Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Petaling, Lim Kit Siang, when speaking at the Tangkak DAP Branch Anniversary Dinner at Tangkak, Johore, on Sunday, 3rd August 1980 at 8 p.m.
DAP MPs and State Assemblymen directed to “Buck up” to serve the people and Party to match up to the Challenges of the 80s
The Party has issued a directive and warning to all DAP MPs and State Assemblymen to “buck up” and do their duty to the people, party and country, as the public standard bearers of DAP.
The Central Executive Committee had been aware of variegated complaints by party members, branches and even members of the public about the performance of certain DAP MPs and State Assemblymen, and there were also complaints that a few MPs and State Assemblymen refuse to do their part in party activities.
DAP MPs and State Assemblymen had been told never to forget that they are Mps and State Assemblymen today because of the Party, and that the Party would have no use for those who have forgotten their roots.
The Party has decided to institute regular evaluation of each DAP MP and State Assemblymen’s performance, and this evaluation will take effect from July 1980. An MP or SA’s chances of re-nomination in the next general elections will be based on these evaluation reports.
DAP MPs and State Assemblymen will meet Cameron Highlands during the coming weekend on August 8, 9 and 10, to review MPs and State Assemblymen’s role and responsibilities in 1980s, and also to discuss the national and international challenges of the country in the new Decade.
DAP MPs and State Assemblymen will discuss and adopt a Cameron Highlands Declaration setting out problems and prospects, and charting new courses to be taken, for the Party and country in the 1980s.
Beginning next weekend, on August 16 and 17, I will begin a tour of all DAP Parliamentary and State Assembly constituencies to meet a cross-section of the electorate who had voted the DAP into Parliament or the State Assembly in the last general elections, and also to hear their views and opinions.
I will begin with the Tanjong Parliamentary Constituency in Penang, with its three constituent Assembly seats of Padang Kota, Pengkalan Kota and Kampung Kolam.
The DAP wants all our MPs and State Assemblymen to approach their elective responsibilities with a renewed sense of purpose and greater seriousness.
DAP forms Education Bureau and Cultural and Religious Bureau
The DAP is in the process of re-constituting bureaus and subcommittees. The Party has decided to from an Education Bureau, which will be headed by Sdr.Dr.Tan Seng Giaw, to discuss in depth educational problems in the country. There will also be a Cultural and Religious Bureau, headed by Sdr.Lee Lam Thye, to promote greater inter-religious understanding among the different great religions in the country, and also to help contribute to the establishment of cultural pluralism and the values of cultural tolerance and co-existence in Malaysia.