Speech by Ketua Pembangkang and DAP Secretary-General, Lim Kit Siang, at the official opening of the Penang State DAP promises at Tanjong Tokong, Penang, on Saturday 10th Sept. 1977 at 3 p.m.
DAP to become an even more broadly-based political movement to present the National Front with a serious challenge at both the national and state elections in the next general elections
I expect the Prime Minister, Dato Hussein Onn, to call for a general elections next March or April. Even the most optimistic Barisan Nasional political and election strategists do not believe that they could hold their 1974 parliamentary and State Assembly seats.
This is because 20 years after Barisan Nasional, and previously Alliance, rule, the people have become disenchanted with the whole range of national-building policies of the government.
The Barisan Nasional may have succeeded in building and creating 100 Malay millionaires, but the millions of poor, including Malay poor, remain below the poverty line.
Workers, peasants and fishermen are as exploited and trampled as 20 years ago.
Instead of achieving a more harmonious and united Malaysian nation, the people are even more disunited, and the government has to increasingly assume more repressive police powers and a whole range of draconian laws to keep in control of the country. The recent conviction and sentencing of a 14-year-old boy in Penang High Court to death is a vivid example of the madness that has seized this country.
Corruption is on the increase, and the credibility of the NBI is still a question mark. A few days ago, it was reported that the NBI has completed investigations into the Nothrop fighter-plane purchase involving multi-million dollar commission, and that arrests would be made after the ‘green-light’ has been given.
What should it be necessary for the NBI to wait for ‘green light’ if the NBI is an independent body, which is guided not by political considerations, but by the weight of the evidence it has collected.
The frustration of the people about education and the educational opportunities of their children have aggravated, seriously undermining national unity.
Yet, there is a lack of realisation among the government leaders about the ferment and unrest that is taking place in virtually every arena of our national life.
The MCA and the Gerakan are just puppets of UMNO, with no stand or political backbone of their own. This can be seen from the fact that the MCA President, Dato Lee San Choon, had to get his presidential address before the MCA conference vetted by the UMNO before he could deliver it.
The Gerakan is no different.
The people of Malaysia now has high hopes on the DAP, I reaffirm that the DAP is a party for all races in Malaysia, that we are committed to a multi-racial, democratic socialist Malaysia where there is no class or racial exploitation, where corruption is regarded as a national enemy and where human rights of the people whether in civil liberties or educational or cultural rights are respected.
The DAP will become an even more broadly-based political movement to present the National Fr0nt with a serious challenge at both the national and state elections in the next general elections.
From the repeated attacks that Pekemas leaders have leveled against the DAP and DAP leaders, it is completely out of the question for any form of co-operation between the Pekemas and the DAP in the next general elections.