Press Conference Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang, in Miri on Thursday, September 14, 1995 at 11 a.m.
DAP to officially launch the nation-wide RM100 Life Membership campaign in Miri tonight to spread the Spirit of Bagan to save democracy and the DAP
Coming to Sarawak, I discovered that the DAP’s great and historic victory in the Bagan parliamentary by-election last Saturday has brought not only relief and joy to the people of Peninsular Malaysia, but also to the people of Sarawak.
In the April general election, the DAP suffered its worst general election defeat, with the DAP winning only nine parliamentary seats while in Penang, where we had hoped to form the Penang State Government, the DAP won only one State Assembly seat.
The DAP’s disastrous performance in the April general election shocked not only DAP leaders and members, but also the Malaysian people – for it was a grave blow not only to the DAP but to democracy in Malaysia as well.
This was why when the DAP won the Bagan by-election with the unbelievable 11,802-vote majority, which was 100 times bigger than the 118-vote majority by P. Patto less than five months ago, the elation and rejoicing was a national affair.
The DAP’s great and historic victory in the Bagan by-election is a clear signal that Malaysians want both democracy and development, and that there is hope not only for the revival of DAP after the disastrous general elections result in the April general election, but that Malaysians are capable of defending and advancing the cause of democracy.
It is important to realise, however, that the great Bagan by-election result is only the first step in a ‘long March’ for the revival of DAP and the restoration of democracy in Malaysia.
The way ahead is full of difficulties, pitfalls and challenges and we need more and more Malaysians to join the DAP to make clear that Malaysia wants both democracy and development, so that we can be assured of a good, democratic, accountable, transparent, clean, fair and progressive government.
For this reason, the DAP wants the Spirit of Bagan to save the DAP and democracy after the disastrous results of the April general election to spread nation-wide.
For a start, the DAP will officially launch the nation-wide Rm100 Life Membership campaign in Miri tonight to spread the Spirit of Bagan to save democracy and the DAP.
The DAP RM100 Life Membership campaign has two objectives.
Firstly, we need more Malaysians to come forward to support the DAP cause for democracy and development in Malaysia. Secondly, we need urgent financial ‘rescue’, as after the disastrous April general election result, the DAP immediately faces an acute financial crisis.
The DAP had always depended on donations from DAP MPs and State Assemblymen – from their allowances – to meet our financial needs. In April general election however, the DAP’s elected representation was slashed from 20 MPs and 46 Assemblymen to nine MPs (now left with eight) and 11 Assemblymen, which means an immediate slash of our incomes by about 65 per cent.
This is one reason why we are launching a nation-wide RM100 DAP Life Membership campaign, which is a temporary three-month reduction from out usual rate of RM200 for Life membership – to give an opportunity for Malaysians who are concerned about the revival of DAP and the restoration of democracy in Malaysia to make a concrete contribution to save the DAP from financial disaster so that democracy in Malaysia could be restore.
I hope that the people of Miri will respond to the DAP RM 100 Life Membership campaign which will take the Bagan political climax to a new height.