Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the DAP Jelutong ceramah at the Sungai Pinang community centre on Wednesday, 23rd May 1990 at 9 p.m.
DAP’s top leaders to hold emergency meeting to discuss Keng Yaik’s Sunday speech which showed he had no confidence in UMNO and Mahathir in next general elections
DAP’s top leaders will hold an emergency meeting to discuss the speech by the Gerakan President, Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, at the Penang Gerakan Assembly last Sunday.
We regard Keng Yaik’s speech three days ago as a very important speech, for it showed that the Gerkan President has lost confidence in the UMNO Baru and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, in the next general elections.
Keng Yaik had alleged that with co-operation from DAP, PAS could win 25 MPs in the next general elections. This is of course another lie by Keng Yaik. I for one do not think PAS could win more than 10 or 12 parliamentary seats in the next general elections.
What is most significant, however, is Keng Yaik’s assessment that PAS could win 25 MPs in the next elections.
If PAS could win 25 MPS in the next general elections, then Semangat 46, which is going to contest in more parliamentary seats than PAS, should easily win about 40 MPs.
In such a scenario, how many MPs will be left to UMNO Baru and Dr. Mahathir? In the 1986 general elections, UMNO contested and won all the 82 parliamentary seats. But if in the next general elections, PAS wins 25 MPs and Semangat 46 wins 40 MPs, then UMNO will be left with only about 20 MPs! This in fact is a scenario of the UMNO and Dr. Mahathir losing power altogether in the next elections!
Keng Yaik’s speech at the Penang Gerakan Assembly last Sunday is the gloomiest forecast to date by a top Barisan Nasional leader that the UMNO would fare very badly in the next polls.
DAP’s top leaders will hold an emergency meeting soon to analyse Keng Yaik’s reasons for losing confidence in the UMNO and Dr. Mahathir in the next general elections, to the extent that he could publicly present a scenario of UMNO losing power in the next general elections with PAS winning 25 MPs in the next polls.
Keng Yaik seems to be the first in government to be converted to the views of Semangat 46 leader, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, that Dr. Mahathir and ÜMNO could be toppled in the next general elections!
Chong Eu afraid of calling Penang State Assembly and has deliberately fixed State Assembly date to clash with Parliament sitting
The Penang Chief Minister, Dr. Lim Chong Eu, is no more the Chong Eu of twenty years ago, when he was prepared to take on all comers without fear or hesitation.
But today, Chong Eu has not only lost the support of his own Gerakan party, he is afraid to call the Penang State Assembly. This is why he would wait for the Parliamentary meeting to be fixed, and once he gets the news, to deliberately fix the Penang State Assembly to clash with the Parliamentary sitting.
This is why after I had announced that the Dewan Rakyat would be meeting from June 11 to 22, Chong Eu quickly fixed the Penang State Assembly for June 11. Chong Eu wants the Penang State Assembly to clash with Parliament so that Karpal Singh and I would find it impossible to be at two places in the Dewan Rakyat and the Penang Assembly at one time.
I find such stunts by the Penang Chief Minister very pathetic!
DAP warns the Barisan Nasional that it would lose all support from the Chinese community if it abolishes the Boards of Management of 432 Chinese primary schools
The biggest issue in the Chinese community in the past week is the proposal to abolish the Boards of Management of 432 ‘fully-aided’ Chinese primary schools under the new Education Bill 1990.
The Barisan Nasional parties should see from the strong reactions of the Chinese community that they are at one in opposing any attempt to abolish the Boards of Management of Chinese primary schools.
DAP warns the Barisan Nasional that it would lose all support from the Chinese community in the next general elections if it abolishes the Board of Management of any Chinese primary school.
DAP will support the convening of another ‘Tien Hou Meeting’ of Chinese organisations and political parties on the issue of the abolition of Boards of Management of Chinese primary schools if the Barisan Nasional Government persist in doing away with the Boards of Management.
Boards of Management of Chinese primary schools are the ‘last line of defence’ to protect the character of Chinese primary schools. Once the Boards of Management of Chinese primary schools are abolished, then this ‘last line of defence’ would have been breached, and the task of ensuring that the character of Chinese primary schools is preserved becomes very difficult and perilous.