Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the Segamat DAP Branch Dinner in Segamat on Sunday, July 24, 1994 at 7 p.m. to celebrate his 25th Anniversary as an elected Member of Parliament
Liong Sik and other MCA leaders have no right to talk about ‘Big Liberalisation’ of ‘Little Liberalisation’ when they could not even list the ‘Little Liberalisation’ they have claimed credit
MCA President Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik and the other MCA Ministers have no right to talk about ‘Big Liberalisation’ or ‘Little Liberalisation’ when they could not even list the ‘Little Liberalisation’ they have claimed credit.
Last Thursday, I gave the MCA leadership three days to list out the ‘Little Liberalisation’ in the past three years which they had claimed credit, but the 72-hour deadline has expired, and the MCA leadership has not been able to list out any of the ‘Little Liberalisation’ which they claim the MCA is responsible and must be given credit and recognition.
If the MCA leadership is serious about its claim that it is responsible for the ‘Little Liberalisation’ in the past three years, it would have jumped on my challenge and immediately made public the full list of ‘Little Liberalisation’ which the MCA had achieved in the past three years.
As it is, no single MCA Minister or leader has been able to mention any single instance of ‘Little Liberalisation’ which had been achieved as a result of MCA in Government or Cabinet.
Or does the MCA leadership regard their collection of donations for Chinese Independent Secondary Schools and retaining the money in the Hauren Investment Fund against the wishes of the Chinese community as a ‘Little Liberalisation’?
There is not a single MCA Minister who has earned the respect whether of Parliament or even the UMNO MPs and the civil service as a competent Minister who is in command of his Ministry
The MCA Ministers and leadership have absolutely nothing to do with the ‘Little Liberalisation’ in certain economic and education fields in the past three years, because the MCA leadership have long ceased to be taken seriously either by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, other UMNO leaders or even the civil service.
For instance, there is not a single MCA Minister who has earned the respect of Parliament or even the UMNO MPs and the civil servants as a competent Minister who is in command of his Ministry – who could stand up in Parliament to face questioning and take part in intelligent discussion and debate about his Ministry.
The DAP can disagree and at times vehemently in Parliament with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and other UMNO Ministers like Rafidah Aziz, Datuk Syed Hamid Albar and even with the MIC President and Minister for Energy, Telekoms and Posts, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, but we respect them for standing up and defending their actions or those of their Ministry in an open debate in Parliament.
This is not the case with the four MCA Cabinet Ministers – as none of them dare to stand up in Parliament to defend either their own actions or those of their Ministry!
Yesterday, the MCA Minister for Housing and Local Government, Datuk Dr. Ting Chew Peh went to Penang to warn that Penangites will suffer if they allow the DAP to form the state government and Lim Kit Siang to become Chief Minister in the coming general election.
I understand why Chew Peh is so angry with me. This is because at the last day of the Dewan Rakyat meeting last Thursday, I told Chew Peh in Parliament that the standards of MCA Ministers were so low that any UMNO Parliamentary Secretary could perform better in parliament than the MCA Ministers.
I made this remark when Chew Peh refused to have an intelligent debate and discussion on the Highland Towers Tragedy which killed 48 people on December 11 last year and the report of the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council Inquiry Committee. One important reason why Chew Peh dared not have an intelligent debate and discussion in Parliament on the Highland Towers Tragedy Inquiry Report was because he had not read the Report, which was revealed when he was unable to answer simple questions about the Report.
The latest farce of the 51-man MCA Youth meeting with the Prime Minister last month is only the latest proof that MCA and MCA leaders are utterless ‘boneless’ in Government and Cabinet, and that they cannot be depended upon to stand up of the rights of the people, community and country inside the Barisan Nasional.
It is pathetic that after criticism and threats by UMNO leaders and branches, the MCA Youth Leader, Datuk Chan Kong Choy had to deny that he had raised the issue of quotas for bumiputras in the MCA Youth dialogue with the Prime Minister, when it was Chan Kong Choy himself who had made such an announcement in the first place.
The MCA Ministers and leaders made no contribution whatsoever to the ‘Little Liberalisation’ in certain economic and educational measures of the government in the past three years. Left to the MCA, these ‘Little Liberalisation’ would not have taken place.
It is because of the long-standing political struggle and sacrifices of DAP leaders and the great support given to the DAP by the people in the last six general elections spanning over two decades that had created the conditions to make the ‘Little Liberalisation’ possible in the last three years.
The re-establishment of Seg Hwa Chinese Independent Secondary School in Segamat will be one of the objectives of the ‘Big Liberalisation’ Policy of the DAP in the next general elections.
Just as the MCA Ministers and leaders have nothing to do with the ‘Little Liberalisation’ in certain economic and educational fields in the past three years, the MCA leadership has no clue about the ‘Big Liberalisation’ which the DAP has adopted as its major theme in the next general elections.
I wish to announce tonight that the re-establishment of Seg Hwa Chinese Independent Secondary School in Segamat will be one of the objectives of the ‘Big Liberaliastion’ Policy of the DAP in the next general elections.
The rejection of the application for the re-establishment of Seg Hwa Chinese Independent Secondary School by the Barisan Nasional Government is completely unjustifiable as unfair, undemocratic and against the larger interest of nation-building.
Now what the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has recognized Chinese Independent Secondary Schools as the long-term national investment of the country when he announced Federal Government allocation of RM5 million for nine Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Sabah in February this year, the Barisan Nasional Government should reconsider the application for the re-establishment of Seg Hwa Chinese Independent Secondary School in Segamat and to give its approval.
The first step to ensure that the Barisan Nasional Government gives approval for the re-establishment of the Seg Hwa Chinese Independent Secondary School is to get the support of the MCA Minister, as how can the UMNO Ministers support the re-establishment of Seg Hwa when MCA Ministers – including the MCA President, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik who comes from a Parliamentary constituency in Johore – spearhead the opposition against the re-establishment of Seg Hwa?