Speech (Part 2) by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the Mobilisation Meeting of Penang island DAP members held at DAP Penang Hqrs, Lorong Kinta on Monday, 23rd May 1994 at 8.30 pm
The 1990 General Elections was not the ‘first chance, last chance’ for DAP to capture Penang State Government because the DAP denied the Barisan Nasional the two-thirds majority to amend the State Constitution and gerrymander with the state constituencies
Gerakan leaders in Penang are claiming that the DAP has itself admitted that the DAP would have no chance to win the Penang State Government in Tanjong 3, because in the 1990 general elections, I had said that it was ‘the first chance and the last chance’ for the DAP to form the State Government in Penang.
I did say during the 1990 general elections that it was ‘the first chance and the last chance’ for the DAP to capture state power in Penang.
In fact, I had also explained in the 1990 general elections why I said it was ‘the first chance and the last chance’ for the DAP to capture state power in Penang. The trouble with the Gerakan leaders is that they choose what they like and overlook what they dislike.
I had said that if the DAP lost the opportunity in the 1990 general elections, then after the general elections, the electoral constituencies would be redelineated and there would be further gerrymandering with the electoral constituencies to make it impossible for the DAP to have a chance to win the state government in any future general elections.
However, the DAP was fortunate to prevent the 1990 general elections from being ‘the first chance and the last chance’ for the DAP to make a bid for state power in Penang, because although we failed to get a simple majority by three seats to form the State Government of Penang, we won enough seats to deny the Barisan Nasional the two-thirds majority to amend the state Constitution and gerrymander with the electoral constituen¬cies.
In November 1992, the Penang DAP Assemblymen rejected the Penang State Constitution amendment bill in the Penang State Assembly to increase three state assembly seats, because with three additional seats, the constituency redelineation will be utter havoc.
The denial of the two-thirds majority to the Barisan Nasional in the Penang State Assembly has therefore nullified what I said in 1990 general elections about it being ‘the first chance and the last chance’ for DAP to capture power in Penang state.
Altbough the next general elections will be tough¬er for the DAP than the 1990 general elections, I believe the DAP stands a good chance of winning Penang State Government
I agree however that the next general elections will be tougher for the DAP than the 1990 general elections. In the 1990 general elections, the winds were blowing in favour of the Opposition.
In the next general elections, it is the Barisan Nasional which will have the political advantage. However, despite these additional challenges, I believe DAP stands a good chance of winning a majority to form the next Penang State Government.
Koh Tsu Koon is so afraid of Dr. Ibrahim Saad that he had rejected my State Assembly question on Ibrahim’s directive to MPPP on the use of Bahasa Malaysia on signboards
I had said that one of the biggest issues in Penang in the next general elections is whether the people of Penang want to have a Chief Minister with real powers, or to have a Chief Minister in name only but is secondary and subservient to the.Deputy Chief Minister.
In fact, Tsu Koon is so afraid of Dr. Ibrahim Saad that he had rejected my State Assembly question for 30th May on Ibrahim Saad’s directive to MPPP on the use of Bahasa Malaysia on signboards, the nature of the directive, and what action had been taken by the MPPP on the directive.
Tsu Koon had given the silly reason that questions for state assembly should be about state government affairs and about directives or affairs of state Assemblymen.
Gerakan leaders have the deep-rooted psychology of political subservience to UMNO that it would make no difference if in next general election, Dr. Ibrahim Saad is moved to Federal level or Gerakan, wins a few additional State Assembly seats
Tsu Koh ignores the fact that Dr. Ibrahim Saad is not an ordinary Assemblyman, who though in name Deputy Chief Minister is the real power in the Penang State Government.
Furthermore, the question is relevant and valid because it concerns the MPPP.
The Gerakan leaders have a deep-rooted psychology of political subservience that they play second fiddle to UMNO, whether at national or state level, and this psychological sub¬servience will not change, even if Dr. Ibrahim Saad is moved to the Federal level in the next general elections, or Gerakan wins a few additional seats in the State Assembly.
This is why in the next general elections, the issue of a Chief Minister who is the master of the Penang state government would be a central issue in Penang.