Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary – General, and Member of Parliament for Petaling, Lim Kit Siang, at the Bukit Mertajam DAP Branch on Wednesday, 16th August 1978 at 8pm.
DAP to hold the first DAP MPs and SAs working seminar in Kluang on October 1
The DAP has emerged as the strongest Parliamentary and State Assembly opposition in the country. As a serious political movement, the DAP want our 16 Members of Parliament and 25 State Assemblymen to be conscientious and worthy public standard bearers of the Party.
The DAP MPs have been assigned different Ministries and portfolios for them to specialise in. This is not a shadow Cabinet, but an effort on the Party’s part to ensure that our MPs are knowledgeable and competent in various fields of the nation’s affairs.
I expect every MP to form study groups and to tap the services and contributions of both members and non – members to give deeper insight and knowledge into our country’s problems. The first DAP MPs and State Assemblymen Seminar will be held in Kluang, Johore on October 1, 1978. At this Seminar, I expect every MP to present a paper on his fields of special assignment to outline the problems, issues and new perspectives which he has reached.
This means that the different study groups should be formed at the latest by end of this month. I have asked our MPs to consult me before the finalisation of such study groups. This also means that the various study groups should have at least a few meetings before the October 1 seminar, because we do not want half – baked or immature views.
The next five years the most challenging period for the DAP
The next five years will be the DAP’s most challenging times. The DAP has emerged as the only effective champion and spokesmen of the urban areas. We are at the same time poised to make significant headway into the rural areas.
In the next five years, our task is to further strengthen and consolidate our urban base, and at the same time to strike deep and firm roots in the rural areas. We are the only party which is engaged in this pioneering movement to make multi – racialism work, for the other parties, especially the Barisan Nasional parties are confined to single racial groups only.
In these five years, the party’s three greatest tasks are organisation, publicity or communication, and political education.
We want to carry out a complete organisational overhaul in the Party, from national level downwards. This is why on 30th July, a National Organising Secretariat was formed, with specific organisational tasks, like new branches, old branches, membership, women’s affairs, rural areas, assigned to different organising secretaries. I am calling a meeting of this National Organising Secretariat officials on Sunday, August 20, in Kuala Lumpur, to require a progress report from every official assigned specific jobs.
Final plans on publicity and the political education of our party leaders and members are now being made, and announcements will made at the appropriate time.