By Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Friday, 19th April 1991:
Suggest Dr.Kang Chin Seng assist Dr.Ling Liong Sik to prove at a Public Inquiry that the Chinese in Kelantan are being oppresses and forced to leave the State
I congratulate the Gerakan for its new ‘comradeship’ with MCA, where the Gerakan National Publicity Bureau, under Dr.Kang Chin Seng, came out in swift public support of Dr.Ling Liong Sik after I challenged the MCA President to agree to the establishment of a Public Inquiry for him to prove his allegation ‘that the Chinese in Kelantan are being oppressed and forced to leave the State’.
The purpose of the Penang-issued Gerakan National Publicity Bureau statement is soley to help MCA distract public attention from the issue as to whether Liong Sik would dare to openly and publicity prove his allegation before a Public Inquiry that the Chinese in Kelantan are being oppressed and forced to leave the State.
The substance of the Gerakan National Publicity Bureau statement is no different from the usual run of MCA statements on the issue, basically to echo the Liong Sik line that the Chinese in Kelantan are being oppressed.
If MCA and Gerakan leaders are so convinced that the Chinese in Kelantan are being oppressed and even being forced to leave the State, I just cannot understand why there are not grabbing the golden opportunity to agree to the establishment of a Public Inquiry where they could prove these allegations.
Could it be that both Liong Sik and the Gerakan Publicity Chief, Dr.Kang Chin Seng, know that there is no basis to their allegation that the Chinese in Kelantan are being oppressed and being forced to leave the state?
From the Gerakan Publicity Bureau statement, it is clear that Dr.Kang is of the very strong belief that the DAP should not have acted in 1986 to stop the nation-wide spate of forced conversion to Islam of non-Muslim children below 18 years of age, which resulted in family break-ups when these children leave their parents and families after being converted without parental knowledge or consent.
The Gerakan leaders dare not come forward to defend the constitutional, religious and parental rights of non-Muslim parents, and yet do not like it when the DAP leaders stepped forward to champion the people’s rights.
Both the MCA and Gerakan leaders believe that they have at last found a great weapon against the DAP – to put the blame on DAP for what they alleged as the oppression of the Chinese in Kelantan.
DAP offers to from joint action committee with MCA and Gerakan to oppose oppression of Chinese in Kelantan if MCA and Gerakan can prove such oppression.
The DAP will be in the forefront against such injustice and discrimination if the MCA and Gerakan can prove that the Chinese in Kelantan are being oppressed and forced to leave the state.
In fact, if Liong Sik and Chin Seng can prove their allegation of the oppression of the Chinese in Kelantan, the DAP is prepared to form a join action committee with the MCA and Gerakan to oppose such oppression. Dare MCA and Gerakan accept the DAP’s offer?
If Ling Liong Sik and Kang Chin Seng really believe in their allegation of the oppression of the Chinese in Kelantan, then they should immediately declare their support for the DAP proposal of a Public Inquiry into the oppression of the Chinese in Kelantan, and Dr.Kang Chin Seng should volunteer to fully assist Dr.Ling Liong Sik to produce and establish proof to substantiate their allegation.
Once Liong Sik and Chin Seng agree on behalf of the MCA and Gerakan leaderships to the establishment of a public Inquiry into the oppression of the Chinese in Kelantan, and jointly produce proof of such oppression, then we can finalise details about the Public Inquiry – as to whether it be established by the Kelantan State Government, or even just by political parties.
I am prepaid to meet with Liong Sik and Chin Seng immediately to finalise details of such a Public Inquiry into the Oppression of the Chinese in Kelantan.