Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Petaling, Lim Kit Siang, when addressing the JOHORE State Committee of the DAP in Kluang, Johore, on Sunday, 13th July 1980 at 11 a.m.
DAP MPs and State Assemblymen to meet in Cameron Highlands next month to discuss the national and international challenges facing Malaysia in the 1980s and also the Fourth Malaysia Plan 1981-1985
DAP Members of Parliament and State Assemblymen will gather at Cameron Highlands on August 8, 9 and 10 to discuss the national and international challenges confronting Malaysia in the 1980s.
This Seminar of DAP MPs and State Assemblymen will be an important one as it will help to chart the Party’s programmes and activities in the 1980s.
It will be the first of a series of reviews and re-examination of party policies and programmes to prepare a new Declaration of Party Policy and Aims for the 1980s to be adopted by the Party Congress in 1981 in commemoration of the Party’s 15th Anniversary.
The Cameron Highlands Seminar for MPs and SAs will also review the performance of DAP MPs and SAs in the last two years.
Another important feature of the Cameron Highlands meet will be a discussion and assessment of the people’s needs and aspirations in the Fourth Malaysia Plan 1981-1985.
Call For Vigilance and Firmness among moderate Malaysians to counter the likely emergence of extremist, chauvinist and intolerant forces in 1980s
One of the greatest confronting Malaysia in the 1980s is the rearing of the ugly heads of the forces of extremist, chauvinism and intolerance.
The people of Malaysia, those who want a moderate and accommodative approach to the problems of nation building, and not the dominance of one group by another, must be vigilant and firm in countering such extremist, chauvinist and intolerant forces to let them know in no uncertain terms that the overwhelming majority of Malaysians will not allow them to destroy the nation. We must all take to heart the apt saying that “All it needs for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing” to realize the awful consequences of apathy or passivity.
This is why the Clause 21(2) affair, where there is a rising call for its implementation and closure of Chinese and Tamil primary schools, is of such crucial importance.
At times when the people must take a stand and yet miss the opportunity to do so, then so much would be lost they could probably never be recovered back again.
Invitations to component parties in the Barisan Nasional inviting them to a tea party on July 20 in Hotel Malaya in Kuala Lumpur to discuss ways to effectively stamp out strident demands for closure of Chinese and Tamil primary schools have been sent out, and I hope that receipients like Datuk Lee San Choon, MCA President, Dr. Lim Chong Eu, Gerakan President, Datuk Samy Velu, MIC President Datuk Stephen Yong, SUPP Secretary-General, Datuk Harris Salleh, Berjaya President, would come to the tea party if they feel strongly, and their party stand firmly, about the constitutional right of Chinese and Tamil primary schools to an integral and eternal part in the mainstream of national education system.