by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Thursday 24th March 1994:
DAP had not co-operated with PAS in the last general elections and will not co-operate with PAS in the next general elections
The MCA has launched a new propaganda campaign of lies against the DAP alleging that the DAP had been co-operating with PAS since the last general elections.
The MCA propaganda mills have deliberated distorted my statement that the DAP is prepared to co-operate with any opposition party in the interest of the people. I made this statement when I was asked whether the DAP was prepared to co-operate with PBS in the next general elections.
It is clear that DAP’s preparedness to co-operate with other opposition parties is not unconditional, but subject to the qualification that such co-operation would be in the interests of the people.
The DAP had not co-operated with PAS in the 1990 general elections and will not co-operate with PAS in the next, general elections.
MCA’s hidden agenda – its support for UMNO hukum hudud although it opposes PAS hukum hudud
The MCA’s propaganda campaign of lies against the DAP for being responsible for the hukum hudud passed by the PAS Kelantan State Government in December 1993 has in fact a hidden agenda.
The DAP’s stand on hukum hudud had always been consistent and straightforward. We made it very clear that the DAP opposes the introduction of hudud law in Kelantan by PAS because this violates the secular basis of the Constitution and Malaysian nation-building. This stand is not because the DAP is against Islam but because hukum hudud is completely inappropriate for a multi-racial and multi-religious society like Malaysia.
DAP opposes hukum hudud whether introduced by PAS in Kelantan or by any other political party in other states or the country. The hidden agenda of MCA however is to oppose PAS hukum hudud while supporting UMNO hukum hudud.
MCA’s hidden agenda was publicly exposed when the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad recently an¬nounced that the Federal Government would support the Kelantan PAS hudud law if it conforms with Islamic teachings.
Mahathir’s objection is not that PAS hudud law are inappropriate for a multi-racial and multi-religious society like Malaysia, but that it is not Islamic enough.
It is important to realise that Mahathir was not giving his personal view or that of UMNO, but of the Federal Government representing the MCA and all other Barisan Nasional component parties when he said that the Federal Government would support the PAS hudud law if it conforms with Islam.
Mahathir would not have declared that the Federal Government would support PAS hudud law if it conforms with Islam without express consent and mandate from the MCA Ministers.
The purpose of the latest MCA propaganda campaign of lies against the DAP is to protect this hidden agenda of the MCA Ministers in the Federal Government from public knowledge.
Can the MCA Ministers explain why they oppose PAS hukum hudud but support UMNO hukum hudud, and why they have given consent and mandate for the Federal Government to take the posi-tion to support PAS hukum hudud if it conforms with Islam?