Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, on the occasion of the inaugural Weekly ‘Walk or Jog to Save Bukit China’ every Friday held at Bukit China, Malacca on Friday, 24th August 1984 at 5.30 p.m.
DAP deplore Malacca State Government action in writing to Cheng Hoon Teng Temple on the Chief Minister’s ‘optionless’ three-proposals to level and develop Bukit China
The DAP deplores the Malacca State Government’s action in writing to Cheng Hoon Teng Temple on the Malacca Chief Minister’s ‘optionless’ three proposals to level and develop 80 per cent of Bukit China and turn it into a housing commercial centre.
The Malacca State Government’s letter is another pressure tactic, like the $2 million demand for quit rent and late payment fines for 16 years for Bukit China, to try to intimidate the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple into submission.
The Malacca State Government must be warned that the greater the pressure they apply on the people, the greater would be the reaction!
It is noteworthy that the Malacca State Government’s latest action is accompanied by new speeches by the Tan Koon Swan MCA Malacca faction to renew its campaign to get public support for their stand, which is to support the Malacca Chief Minister’s plan to level and develop Bukit China.
Cheng Hoon Teng Temple announced yesterday that it had received memorandum from 295 organisations, and not a single one of them had expressed support for the Malacca State Government’s plan to level and develop 80 per cent of Bukit China into a housing and commercial centre. So far, there is only one group which had supported the Chief Minister – the Tan Koon Swan MCA Malacca faction.
I would advise the Malacca Chief Minister to abandon his plan to level and develop Bukit China, for from the response to Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, as well as the public’s response to the DAP’s 200,000 ‘Save Bukit China’ Mass Signature Campaign, it is amply clear that the people, and in particular the Chinese community, are united in their opposition to the Chief minister’s plan.
With the stubbornness shown by the Malacca State Government in writing to the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple on the Chief Minister’s ‘optionless’ three proposals for the levelling and development of Bukit China, I call on all those who had not signed the Save Bukit China Mass Signature Petition to come forward to do so.
I am confident that if the people make their voice and demand loud and clear, as by making the 200,000 ‘Save Bukit China’ Mass Signature Campaign a great success, the Malacca Chief Minister must bow down to the wishes of the people.
I have received reports from various parts of the country of organisations, groups and even firms which are either causing obstruction or discouraging the people to respond to the 200,000 ‘Save Bukit China’ Mass Signature Campaign. Some of these people include those who outwardly express support for the preservation of Bukit China.
I will publicly expose these organisations, groups and firms when I return from my Sabah trip to keep the Kota Kinabalu date of August 26 and Sandakan date of August 27.