by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary – General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday, 27th November 1991:
DAP is prepared to declare Liong Sik as ‘persona most Grata’ if he is prepared to come to DAP Hqrs to explain Why MCA has made the greatest concession in 42 years
The MCA Secretary – General, Dr. Ting Chew Peh, said yesterday that the MCA Presidential Council passed a special resolution declaring me a ‘persona non – grata’ in the MCA.
I do not know whether I should feel flattered by this obsession of the MCA Presidential Council over me, or whether I should feel sad that the MCA Presidential Council has lost sight of the serious political issue about the constitutional right, basis, status and guarantee for Chinese primary schools.
MCA has created party history in declaring me a ‘persona non grata’, but how many times have the Chinese electorate declared the MCA leaders as ‘persona non grata’ in the general elections, including the October 1990 general elections?
The DAP will not be so petty and small – minded as to follow the example of the MCA Presidential Council. In fact, the DAP is prepared to declare the MCA President, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik, as ‘persona most grata’ if he is prepared to come to DAP Hqrs to explain the MCA’s greatest concession in 42 years.
It is understandable why the MCA leaders, including Dr. Ting Chew Peh, are so angry with DAP leaders and myself – for so long as DAP leaders are around, the MCA leaders could not succeed in misleading and deceiving the people.
I know that Ting Chew Peh has not ‘recovered’ from my speech at the Johore DAP State Leadership Conference in Batu Pahat on Nov. 17 where I exposed the MCA for having renounced its own Vision for the 1990s as embodied in the MCA’s ‘Malaysian Unity Plan’ (MUP) which was proclaimed with so much fanfare by the MCA President in October 1989.
As one example of the MCA leadership renouncing its own Vision for the 1990s, I said the MUP demanded one – third of total government rural development allocation for the 452 new villagers whose 1.8 million villagers represented one – third of rural population. However, under the Sixth Malaysian Plan Ting Chew Peh could get only 0.3 per cent of the rural allocation for the new villages – which is a far cry from the 33.3 per cent demanded by the MUP. Instead of expressing grave disappointment, Chew Peh is going round the country boasting about the infinitesimal allocation for the new villages!
There has been very hurtful silence from Ting Chew Peh for the last ten days and I can understand though not agree with his feelings when he declared that I have been pronounced ‘persona non – grata’ by the MCA.
MCA and its new ‘cultural assasins’
I must congratulate the MCA propaganda machinery, however, for they had succeeded in influencing certain opinion – makers to become their new ‘cultural assasins’ – spouting the line propagated by them by giving the impression that whole MCA – DAP controversy is over whether I would ‘gatecrash’ MCA hqrs or not, whether DAP leaders are fit to talk about Chinese education issues, and not over the constitutional right and status of Chinese primary schools.
Some of these MCA ‘cultural assasins’ who operate under purportedly independent and non – partisan status had helped the MCA to manufacture opinion that I was going to ‘gatecrash’ the MCA headquarters yesterday, and when I did go to the MCA Headquarters because there was no acceptance by Liong Sik, is manufacturing the new opinion that I had ‘backed out’ of my ‘original intention’ to ‘gatecrash’ MCA Headquarters.
In its 42 year party history, the MCA leadership had always made us of such ‘cultural assasins’ to help in its campaign of disinformation and distortion, but they have invariably failed because the MCA leadership and their ‘cultural assasins’ have underestimated the intelligence of the people who could finally distinguish between right and wrong, truth and falsehood.