Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the Joint DAP-Semangat 46 Ceramah at Permatang Pauh, Penang on Saturday, 4th August 1990 at 9 p.m.
Kijal by-election is no indication of the results of next general elections.
Although the Barisan Nasional won the recent Kijal by-election in Trengganu, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed and the Barisan National leaders are aware that the Kijal by-election is no reliable indicator for the coming general elections.
This is because in a by-election, the Barisan Nasional could concentrate their firepower,
money-power and threat-power in one-constituency which they could not do for all constituencies
in a general election.
In the Kijal by-election, the UMNO Baru introduced the new ‘anak angkat’ tactics, whereby the
ketua kampong emplaced teams of three specially-trained UMNO Baru wanita cadres from
other states during the entire campaign period to live in the house of families whom they have
identified as ‘floating voters’, giving to each family $500 allegedly to meet the expenses for housing,
the ‘anak-anak angkat’.
These ‘anak-anak angkat’ have a special assignment to achieve two objectives, firstly to brainwash
the ‘floating voters’ with UMNO Baru propaganda and secondly, to cordon off these
‘floating voters’ from contact with Semanyat 46 election workers. When the Semangat 46 election
in workers make house-to-house visits, it is these professional political ‘anak-anak angkat’ who
come out of the house to confront the Semangat 46 election workers, who could not get to talk
directly to the voters at all.
Each such family is given another $500 if they vote for the Barisan Nasional. If the
‘anak-anak angkat’ cannot prevail upon the ‘floating voters’ to vote for the UMNO Baru candidate,
then they will find ways to get their identity cards to get proxies to cast the votes for them.
This new UMNO Baru ‘anak angkat’ tactic, costing $1,000 per family household, had been
most effective in the Kijal by-election. But it is unlikely that it could be used with great effect
in a general elections.
The Barisan Nasional leaders are fully aware that because of the great odds against the Opposition,
by-elections in Malaysia are only significant if they are won by the Opposition. The Government
coalition cannot take much comfort if they win by-elections.
I am speaking from personal experience. I first contested for elections at the end of 1968 in by-election for the Serdang State Assembly seat in Selangor, which was regarded as an Opposition stronghold which no Opposition candidate could lose.
I stood and 1ost. If the Serdang by-election was to be a reliable indicator of the outcome of the
subsequent general elections which had to he held three months later, then the Opposition would
not win more than a handful of Parliamentary seats.
However, in the 1969 general elections, the Opposition scored great victories.
The Kijal by-election in Trengganu could be like the Serdang by-election twenty years ago. In the Serdang by-election, I lost by about 600 votes, but in the general elections three months later, the DAP candidate won the Serdang state assembly seat by about 6000 votes.
In Malaysia, therefore, by-elections are of no significance if the Barisan Nasional could defend their
seats. However, these by-elections will be very significant if the Barisan Nasional fails to retain
their seats, or do worse then the general elections, for it would mean that the Barisan Nasional is
in a very bad shape where it could not take advantage of all the odds stacked in its favour during
by-elections.
Challenge to Ghafar Baba and Anwar Ibrahim to open up their accounts to scrutiny during the
general election campaign to show that they comply with the election laws limiting election
expenditures.
TV3 tonight telecast the Deputy Prime Minister, Ghafar Baba, making a pledge during a press
conference that the Barisan Nasional would never break election laws during the general election.
Such a pledge is broken even before it is made, for the political parties most guilty of breaking
election laws are none other than the component parties of the Barisan Nasional.
I challenge Ghafar Baba and the MP for Permatang Pauh, Anwar Ibrahim to open up their accounts
to scrutiny in the coming general election to prove that they have not violated the election laws
limiting election expenditures to $50,000 per parliamentary candidate.
This election law limiting election expenditure is broken by every Barisan Nasional candidate.
In fact, the limit of $50,000 for each parliamentary candidate may represent only 10 per cent,
or even one per cent, of actual expenditures incurred by Barisan Nasional leaders for their
respective parliamentary elections.
1 do not expect any response from Ghafar Baba or Anwar Ibrahim to my challenge, for there is
no doubt that none of them dare to open up their accounts to scrutiny during the next general
election to prove that they abide by the election laws.
Anwar Ibrahim setting a bad moral example and is not fit to be Education Minister
Recently, Anwar Ibrahim has been making many wild and irresponsible statements, showing a
bad moral example to the present generation of school children and university students.
For his own political self-interest, Anwar Ibrahim was prepared to stoop very low as to tell lies.
For instance, he accused the DAP of being anti-Malay.
This is a lie. The DAP is a Malaysian party which has in its membership Chinese, Indians, Malays, Kadazans and Ibans. We love Malaysia and are patriots who want the best for all Malaysians,
regardless of race.
We are not anti-Malay, anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Kadazan or anti-Iban, but pro-Malaysians.
Another lie Anwar Ibrahim is spreading among the Malays is that the Semangat 46, by co-operating
with DAP, is selling out the Malay rights. However, at the same time, Anwar Ibrahim is encouraging
the MCA and Gerakan leaders to tell the exact opposite lie to the Chinese, alleging that the DAP is
selling out the Chinese rights by co-operating with Semangat 46.
How can the Semangat 46 be selling out the Malay rights at one and the same time as the DAP is
selling out the Chinese rights according to the different Barisan leaders speaking to different races?
If with the DAP and Semangat 46 co-operation, both the Malay and Chinese rights are sold out,
whose rights would be left in Malaysia?
If this is not double-faced, doubled-tongued hypocrisy, I do not know what is.
Anwar Ibrahim should not forget that as Education Minister, particularly responsible for drafting the
1990 Education Act with its emphasis on moral education, he should be setting an exemplary role
model for the young generation of Malaysians.
However, he is doing the opposite – showing himself as a person who is prepared to tell any lies to
serve his own personal political interests.
With such such sore lack of moral values, Anwar Ibrahim will not be fit to be the Education Minister
to be responsible for the moral education of the young generation of Malaysians.