Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Petaling, Lim Kit Siang, at a joint meeting of Serdang Bahru, Puchong and Sungei Bsi Mines Branches held at Serdang Bahru DAP Branch on Thursday, 5th July 1979 at 7.30pm
Call on Soviet Russia to use pressured to stop Vietnam’s barbaric policy of extorting blood money and exporting refuges to demonstrate Soviet Union’s good intentions in South East Asia
The DAP welcomes the decision of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers in Bali to get Soviet Russia to use pressure on Vietnam to stop its barbaric policy of extorting blood money and exporting refugees to de-stabilise ASEAN countries.
Up to now, Soviet Russia has been keeping quiet, not having said a word about the barbaric policy of Vietnam in exporting hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, and probably causing the death by drownings of over a hundred thousand, when such policies disgrace mankind and inhumanity.
The policy of racism of Vietnam is even worse than South Africa’s Apartheid Policy, and also reminiscent of Hilter’s crimes of genocide in trying to work out a ‘Final Solution’ to eliminate Jews.
Soviet Russia should realize that the Vietnamese uncivilized and inhuman policy has caused grave economic, and it should demonstrate and prove its good intentions in South East Asia by putting pressure on Vietnam to halt its policy of racism and genocide. If Soviet Russia refuses to heed the problems created to ASEAN countries by Vietnamese policy, then Soviet Russia clearly has ulterior motives too in its designs in South East Asia.
In fact, Soviet Russia, in swiftly turning Vietnam into a military client state, by using Vietnamese naval bases for its Soviet Pacific fleet and in supplying military hardware to Vietnam, has cause to explain and justify its good intentions in South East Asia.
The DAP calls on the ASEAN countries to raise the problem created by the unending flux of Vietnamese refugees into ASEAN countries at the United Nations Security Council, because of the security problems created by it.
The world must be made to wake up to this grave problem, and made to act to end this ‘New Barbarism’ perpetrated by Vietnam against humanity.
2. Call om Diesel Users to consider taking direct action to protest and highlight the acute hardships caused by acute diesel shortage throughout the country.
Despite repeated assurances by the Minister of Trade or Industry, Dr. Mahatir bin Mohamand, and his Deputy Minister, Datuk Liew Sip Hon, diesel shortage throughout the country has reached crisis proportion.
In many parts of the country, public transportation have been disrupted causing hardships to commuters, school children, because of the shortage of diesel supply.
As the government has failed to do anything positive to solve this long-standing problem, – and what is worse, top relevant Ministers even deny that serious diesel shortage exists in the country – the diesel users should consider taking direct action to protest and highlight the acute problem of diesel shortage throughout the country.
For instance, if diesel users in one town, whether taxi drivers, bus operators or other diesel users, jointly act to stop running from petrol kiosk to petrol kiosk to hunt for diesel, but to ‘ground’ their vehicles, and refuse to drive until and unless there is adequate supply of diesel in the petrol kiosks, I think more immediate results would then be forthcoming from the Government and the oil companies.
The Government has failed to look after the interest of the people against the appetites of the oil companies for huge profits. If the Minister and Deputy Minister concerned could not solve the grave problem of diesel shortage, then they should quit their posts, and let others who could solve the problem of diesel shortage take over.