CAMERONS HIGHLANDS DECLARATION AUGUST 1980
Adopted by DAP MPs, State Assemblymen and CEC members at the Sixth DAP MPs and State Assemblymen Seminar held at Cameron Highlands on August 9 and 10
WE, THE DAP CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS, MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT AND STATE ASSEMBLYMEN, MEETING AT CAMERON HIGHLANDS ON AUGUST 9 and 10, RESOLVED TO ADOPT THE FOLLOWING DECLARATION, to be known as CAMERON HIGHLANDS DECLARATION AUGUST 1980 and to be released on August 31 1980 on the occasion of Malaysia’s 23rd National Day:
Cameron Highlands Declaration 1980
On the Occasion of Malaysia 23rd National Day Celebration, the first National Day in the Decade of the Eighties, it is imperative for Malaysia’s national survival that the people and leaders of Malaysia understand clearly the problems and challenges facing Malaysia in the 1980s.
Externally, Malaysia faces the threat of Soviet – backed Vietnamese expansionism, which is at present directly testing the Thai national will to survive as an independent nation. It Thailand falls from such pressure or crumbles from internal weaknesses, then Malaysia will be in the frontline of attack.
National defence does not depend on the amount of monies spent on military equipment and materials, but even more important, on the national unity and resilience of the people.
The most important task to defend Malaysia’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity from any external threats of aggression must be the uniting of the Malaysians of diverse races, languages, religions and cultures into people to resist any external aggressor.
DAP CEC Members, MPs and State Assemblymen hereby pledge that in any hour of national need, we are prepared to play any role assigned to us in the defence of national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and we are prepared to lay down our lives for the defence of our motherland – Malaysia.
We hereby also call on the 700,000 voters of the DAP in the last general elections, and the millions of supporters, to be similarly prepared to die for the defence of our country, for despite our racial origins, we must all be first and last Malaysians.
In this Dangerous Decade of the Eighties, it must be the duty of every Malaysian to contribute towards the enlargement of mutual understanding and accommodation of the legitimate hopes and aspirations of Malaysians, and not to exacerbate mutual fears, suspicions and distrust among different races and classes in the country.
The ominous rearing of the forces of extremism and chauvinism, as evidenced recently in the calls for the closure of Chinese and Tamil primary schools, the regulation of economic activities of non-Malays, the demand for increased quotas in the share of the economic cake or in housing, are antithetical to the objective of building a more united and resilient Malaysian nation and people.
The DAP, as a patriotic, nationalistic Malaysian party, which live and die for Malaysia, will not permit the forces of extremism and chauvinism to undermine and destroy the ^ multi-racial basis of Malaysian nation.
The DAP calls on the highest government authorities to silence the voices of extremism and chauvinism which are not only repudiating the fundamental tenets of the New Economic Policy that “no particular group experiences any loss or feels any sense of deprivation” in national economic development policies, but are challenging the very existence of a multi-religious, multi-cultural Malaysia.
The previous five-year plans had been more divisive than unifying in welding the diverse Malaysians into one people. The Fourth Malaysian Plan, 1981-1985, which will be introduced in Parliament next year, should break away from previous five-year plans in emphasis on race and in the creation of a small new rich in disregard of the many of who are poor and deprived.
The DAP urges the Prime Minister, Datuk Hussein Onn, to take stock of the national situation, where there is growing polarization of races and classes, and found the Fourth Malaysia Five-Year Plan on totally new principles which minimize race but concentrate on attacking poverty, backwardness and deprivation. In this way, racial and class polarization would be reduced, leading to a united national polity.
Finally, this Meeting calls on the Government to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry before the finalization of the Fourth Malaysia Plan to determine to what extent the previous five-year plans had succeeded, or fallen short, in the contributing towards the overriding objective of the New Economic Policy to build a united Malaysian nation.
We also resolve to hold a one-day special meeting in the last quarter of this year on the Fourth Malaysia Plan to discuss in greater detail the various aspects of developmental needs and problems in the next five years.