by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, in Malacca on Thursday, 26.12.1985:
DAP calls on Prime Minister’s Department to investigate into the desecration of some 200 graves in the Bukit Serindit Catholic cemetery in Malacca.
The DAP views with grave concern the desecration of some 200 graves in the Bukit Serindit Catholic cemetry in Malacca, where statues of Mary, statuettes of angels and crosses were smashed and strewn all over the cemetery.
It is clear that this is the act of a group of religious extremists and fanatics. Malaysians remember the case of Kerling when lives were lost following a spate of desecration of non-Islamic temples, shrines and places of worship.
In recent years, there have been more and more instances of religious extremism and intolerance, taking new forms.
One such instance is the increasing number of non- Muslim students in national secondary schools who are influenced of coerced by their teachers to embrace Islam, without parental consent or knowledge although they are minors below 18 years of age, leading to their leaving the parental home and family break-ups and tragedy. In Pasir Mas, Kelantan, there had been two such incidents involving the Sultan Ibrahim Girls’ School.
I call on the Prime Minister’s Department and the Police to take a serious view of the desecration of the Catholic cemetery graves in Malacca before Christmas and other instances of growing religious intolerance and extremism in Malaysia, which if not checked, could threaten the very fabric of Malaysian society.
On the desecration of the Catholic graves at Bukit serindit, the Malacca Police must bring the culprits and fanatics to book and ensure they suffer the full rigours of the law as a deterrent to those irresponsible and misguided elements in the country who are prepared to tear Malaysia apart because of their fanatical religious views.
In this connection, I would like to ask the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Lee Kim Sai what he is doing about the growing example of Islamic intolerance by certain groups, or is Lee Kim Sai completely helpless about it? Call on the veteran Malacca MCA leader to openly deny or admit that he had used abusive language against Datin Tee Cheng York, insulting womanhood
The accusation by the wife of Malacca MCA Exco Member, Datin Tee Cheng York, that a veteran MCA Malacca leader had used abusive language against her in a telephone call, insulting ‘womanhood’, has become the talk of the town.
As Datin Tee had said subsequently, this ‘veteran Malacca MCA leader’ had denied her allegation, but she had accepted his challenge to go to a Chinese temple to cut the cockerel’s head to prove that he had never used abusive language against her.