Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, on the occasion of the launching of the Save Condemned Sim Kie Chon Signature Campaign, in Petaling Jaya on Monday, 29th July 1985 at 8 pm.
Call on Anwar Ibrahim and other UMNO leaders to stand up for justice and equality by securing a pardon for Sim Kie Chon.
I have cabled to all UMNO Ministers to urge them to bring up the question of Sim Kie Chon’s commutation on Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting. I would call on all UMNO Ministers, in particular the UMNO Youth Leader and Minister for Agriculture, Anwar Ibrahim, who before and after entering politics had emphasised that he was dedicated to justice and equality, to stand up for these ideals by securing a pardon for Sim Kie Chon.
I am sure all the UMNO Ministers, including Anwar Ibrahim, must agree in their heart of hearts that if Mochtar Hashim, the former Cabinet Minister convicted of killing Negri Sembilan State Assembly Speaker, Datuk Taha, could be pardoned, Sim Kie Chong has a greater right to live as he killed or
harmed no one.
The Cabinet Ministers of all Barisan component parties must make a clear stand on the Sim Kie Chon case, that they do not subscribe to the belief that Ministers are a special breed of people who are entitled to special treatment under the law, while ordinary Malaysians are differently and unfairly treated.
All Malaysians would be waiting for the outcome in of the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday,
to find out whether the Cabinet Ministers are prepared to rectify the great injustice in rejecting
Sim’s appeal for reprieve, while Mochtar who committed a more serious offence is allowed another chance in life.
The DAP has launched the Save Condemned Sim Kie Chon signature campaign in six states,
namely Pahang, Federal Territory, Johore, Perak, Selangor, Penang and the campaign would be extended to Malacca, Kedah, Perlis, Sarawak and Sabah in the next few days.
I call on all Malaysians to come forward to sign the Petition of Mercy to save Sim Kie Chon so that Malaysians would not be regarded by other countries as a barbaric and unjust country where these occupying high office are leniently treated although they had committed more serious offences.
This is not a question of race or religion. It is a question of equality, justice and humanity.
The response to the Save Sim Kie Chon Campaign will be a test whether Malaysians could rise above racial considerations and look at issues and problems on their intrinsic principles and merits.
If the Cabinet Minister who murdered another person, and convicted and sentenced to death,
and later had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment, had been a MCA Minister, while the ordinary Malaysian who unlawfully had a firearm but who harmed or killed no one could not get a reprieve of his death sentence had been a Malay, the DAP would have been equally outraged by such injustice and we would have launched a nation-wide campaign to save his life.
The Save Sim Kie Chon mercy mission must not be turned into a racial issue, for it must be seen solely from humanitarian grounds as well from the principles of equality and justice.