by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday, 2.9.1987:
Government should stop ‘witch-hunt’ of persons who want Constitutional review, and concentrate on open argument and debate
The government seemed to be caught up in a ‘witch-hunt’ of the persons calling for a Constitutional review, when it should participate in an open argument and debate as to whether there should be a Constitutional review.
Yesterday, UMNO Secretary-General Datuk Seri Sanusi Junid said there were three groups supporting the calls for a review of the Constitution- the Republicans, the racial extremists and the opportunists.
Today, Deputy Home Affairs Minister, Datuk Megat Junid Megat Ayub, said the Home Ministry is monitoring the movements of the three groups which support the call for a review of the Constitution to see their actions threaten national security, even hinting of ‘arrest’.
This is most deplorable, and is clearly a blatant and unashamed attempt by the authorities to muzzle public opinion in Malaysia. Are these signs of a new repression to be imposed in tte country by the authorities?
Among eminent Malaysian who had suggested review of the Constitution are Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Perak Sultan, Sultan Azlan Shah, and former Lord President, Tun Suffian, to which of the there groups identified by Datuk Seri Sanusi do Tunku Adbul Rahman, Sultan Azlan Shah and Tun Suffian fall into?
The government should stop the ‘witch-hunt’ of persons who call for Constitutional review, wanting to create the impression that those who suggested the review are somehow anti-national or disloyal.
It is the government which had amended the Malaysian Constitution in over a thousand places in the last 30 years, and if suggestions of constitutional iew is anti-national or disloyal, then the government leaders would have been thousand-times more anti-national and disloyal than the ordinary Malaysians.
Let us have an open argument and debate on the need for a Constitutional review 30 years after Merdeka, instead of using gangsterish tactics of smearing, intimidating and cowing people with different views from the powers of the day, in order to stifle and silence public discussion.