An Open Letter by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary – General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, to the 1,200 delegates of the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction attending the ‘Save the Party’ Genting Highlands Seminar on 20th and 21st Oct. 1984
To the 1,200 delegates of the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction ‘Save the Party’ two – day seminar At Genting Highlands on Oct. 20/12, 1984
A last and final opportunity for the Tan Koon Swan MCA Faction to redeem its political reputation by clearly and unequivocally announcing its opposition to any Malacca State Government plan to forcibly develop Bukit China and disowning all those who had expressed support
The Tan Koon Swan MCA faction arises from the Neo Yee Pan – Tan Koon Swan power struggle in MCA, and being a party internal affair, I have no intention whatsoever to get involved.
What has concerned me and the entire Chinese community is the public attitude and stand of the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction with regard to the Malacca State Government’s plan to forcibly develop Bukit China into a housing and commercial centre through the levelling and resiting of large parts of the 12,500 graves there.
Being the establishment group, the Neo Yee Pan MCA faction would have to answer to the Chinese community as to why they had supported the Malacca State Government’s plan to forcibly level and develop Bukit China, as every government action whether at Federal or State level is the collective responsibility of the component Barisan Nasional parties.
However, before the Chinese community could question the Neo Yee Pan MCA establishment faction to explain its support for the Malacca State Government’s plan to forcibly level and develop Bukit China, the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction in Malacca, led by Chan Teck Chan, Ng Peng Huay and Lim Soo Kiang, became the most vocal and vociferous champions of the Malacca Chief Minister’s Bukit China development plan.
The Tan Koon Swan MCA faction, through Ng Peng Huay in the Malacca State Assembly as authored by Chan Teck Chan, even went to the extent to denouncing the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple trustees as ‘pengkhianat bangsa’ for objecting to the Malacca State Government’s Bukit China plan.
While the whole Chinese community is opposed to the Malacca State Government’s plan to forcibly level and develop Bukit China, the only group which publicly expressed support for the Malacca Chief Minister is the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction.
In fact, the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction went even so far as to present a development plan of Bukit China, which was disclosed by the Malacca Chief Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahim Thamby Cik, at his press conference on Sept. 12, which advocated the levelling and development of 40 per cent of Bukit China!
A few days ago, another MCA Youth Group of the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction announced that it would present another development plan of Bukit China to the Malacca Chief Minister. Clearly, there is a competition among the various groups in the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction not to protect, but to betray, the interests and rights of the Chinese community.
What is even more disturbing is that the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction in Malacca, led by Chan Teck Chan, Ng Peng Huay and Lim Soo Kiang, is trying to create the impression in the Malay press through constant press statements which are only released to Bahasa Malaysia newspapers that the Malacca Chief Minister’s plan to forcibly develop Bukit China has Chinese community support and that those who oppose it are a small group who are opportunistic or have selfish reasons.
I must ask the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction why it is seeking to influence Malay political thinking to harden attitudes in support of the Malacca State Government’s plan to forcibly level and develop Bukit China.
Before the August 8, phantom 5,000 – People Dinner in Malacca organised by the Tan Koon Swan Malacca MCA faction, I had publicly advised Tan Koon Swan not to attend it as otherwise, before he become the ‘savior of the race’ he would have become the ‘criminal of the race’.
I want here to advise the 1,200 Tan Koon Swan MCA delegates to the two – day ‘Save the Party’ seminar in Genting Highlands this weekend that it has a last and final opportunity to redeem its political reputation and standing by clearly and unequivcoally announcing its opposition to any Malacca State Government plan to forcibly develop Bukit China, and to disown and ‘sack’ from its rank all those who had expressed support and championed the Malacca Chief Minister’s Bukit China idea, like Chan Teck Chan, Ng Peng Huay and Lim Soo Kiang.
If the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction failed to make this clear – cut stand on Bukit China in Genting Highlands this weekend, then it can forget about ‘Save the Party’ and should be more worried about ‘Saving itself’.
The Bukit China issue is a litmus test as to whether the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction is committed to the larger political, cultural, religious, economic and educational interests of the people, and in particular the Chinese community, or whether it is only interested in selfish objectives to pave the way for the personal interests of individual leaders at the expense of the rights and interests of the people and future generations.
The Tan Koon Swan MCA faction is demanding for a referendum in the MCA to resolve the MCA power struggle. I again do not want to comment on an internal MCA party issue. But the question all Malaysian Chinese must be asking is what moral right has the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction got to demand for a referendum for the ascertainment of popular demand, when it is not prepared to respect the popular stand of the Chinese community on Bukit China, as reflected by the result of the Cheng Hoon Teng’s opinion poll among Chinese organisations and associations. The chairman of Cheng Hoon Teng Temple trustees, Ee Yew Lin, had announced that 14,500 people and 553 organisations representing 294,000 people had rejected the Malacca State Government’s proposed development plan for Bukit China, and that not a single organisation had expressed support.
The DAP has also launched a 300,000 Mass signature campaign to save Bukit China, and has received very good response from the people of all races.
Is the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction prepared to accept the popular stand on Bukit China reflected in the result of the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple opinion poll and the DAP’s Save Bukit China mass – signature campaign?
The 1,200 Tan Koon Swan MCA delegates meeting at Genting Highlands this weekend must realise that it is their very soul which is at stake, and not whether to ‘Save the Party’, for if their soul is damned, even if they succeed in genting control of the Party, they have become the enemy of the community and people.
The 1,200 Tan Koon Swan MCA delegates can ignore this open letter only at their own peril.