by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Monday, 23rd March, 1992:
DAP to demand for explanation from Penang Chief Minister, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, whether it is appropriate to have a MPPP President who is so racist as to make statements like ‘Bully Chinese Fear Malay’
The DAP will demand an explanation from the Penang Chief Minister, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, whether it is appropriate to have an MPPP President who is so racist as to make statements like ‘Bully Chinese Fear Malay’.
I am giving Dr. Koh Tsu Koon ample advance notice so that he could get full explanations from the MPPP President, Tan Ghim Hwa, so that the Chief Minister could tell the next Penang State Assembly meeting what exactly does Tan Ghim Hwa meant by ‘Bully Chinese, Fear Malay’, ‘Bully Good Fear Bad’ and ‘Use Chinese to Control Chinese’.
Tan Ghim Hwa should realise that as MPPP President who is head of a Municipality with 600,000 ratepayers, he is expected to be responsible both in speech and action so as to earn the respect of all, regardless of race.
An MPPP President who is prepared to be so irresponsible as to resort to race-baiting, by using terms like ‘Bully Chinese Fear Malay’, is insulting both the Chinese and the Malays.
This raises the fundamental question whether Tan Ghim Hwa is qualified to lead the Penang Municipality towards Vision 2020, or he is trying to take Penang back to the 1940s and 1950s!
Although the DAP does not have any MPPP Councillor, the DAP will not allow Tan Ghim Hwa to make racialistic and communalistic statements as MPPP President.
The Penang Chief Minister, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, should realise that as he appointed Tan Ghim Hwa,
he would have to answer to the Penang Assembly and the people of Penang for the racialistic and chauvinistic statements of Tan Ghim Hwa.
In the next Penang Assembly, the DAP will be specifically asking whether the Gerakan leaders are the ‘Good Chinese’, while the UMNO leaders are the ‘Bad Malay’, when Tan Ghim Hwa accused the DAPof ‘Bully Chinese Fear Malay’ and ‘Bully Good Fear Bad’.
The DAP will also specifically ask Dr. Koh Tsu Koon whether Tan Ghim Hwa understand the meaning
of ‘Use Chinese to control Chi¬nese’, and whether Tan Ghim Hwa is referring to UMNO as emplying this ‘Use Chinese to control Chinese’ strategy in Malaysian politics.
The DAP will also want the Penang Chief Minister to state whether he agrees that if there is really a
‘Use Chinese to Control Chinese’ strategy in Malaysia, then it can only be ‘using’ the Gerakan which has only 20 per cent Chinese support to ‘control’ the DAP which has 90 per cent Chinese support, and not the other way round.
Gerakan leaders have been playing a double and irresponsible game – saying one thing in the Chinese press and a different thing in other language newspapers.
Gerakan leaders should not expect to get away with such political irresponsibility.