Liong Sik should get MAS, Malaysian Railways and Express Bus Companies to introduce a ‘25% Fare to Kelantan by air, rail or road to see the oppression and persecution of Chinese in Kelantan under PAS-led Kelantan State Government’

by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, 1st February 1992:

Liong Sik should get MAS, Malaysian Railways and Express Bus Companies to introduce a ‘25% Fare to Kelantan by air, rail or road to see the oppression and persecution of Chinese in Kelantan under PAS-led Kelantan State Government’

The MCA Presidential Council and the Central Committee should hold an emergency joint meeting to decide whether they are going to continue with their campaign or falsehoods about the ‘oppression’ and ‘persecution’ of the Chinese in Kelantan, or whether they are going to be responsible and admit that they had misled the Chinese in Malaysia into believing that the Chinese in Kelantan had been ‘oppressed’ and ‘persecuted’ by the PAS-led Kelantan Government for the past 15 months.

On behalf of the entire MCA leadership, the MCA President, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik, should declare clearly and unequivocally whether the MCA leadership still maintains that the Chinese in Kelantan had been ‘oppressed’ and ‘persecuted’ as illustred by the following eight instances:

1. The Chinese in Kelantan cannot eat or sell pork;
2. They cannot drink beer publicly but must ‘hide and drink steathily’;
3. They cannot buy or sell liquor;
4. They must stop business during Muslim prayers;
5. They cannot go to unisex saloons;
6. Chinese women must cover their heads and wear Islamic attire;
7. Chinese women cannot work night shift; and
8. Chinese business signboards must be taken down and replaced with Jawi characters.

If this is the contention of the MCA national leadership, then let the MCA Ministers and leaders declare so openly and publicly. No political party can ever get respect for the people if its leaders continue to operate ‘surreptitiously’ and ‘underground’.

If the MCA national leadership still maintains that the Chinese in Kelantan are ‘oppressed’ and ‘persecuted’ by the Islamisation measures of the PAS-led Kelantan State Government such as the eight instances above, then I propose that the Liong Sik, as Transport Minister, should get MAS, Malaysian Railways and Express Bus Companies to introduce a ‘25% Fare to Kelantan By Air, Rail and Road to see the Oppression and Persecution of the Chinese in Kelantan under the PAS-led State Government’ special promotion programme.

I am sure that the Federal Government would be very happy to subsidise such a special promotion programme to encourage the Chinese outside Kelantan to visit Kelantan at 25 % of the normal fare whether by air, rail or road. This is because if the MCA allegations of the oppression and persecution of the Chinese in Kelantan are true, this would be a supreme political opportunity and advantage for the MCA which it never had for decades.

Let the public beer drinking by the four MCA Ministers, one Gerakan Minister and Five DAP leaders in Kota Bahru be the highlight of the ‘25% Fare to Kelantan by Air, Rail and Road’ special promotion programme

If Liong Sik could get MAS, Malaysian Railways and the various Express Buses to introduce this special 25% fare to Kelantan, the DAP undertakes to launch a campaign to get the Chinese throughout the country to take advantage of this ‘25% Fare to Kelantan by Air, Rail and Road’ to see for themselves whether it is true that the Chinese in Kelantan had been oppressed and persecuted, and cannot eat or sell pork, cannot drink beer publicly, cannot buy or sell liquor; must stop business during Muslim prayers; cannot go to unisex saloons, Chinese women must cover their heads and wear Islamic attire and cannot work night shift; and Chinese business signboards must be taken down and replaced with Jawi characters.

The DAP is agreeable if the highlight of this ‘25% Fare to Kelantan by Air, Rail and Road’ special promotion proramme is the public beer-drinking by the four MCA Ministers, the one Gerakan Minister together with five DAP leaders in Kota Bahru.