by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, 1st June 1991:
Call on Dr.Mahathir rove that development is not mixed with politics giving a new deal to Kelantan and Sabah under the Sixth Malaysia Plan to improve the living standards of the poor in these two states
The Prime minister, Datuk Seri Dr.Mahathir Mohamed, made one of the most remarkable statements in his political career during his one-day visit to Kelantan on Thursday when he said that development should not be mixed with politics.
The right to development is a basic human right for all Malaysians regardless of political party affiliation or beliefs and it is the responsibility of any government to respect and honour this right.
No Malaysian citizen should be denied or deprived of development because of his support for a political party, for to do so is in fact to deny him his citizenship rights.
I hope that Dr.Mahathir is serious and sincere in what be said in Kelantan that the Federal Government will not discriminate against the people because of political differences.
The people are prepared to overlook the government politics and discriminations in the past if the government is prepared to make a new start where development and politics are kept distinotly apart.
I call on Dr.Mahathir to give a new to Kelantan and Sabah under the Sixth Malaysia Plan 1991-1995 to improve the living standards of the poor in these two states. This will be an excellent testimony to the Prime Minister’s statement that development and politics should not be mixed up.
If Dr.Mahathir is prepared to give a new deal to specially target and abolish poverty in Kelantan and Sabah, then Malaysian politics will become more mature and nobody will use development as a blackmail to get voter support.