Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for TanJong, Lira Kit Slang, at the DAP Sabah general elections ceramah held at Barmy Estate, Sandakan on Wednesday, 16th February 1994 at 8 p.m.
Mahathir is the first political leader not only in Malaysia but in.the world to promise ‘an economic miracle’ in General elections
The Prime-Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, in his ‘A Personal Letter to All Sabahans’, promised ‘an economic miracle’ for Sabah.
Mahathir is the first political leader not only in Malaysia but in the world to promise an ‘economic miracle’ in general elections.
However, studying the Barisan Nasional Sabah general election manifesto on ‘Sabah Baru’, Mahathir may be right – for neither Barisan Rasional nor any other human government can fulfil the promises made in the manifesto in the year 2,000 except for a series of miracles happening in Sabah in the next six years.
Only miracles, for instance, can fulfil the following Barisan Nasional ‘Sabah Baru’ promises:
Abolition of poverty in six years, when the incidence, of poverty in other states can be as high as 15 to 20 per cent in the year 2,000;
Sabah becoming the world’s fastest-growing economy in the next, six years, beating even China, so that the Sabah economy could grow from 20 to 30 per cent a year to increase Sabah’s present per capita income of RM3,600’to RM10,000 in 2,000;
A house for every Sabahan in the year 2,060 when the Barisan Nasional government dare not promise a house for every Malaysian in Peninsular Malaysia by the year 2,020;
Reduce illiteracy in Sabah to zero in the year 2,000 when only four countries in the world at present have 100 per cent literacy rate, namely Japan, Switzerland, Germany and Britain.Malaysians literacy rate at present is 73.5 per cent.
A comparison of the following present literacy rate of the other countries will show why only a miracle can reduce illiteracy rate in Sabah to zero in six years in the year 2,000:
per cent
China 73.3
Singapore 91.0
Australia 91.0
Taiwan 92.4
Thailand 93.0
United States 95.5
South Korea 96.0
Canada 99.0
New Zealand 99.0
The duplication of a Sepang international Airport in Sabah by the year 2,000 – when the new RM 10 billion Kuala Lumpur International Airport at. Sepang would not even be fully operational by the year 2,000!
The Barisan Nasional dedicated its ‘Sabah Baru’ mani¬festo to “The Land Below the Wind” declaring that. “Barisan Na¬sional is the wind beneath your wings”.
Somehow, when Barisan Nasional leaders come to the “Land Below the Wind”, something will get into their head to make them promise and say things they would never do in Peninsular Malaysia.
This may be why the Barisan Nasional ‘Sabah Baru’ manifesto promised not only one ‘economic miracle’ but a series of “miracles’ in the next six years.
This is also why Sabahans and Malaysians saw the full operation of the Law of Unintended Consequences when Barisan Nasional leaders came to the ‘Land Below the Wind’ to say and promise things they would never do in Peninsular Malaysia.
For instance, Dr. Mahathir in his now ‘unforgettable speech at Beaufort to kick off the Sabah Barisan Nasional elec¬tion campaign and which was telecast live throughout the country, made his rare denunciation of corruption in an election campaign.
The consequence is that all Sabahans and Malaysians had eyes only for the MIC President, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who was standing next to the Prime Minister and publicly squirming while trying to locate the UMNO Youth leader, Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Cik, as Mahathir’s speech reminded them as to how ineffective is the Anti-Corruption Agency against the “big fishes’ in the Barisan Nasional.
This is a completely unintended consequence of Mahathir’s Beaufort speech..
When Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, called on Sabah voters to reject “corrupt leaders’, the instant reaction of Sabahans and Malaysians is that Barisan Nasional would lose many of its leaders who are either Minister Mentri Besar or Chief Minister if voters throughout the countryb heeded his call in the national general elections.
Would Mahathir and-Anwar give a public pledge that the next Finance Minister of Malaysia and Malacca Governor would be a Malaysian Chinese?
Another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences in the Sabah state general election is when Dr. Mahathir an¬nounced that, the Barisan Nasional would rotate the post of Sabah Chief Minister among the three main communities.
The offer highlighted the Barisan Nasional’s own unfair and unjust policies at the Federal Government and in the State Governments under its control, like senior Cabinet positions such as Education, Home Affairs, Defence and even the post of Deputy Prime Minister which had never been held by the Chinese, and even Finance and Industry Ministries which had not been held by any Chinese for twenty years!
Would Mahathir and Anwar give a public pledge that, the next Finance Minister of Malaysia and the next Yang di-Pertua of Malacca would be a Malaysian Chinese, so that their proposal to rotate the Sabah Chief Minister’s post would be credible?
I will give another example of the operation of the Law of Unintended Consequences in the Sabah general election.
In trying to establish a new power equation to capture the next state government, based OR the support of the Malays and the Chinese, Anwar Ibrahim announced RM5 million allocation to the Sabah Chinese Independent Secondary Schools.
Apart from queries as to whether this is going to be another empty Barisan Nasional election promise, where only the envelope but not the cheque is given, the bigger question is why Barisan Nasional Federal Government had not given regular financial allocations to the other 51 Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Malaysia apart from Sabah for the past 37 years!
When the Sabah state general elections are over this weekend, Anwar Ibrahim would be required to answer inside and outside Parliament why he had not made regular contributions to the Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Peninsular Malaysia, and MCA and Gerakan Ministers would, also have to answer why they had been so ineffective and impotent in Government and Cabinet all these decades on this issue.
As Anwar Ibrahim has admitted in Sandakan yesterday that Federal Government financial support for Chinese Independent Secondary Schools is a ‘long-term national investment’, the DAP is asking him to present a RM208 million supplementary estimates Bill when Parliament reconvenes on April 11 to give fair treat¬ment to all the 60 Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Malaysia and to make up for the past failure to snake such long-term investments.
