By Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Thursday, October 12, 1995:
DAP proposes change of time for the all-party protest meeting against French nuclear tests on October 24 so that it would not clash with the Parliamentary sitting
UMNO Secretary-General, Datuk Mohamad Rahmat said yesterday that UMNO had sent out an invitation to ill political parties to an all-party protest meeting against French nuclear tests on October 24 at 2.30 p.m. to be chaired by UMNO President, Dat.uk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, .at the Putra world Trade Centre.
The DAP has not received the invitation but we will attend the meeting and support the release of a joint all-party memorandum against the resumption of French nuclear tests in the South Pacific.
However, the fixinq of the meeting at 2.30 p.m. on October 24 is inconvenient as it would clash with the Parliamen¬tary sitting, which starts at 2.30 p.m. every day.
I will be contacting the UMNO Secretary-General to suggest a change of time for the all-party protest meeting against French nuclear tests to either the morning or the night of the same’ day.
By resuming nuclear testing, the French Government had caused a serious setback to negotiations for a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and countered post-Cold.War trends towards a global decrease in the development and use of nuclear weapons.
The French nuclear tests might also spark off a new nuclear race, opening the doors for other countries to resume nuclear testing and for new members to join the nuclear club of nations .
The French nuclear tests will cause an escalation or radioactive isotopes into the sea, rood-chains; and surface envi¬ronment and contaminate the Pacific fish stocks, undermining economies which are dependent on these marine resources.
Chirac arid the French Government have turned a deat ear to the international outrage at the resumption of French nuclear tests and want to continue with its series of another six nuclear blasts.
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This is unacceptable and intolerable behaviour by a permanent ‘member of the United Nations Security Council, and the DAP will proposes at the all-party conference on Oct. 24 that it adopt a resolution to launch a nation-wide boycott of French goods and services as a strong protest against resumption of French nuclear tests and to back the Malaysian demand for an immediate halt to all further tests.
As the all-party protest meeting against French nucle¬ar tests proposed by UMNO is being fixed tor October 24, eight days after the reconvening of Parliament which will begin its budget meeting next week, the Malaysian Parliament should take the first opportunity on Monday to debate and adopt unanimously the. motion protesting against French nuclear tests which had been tabled tor a second time by DAP MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Guan Eng.
As the Prime Minister, Datuk Sri Mahathir Mohamad has left for overseas for a four-day official visit, to Peru and the Mth Summit, of the Non-Aligned Movement. (NAM) in Colombo, I will write to the Deputy Prime Minister, Dat.uk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to ask tor government agreement that the Malaysian Parliament, give top priority to the motion standing in the name of Guan Eng on the parliamentary order paper on Monday.
To show the world chat MPs from all political parties are united on a common stand in opposing the resumption and continuation of the French nuclear tests in the South Pacific, a Barisan Nasional MP should second Guan Eng’s motion which should be forwarded to French President Chirac, the French Parliament and the European Parliament after it had been passed.