by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang, July 29, 1994:
Penang DAP Tanjong 3 Committee to meet next Tuesday to discuss how to expose the Gerakan ‘phantom voters’ in Tanjong Bungah and the new ‘money politics’ of Penang UMNO
The Penang DAP Tanjong 3 Committee will meet next Tuesday to discuss how to expose the Gerakan ‘phantom voters’ in Tanjong Bungah and the new ‘money politics’ of Penang UMNO.
The people of Penang and Malaysia have two days left to register as voters or they will miss the opportunity to exercise their citizenship right to vote in the next general elections.
All Malaysians should be concerned that the voters’ registration exercise is so short and the registration machinery so unsatisfactory that although UMNO will succeed in its target to register 400,000 new UMNO voters, several hundreds of thousands of Malaysians will be denied the citizenship right to vote in the next general elections because they could not register on the electoral roll by July 13.
Apart from the scandal of several hundreds of thousands of Malaysians denied the citizenship right to vote in the next general elections, there is the other scandal of Gerakan registering ‘phantom voters’ in Tanjong Bungah as part of its Save-Koh Tsu Koon Operation, and in Bruas parliamentary seat in Perak to save Gerakan President, Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik in the next general elections.
The Penang DAP Tanjong 3 Committee at its meeting next Tuesday will study whereby the Gerakan ‘phantom voters’ in Tanjong Bungah could be exposed.
The meeting will also discuss the new ‘money politics’ of UMNO.
Penang Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Saad, made a special visit to Tanjong Tokong flats last Sunday and announced five ‘concessions’ for the resolution of the long-standing dispute between occupants of Phase Two of Tanjong Tokong flats and the developer, the Urban Development Authority (UDA).
There is no doubt that if the DAP had not highlighted the grievances of the occupants of the Tanjong Tokong flats in the Penang State Assembly last month as well in various DAP ceramahs, Dr. Ibrahim Saad would not condescend to visit Tanjong Tokong flatsand meet the occupants.]
Although the five ‘concessions’ announced by Dr. Ibrahim Saad had not fully met the demands of the Tanjong Tokong flats occupants, there is no doubt that his visit and his five ‘concessions’ prove the influence and power of the DAP.
As a political party which fight for the rights and for justice for all Malaysians regardless of race, DAP will continue to speak up for the Penang Malays with regard to their legitimate grievances and unhappiness.
I would advise Dr. brahim Saad to retrain from playing the communal line when faced with the challenge from the Penang DAP to win the support of the Penang Malay voters for the DAP Tanjong 3 project to capture the Penang State Government in the next general elections.
Dr. Ibrahim Saad is not only resorting to a communal line, but also to a new ‘money politics’ of Penang UMNO.
As DAP National Vice Chairman and MP Bayan Baru, Sdr. Ahmad Nor revealed at a press conference two days ago, Penang UMNO agents had bought over Tanjong Tokong flats corner coffee-shop which had put up a DAP banner for the past few months.
The owner of the coffee shop was earlier offered RM45,000 for the shop, but he refused. A few days ago, the deal was struck when the offer went up to RM130,000, three times the market-value, just to remove the offending DAP banner strung across the coffee-shop in the past few months.
After the sale, the coffee shop was closed and the DAP banner taken down by the new owners.
Although one Malay newspaper carried the headline ‘Markas DAP Melayu menjadi kubu UMNO’, in actual fact, the coffee shop was never used as a DAP operational or branch centre. The DAP banner was put up by the previous owner to express support for the DAP.
It is most ironical that while the UMNO national leadership summoned a UMNO Special General Assembly to amend the UMNO party constitution to try to stamp out ‘money politics’. Penang UMNO is practicing a new ‘money politics’ in the run-up to the next general elections.
We have information that Penang UMNO is not only practising the new ‘money politics’ at Tanjong Tokong flats, but in other areas where the DAP had championed the cause of the Penang Malays.
Penang DAP is happy that as a result of our championing the grievances of the Penang Malays, Dr. Ibrahim Saad has now to take their grievances more seriously, and that as a result, we have been able to bring benefits to the Penang Malays.