Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Petaling, Lim Kit Siang, at the Malacca State DAP Convention 1981 at the Malacca State DAP premises at 33A Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Malacca on Sunday, 26th July 1981 at 10 a.m.
Despite our reservations, DAP prepared to attend round-table conference with Tung Chung, Chiau Chung, Gerakan and MCA to discuss whether it is possible to reach a common front in Cabinet, Parliament, State Executive Committees, State Assemblies and outside to protect and advance the legitimate political, economic, educational, social and cultural rights of Malaysian Chinese
Recently, various Chinese associations, clans and societies and in particular, Tung Chung and Chiau Chuang, had called for the joining of forces, and in particular the DAP, Gerakan and MCA, to protect, safeguard and advance the basic and legitimate political, economic, educational, social and cultural rights of Malaysian Chinese.
We have not responded publicly to such calls, for we doubt the feasibility of such a proposal, especially considering the history and present of both the MCA and the Gerekan.
In fact, both MCA and Gerakan must accept full responsibility for the sorry state of the political, economic, educational, social and cultural position of the Malaysian Chinese today. In private, MCA and Gerakan leaders would sorrowfully lament that things would get worse; but in public they would proclaim that things had never been better.
The recent stance of both MCA and Gerakan in the face of a new assertion of the forces of extremism and chauvinism have deepened our doubts.
On July 9, I wrote to Datuk Lee San Choon, Dr. Lim Yaik , Tan Sri Ong Kee Hui and Datuk Samy Vellu suggesting that MCA, Gerakan, SUPP and MIC Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Parliament Secretaries and Members of Parliament join with all DAP Members of Parliament in the next Parliament to move a motion to condemn Haji Suhaimi Kamaruddin, UMNO Youth Leader, for his extremist and chauvinist speeches and demands.
In June this year, Haji Suhaimi called at the UMNO Youth Assembly for the slowing down of the economic growth of non-Malays and the prohibition of the non-Malays from buying foreigners’shares.
In June last year, Haji Suhaimi at the UMNO Youth Assembly made three highly divisive calls, namely:
• the imposition of control on the economic progress of non-bumiputras to reduce the economic gap between them and the bumiputras;
• the raising og the quota of housing too be set aside for bumiputras in housing schemes from 30 to 35 per cent
• the implementation of Clause 21(2) of the 1961 Education Act to convert Chinese and Tamil primary schools into national primary schools.
Although I had ask the four Barisan leaders to reply within two weeks, I had not received a single reply although the two week are past.
But all the fout parties have made clear their refusal to condemn Haji Suhaimi publicly in Parliament. Both Tan Sri Ong Kee Hui and Datuk Samy Valu claimed that they have not received my letter although the AR Registered Card had been delivered to their addresses.
Datuk Lee attacked me for trying to destroy the ‘traditional bond and relationship between MCA and UMNO’.