because the National Front policies are no different from the Alliance policies, which they rejected in the 1969 general elections. Let the people throughout the country show that the people want is not a change in name, from Alliance to National Front, change in symbol, from sailing boat to scale, but even more important , a change in the wide-ranging policies of the government in the economic, labour, educational, social and cultural sphere, and also with regard to the upholding of basic human rights in the country.
In this area, which comes under the former Bukit Nanas state constituency, the people have seen for themselves the type of candidates we field. The people of Bukit Nanas have no reason to regret their decision to vote Sdr. Lee Lam Thye as their State Assemblyman, who have proved himself a young man of sincerity, dedication and great idealism who is a champion for the underdog, whether hawker, squatter or worker . – a model elected representative of the people.