by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Friday, 7th February, 1992:
DAP will condemn PAS Kelantan State Government if Liong Sik or Keng Yaik can prove the truth of anyone of the eight measures of oppression and persecution of the Chinese in Kelantan
A day before the DAP delegation met the Kelantan Mentri Besar, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, I sent an urgent fax to the MCA President, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik and the Gerakan President, Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, to furnish five instance of the oppression and persecution of the Chinese in Kelantan and I promised to raise them with Nik Aziz in out meeting.
There was no response from either Liong Sik or Keng Yaik, who could not produce a single concrete instance of the oppression and persecution of the Chinese in Kelantan by the PAS-led Kelantan State Government because of Islamisation measures which infringed non-Muslim rights and interests.
The people in Malaysia now understand why Liong Sik and Keng Yaik had not dared to accept my earlier invitation to visit Kelantan together and also to jointly meet the Kelantan Mentri Besar.
This is because at such a meeting, Liong Sik and Keng Yaik would be humiliated when they could not produce a single instance of the oppression and persecution of the Chinese in Kelantan because of the infringement of non-Muslim rights and interests by the Islamisation measures of the Kelantan State Government.
MMCA and Gerakan leaders are however still completely unrepentant in their campaign of lies against the DAP, claiming firstly that the Chinese in Kelantan are oppressed and persecuted by the Islamisation measures of the PAS-led Kelantan State Government infringing non-Muslim rights and interests; and secondly, that the DAP must bear responsibility for the oppression and persecution of the Chinese in Kelantan on the utterly spurious ground that DAP had caused PAS to come into power in Kelantan.
DAP to ask Ting Chew Peh in April Parliament to prove that Chinese in Kelantan cannot drink beer publicly
DAP is prepared to publicly condemn the PAS Kelantan State Government if Liong Sik of Keng Yaik can prove the truth of anyone of the following eight allegations that had been made by MCA and Gerakan leaders about the oppression and persecution of the Chinese in Kelantan, namely:
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.
Liong Sik and Keng Yaik had visited Kelantan several times during the last 15 months, and they should know that these eight allegations are untrue.
After the visit of the DAP delegation to Kelantan, the MCA Secretary-General and Minister for local Government and Housing, Dr. Ting Chew Peh, led the renewed attack on the DAP by giving as one example that the Chinese in Kelantan cannot drink beer publicly.
I had challenged the MCA Ministers and Keng Yaik to join me in a public beer drinking session in Kota Bahru, with the DAP paying for their airfare, hotel and beer expenses. My challenge to the MCA and Gerakan leaders to a public beer drinking session to Kota Bahru is still open.
I have no doubt that this challenge would have been accepted the moment it was issued if the MCA allegation that the Chinese in Kelantan cannot drink beer publicly is true.
Parliament is meeting in April, and the DAP will demand that the MCA Minister for Housing and Local Government, Dr. Ting Chew Peh, produce proof that the Chinese in Kelantan are not allowed to drink beer publicly.
If Liong Sik and Keng Yaik cannot prove anyone of the above eight allegations of the oppression and persecution of the Chinese in Kelantan, then they should be responsible enough to declare that all these allegations are baseless and untrue.