Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the Penang DAP State Committee at Penang DAP Hqrs at Lorong Kinta, Penang on Sunday, 20th May 1990 at 8 p.m.
DAP will press for the revocation of the four Proclamations of Emergency when Parliament meets next month
DAP will press for the revocation of the four Proclamations of Emergency when Parliament meets next month from June 11 to 22.
During the Constitutional amendment bill debate in Parliament in March, in response to my call for the revocation of the four Proclamations of Emergency, three of which were made in the 1960s and one in the 1970s, and all of which have ceased to be relevant, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir, said the government was reviewing the four Proclamations of Emergency.
In actual fact, there is nothing for the Government to review at all. A Proclamation of Emergency is made for a specific emergency situation, and once that situation is over, the Proclamation should be immediately revoked.
The first of the four Proclamations of Emergency was made 26 years ago to deal with the Indonesia Confrontation, and a whole generation of Malaysians have grown up who know nothing about Sukarno’s ‘Crush Malaysia’ campaign.
Malaysia must be the only Commonwealth country which professes parliamentary democracy which has four Proclamations of Emergency all still valid but all outmoded.
A Government which uses a Proclamation of Emergency – designed to deal with a specific emergency situation – for other conditions is abusing such emergency powers. In Malaysia, the government is abusing its emergency powers four- fold with for Proclamations.
The DAP has had discussions with Parti Semangat 46 leaders on this issue, and both parties are agreed that the four Proclamations of Emergency should be revoked.
I hope that the Prime Minister could announce latest by the Parliamentary meeting next month the revocation of the four Proclamations of Emergency, which were made in 1964 for the Indonesian Confrontation; 1966 for the Sarawak crisis over the SNAP Chief Minister, Stephen Kalong Ningkan; in 1969 because of May 13 riots; and in 1977 over the Kelantan crisis in 1977.
DAP and Semangat 46 to decide whether to have a common manifesto for next general elections
The DAP will have two manifestos in the next elections. One will be the Tanjung 2 national manifesto and the other the Tanjung 2 Penang manifesto.
For the national manifesto, the DAP and Semangat 46 will have to decide whether we are to have a common manifesto.
Parti Semangat 46 President, Tengku Razaleigh, is finalising a draft common manifesto which will be considered by leaders of both parties in future meetings.
The draft manifesto will reflect the four principles of co-operation between the DAP and Semangat 46, which is to save democracy, restore human rights, establish socio-economic justice and ensure genuine national unity.