Speech by DAP Secretary-General and Parliamentary Candidate for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, at a DAP General Elections Public Rally at PJ New Town, Section 14 on Saturday, 17th August 1974 at 9.30 p.m.
1. Lim Kit Siang challenges Tun Razak to declare whether his government would be ‘ a just and honest’ one if the National Front loses one-third of the seats
Radio Malaysia’s 6.30 p.m. news bulletin reported that Tun Razak, in a speech in Malacca, had called on the voters to vote for the National Front candidates to ensure a strong government which can be a just and honest one.
I will like here to ask Tun Razak to declare whether he is suggesting that if he could not get 100% electoral victory for his Parliamentary candidate, his government would not be a just and honest one ? Tun Razak should tell the people clearly and without equivocation whether his Malaysian government which he would again form on August 24 would be a just and honest one, regardless of whether the National Front retains or loses one-third of the parliamentary seats.
2. National Front candidates are politically bankrupt and relying solely on Chairman Mao Tse Tung to try to save them
The National Front candidates are politically bankrupt, for they know they cannot stand on the economic policies, political, social, and cultural, educational programmes of the government.
This is why at all their rallies, they have very litter so say about the government’s education, economic and social policies, but are all hoping to make use of Mao Tsu Tung to save their political lives.
In Kluang and elsewhere, large billboards have been put up depicting Chairman Mao Tse Tung with Tun Razak. Films are screened in various parts of the country about Tun Razak meeting Chairman Mao and Premier Chou En Lai. Hundreds of thousands of pictures have been printed for general circumation and distribution to try to win voters by showing them pictures of Tun Razak and Chairman Mao Tse Tung.
A few days ago, in a Public Rally in Malacca, The Director of National Front General Elections Campaign, Ghaffar Baba, claimed that as Chairman Mao Tse Tung and the 800, million people of the People’ s Republic of China support Tun Razak, the National Front and its daching, he asked why the people of Malaysia cannot support the daching.
I will like to Inche Ghaffar whether during Tun Razak’s six-day official visit to the People’s Republic of China at the end of May, he had brought along the National Front daching for approval by Chairman Mao Tse Tung for use in the 1974 general elections? Has Tun Razak got a SIC (Standard Institute of China) chop from Chairman Mao Tse Tung for the National Front scale?
I would believe that if Tun Razak had brought along the daching to be approved by Mao Tse Tung for SIC chop, he would not get it, for this National Front daching has only 12 tahils and not a full 16 tahils.
It is a daching of a political party whose educational, economic, social and cultural policies have brought about grave injustices and inequalities, where the poor, the underprivileged, the handicapped and the deprived have been excluded from the mainstream of economic development, while the rich, the well-to-do and the upper class are pampered by the government.
3. DAP calls on the government to take immediate steps to have meaningful diplomatic relations between Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China
The National Front is trying to make political capital out of the long-overdue establishment of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China.
The signing of a communique between the leaders of the two countries announcing the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries is not very useful unless there is at the same a full normalisation of relations in all fields, such as economic, cultural, trade, travel, between the peoples and the governments of the two countries.
I therefore call on the government to take the following immediate measures to make the diplomatic establishment of relations between Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China a really meaningful and substantial one:
1. Permit the free trade intercourse between Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China, by removing the PERNAS monopoly on China trade and the 1/2 percent levy by PERNAS on all China imports. The present system of PERNAS determining quota of China imports is unjust, especially as there is no quota restriction on the imports from any other communist country and this should therefore be scrapped.
2. Permit free travel between the peoples of the two countries, so that Malaysians can visit and travel in the People’s Republic of China without present restrictions to critically ill persons or elderly people.
3. Permit free cultural exchange, by allowing books from the People’s Republic of China, films, tapes, recordings, songs to enter Malaysia freely and vice versa.
4. Confer citizenship of all those 300,000 persons of Chinese origin who hold red identity cards but who possess all the qualifications for citizenship so that they cease to be stateless persons.
5. Make arrangements to allow Chinese Independent Secondary School graduates to further their studies in universities at the People’s Republic of China.
4. Call on the people of Petaling to vote solidly for DAP Parliamentary Candidate, Sdr. Oh Keng Seng, and our three constituent State Assembly candidates, Sdr. Fan Yew Teng (Petaling Jaya) Sdr. Lee Lam Thye (Serdang) and E. Kim Sim (Sungei Way)
I call on the voters of Petaling to vote solidly for DAP Parliamentary Candidate, Sdr. Oh Keng Seng, and to give Goh Hock Guan a resounding thrashing as a lesson to all in the past and in future that those who betrayed the people’s trust and interest cannot escape the judgement of the people.
In the last few days, we have seen what type of a man and character is Goh Hock Guan, who is prepared to eat every word he had uttered in the 1969 General Elections in order to please his new masters. Such men are not only not fit to represent the people, they are a disgrace to the country. Indeed, I have not seen such a despicable and contemptible creature as Goh Hock Guan, who runs away from his responsibilities during the hour of need, and boasts and brags a lot otherwise. He is indeed am empty vessel that makes the most noise. We have fielded Sdr. Oh Keng Seng, who when compared to Goh Hock Guan, is a giant of a man who has principles and who is prepared to lose a highly-paid executive job for his political convictions.
Sdr. Fan Yew Teng and Sdr. Lee Lam Thye need no introduction. They are proven men of dedication and principle. So is also Sdr. E. Kim Sim who has been to jail for his political beliefs. Let the people vote for these men of principle and reject all those who have betrayed the people’s rights and interests for self-glory and self-advancement, like Goh Hock Guan and Yan Pian Hon.