19th April 1990
Editor,
Star.
Sir,
Response to Star report yesterday headlined “Kim Sai on content of the Barisan election manifesto”
I refer to the Star news report in page 2 yesterday under the heading “Kim Sai on content of the Barisan election manifesto”, where the MCA Deputy President, Datuk Lee Kim Sai, criticised the DAP for its adoption scheme of the four MCA Ministers and their MCA party positions.
I issued a statement yesterday in response to the attack on the DAP by the MCA Deputy President in the Star report yesterday, but it did not appear in today’s Star.
I am therefore writing to officially and specifically reply to Kim Sai’s attacks on the DAP, for publication in the Star. I reserve the right to lodge a complaint to the Malaysian Press Institute and the Organisation of Newspaper Editors if you refuse to grant me the right to reply to Kim Sai.
My reply to Kim Sai is as follows:
Reply to Kim Sai
It was reported in the Star of 18th April 1990 under the heading “Kim Sai on content of Barisan election manifesto” that MCA Deputy President, Datuk Lee Kim Sai, said after the MCA Presidential Council meeting on Tuesday (17th April, 1990) that the MCA’s ‘adoption’ of DAP-held parliamentary seats scheme had been very successful, had received favourable response from the people, and had the DAP “jumping”.
Kim Sai said that the DAP’s ‘adoption’ of four MCA Ministers and their MCA party positions is a ‘mockery’, and said: “The people understand what our adoption scheme is about but we don’t understand the DAP’s adoption scheme.”
What Kim Sai said illustrates the difficulties the DAP is facing with our adoption scheme of the four MCA Ministers and their MCA party positions, for as the Chinese put it, ‘bad wood is difficult to carve’.
After the DAP had announces and explained for over a month the reason why it is necessary for the DAP to ‘adopt’ the four MCA Ministers and their MCA party position, including MCA President, Deputy President, Vice President and Secretary-General, the MCA Deputy President could still publicly say the MCA leaders “don’t understand the DAP’s adoption scheme”.
The Malaysian people understand the DAP’s adoption scheme, but the MCA Ministers and leaders still do not understand it. No wonder for the first time in the 41-year history of the MCA, MCA Ministers and the highest MCA party positions have to be adopted.
The provisional report card on the progress of the four MCA Ministers ‘adoption’ by the DAP is unsatisfactory, as we find that MCA Ministers slow and need remedial education.
The four DAP MPs who have been charged with ‘adopting’ the four MCA Ministers and their MCA party positions, namely Gooi Hock Seng (MP for Bukit Bendera For Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik), Lau Dak Kee (MP for Pasir Pinji for Datuk Lee Kim Sai), Hu Sepang (MP for Rasah for Datuk Ng Cheng Kiat) Tan Kok Wai (MP for Sungei Besi for Datuk Lim Ah Lek) will try to simplify as much as possible so that the four MCA Ministers will fully under stand their Ministerial and political responsibilities, and not continue to make one blunder after another.
It is fortunate that the DAP had already ‘adopted’ the four MCA Ministers and their MCA party positions, for otherwise, the MCA leadership would have betrayed the interests of the 50,398 MCA members who are unitholders of the KSM-MPHB Investment Fund.
The DAP welcome the MCA Ministerial visits to the DAP constituencies, and I had in fact suggested that the MCA Ministers should immediately embark on a second series of visits. Liong Sik has publicly accepted this proposal, but no announcement has been made yet as to when this second series will be held.
The four Ministers should announce the dates and details of this second series of MCA Ministerial visits to the DAP constituencies which the MCA has ‘adopted’. I hope it will not be necessary for the DAP to expand our programme of adoption of the four MCA Ministers to include a section on to how the MCA Ministers should visit the DAP constituencies to really benefits the voters.
Finally, I must remind the MCA Ministers that they have not fully completed their first series of visits to the adopted DAP constituencies.
Lee Kim Sai has to make up for his absence in the MCA Ministerial visits to Bagan, Bukit Mertajam and Bayan Baru. The people in Bagan and Bukit Mertajam are still waiting for him to visit them as Local Government Minister to resolve the $3 per toilet sewerage charge.
Kim Sai must not let the people of Bagan and Bukit Mertajam think that he dare not visit them because of the $3 per toilet sewerage charge.
The MCA Ministers have not yet visited Bukit Bintang, Seputeh and Sungei Besi constituencies in Federal Territory. Are the MCA Ministers going to neglect the three Federal Territory constituencies they have ‘adopted’?
Yours sincerely,
(Lim Kit Siang)
Parliamentary Opposition Leader
DAP Secretary-General