Eased on the Federal government pledge to allocate RM5 million to the nine Sabah Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in the next five years, this works out roughly to RM500,000 for each school for five years, or RM100,000 a year.
At this rate, and giving it retrospective effect to 37 years ago in 1957, the 37 Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Peninsular Malaysia should be entitlted to RM137 million.
The 23 Chinese Independent Secondary Schols in Sabah and. Sarawak should also be entitled to retrospective allocation, going back to 31 years from 1963, i.e. RM71.3 million. (The RM5 million promised by Anwar for the nine Sabah Chinese Independent Secondary Schools are not taken into account because they concern the next, five years).
The total sum for the supplementary estimates Bill therefore totals RM208 million.
I hope MCA and Gerakan Ministers who had come to Sabah to campaign would have also learnt something from the ‘Land Below The Wind’ and will give full support to the DAP proposal for the RM208 million Supplementary Estimates Bill for the 60 Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Malaysia.
This is again another unintended consequence of the Sabah state aeneral elections.
The 1994 Sabah state general elections is the most ‘federalised’ Barisan Nasional campaign in the 31-year history of Sabah elections
The 1994 Sabah state general elections is the most ‘federalized’ Barisan Nasional campaign in the 31-year history of Sabah elections.
It would appear to be more a battle between Kuala Lumpur and Sabah, rather than a battle among Sabah political parties for the hearts and minds of the Sabahans, with Anwar Ibrahim putting his political reputation on the outcome of the Sabah state general elections!
This must be why the RTM and TV3 had been so unfair in their coverage of Sabah state general elections that their cred¬ibility among the people of Sabah is virtually nil!
UMNO leaders are behaving as if they represent everything that is incorruptible, moral and pure while PBS leaders represent everything that is corrupt, immoral and decadent in Malaysia
The people of Sabah object, resent and reject the “holier than thou’ attitudes of UMNO leaders from Kuala Lumpur who have hopped, over to Sabah since the dissolution of the Sabah State Assembly lecturing and scolding Sabah leaders as if the UMNO leaders represent everything that is incorruptible, moral and pure while the PBS leaders represent everything that is corrupt, immoral and decadent in Malaysia.
Even Anwar Ibrahim is not, serious about the issue of corruption in the Sabah state general elections, as he is only ‘playing polities’ with the issue.
How can Anwar be expected, to be taken seriously about the corruption issue when some of the most, corrupt Barisan Na¬sional leaders also join the Barisan Nasional Sabah campaign trail as if nobody knows about their corrupt background?
UMNO is the biggest culprit guilty of money politics
How can Anwar expect to have credibility in his condemnation of PBS leaders as corrupt, and accusation that PBS is using money to buy votes this weekend, when it is UMNO which is the biggest culprit guilty of money politics in Malaysia?
The Malaysian election system has been corrupted by the money politics of Barisan Nasional, where the legal ceiling limiting election expenditure of every state assembly candidate to RM30,000 had been completely violated – and millions of ringgit are being spent, in the campaign for every Barisan Hasional candidate.
Even Anwar Ibrahim himself had been guilty of electoral malpractices when he misuses his position and power as Deputy Prime Minister to fly and helicopter all over the Sabah constituencies, and to announce allocations which should have been made before the state general elections.
If the Barisan Nasional candidates have to confine their election expenditures to RM30,000 each, they would run out of money after two or three hours of operation!
Anwar should explain why he slashed RM167 million from Sabah under the Sixth Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review
Anwar is giving the impression that he is the champion for Sabah development.
Anwar should explain why he slashed RM167 million from Sabah under the Sixth Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review in December last year.
Under the Sixth Malaysia Plan 1991-1995, Sabah was allocated RM2,307 million or 4.2 per cent of the total Federal Government development expenditure of RM55,000 million.
Under the mid-term review of the Sixth Malaysia Plan in December last year, although total Federal Government alloca¬tions were increased from RM55,000 million to RM58,500 million, allocations for Sabah were slashed while all other states, except Kelantan, had increased allocations.
Kelantan’s Sixth Malaysia Plan allocation was reduced from RM2,064 million to RM2,000 million, while Sabah’s allocation was reduced from RM2,307 million to RM2,140 – a decrease of RM167 million. As a result, Sabah’s share of the total Federal Govern¬ment development expenditures under the Sixth Malaysia Plan fell from 4.2 per cent to 3.6 per cent.
It is such unfair and highly discriminatory policy from the Federal Government which has created such strong feelings in Sabah against Kuala Lumpur.
DAP calls on Barisan Nasional leaders to have a mature attitude on democracy and respect the right of Sabahans to development as a fundamental right regardless of the State Government they choose
Many of the Federal-Sabah state problems and tensions would be resolved if the Barisan Nasional leaders have a mature attitude on democracy and respect the right of Sabahans to development as a fundamental right; regardless of the State Government they choose in state general elections.
It is only when the Federal government uses, develop¬ment as a, blackmail for support in the ballot boxes that Federal-State relations become aggravated and unhealthy.
Development comes from the taxes paid by the people of all races in all parts of the country, and it must be regarded as a fundamental right of every citizen which should be divorced from party politics.
One of the objectives of Vision 2020 for a fully developed Malaysia by the year 2020 is to have a mature democrat¬ic society. I hope Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim would set the example of having such a mature democratic values, attitudes and concepts’ so that development, like national unity, will transcend party differences.
Sabahans are no less Malaysians just because they vote for PBS or DAP instead of Barisan Nasional!
If Mahathir and Anwar are prepared to accept such mature democratic attitudes and. values, then Malaysia will be a more stable and dynamic nation to compete with the rest of the world.