Speech by DAP Organising Secretary, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, at a DAP Segamat Utara Parliamentary by-election rally at Kampong Abdullah, Segamat, on Thursday, October 17, 1968 at 8 p.m.
In two days time, the voters of Segamat Utara will go to the polls to decide who should be their next Member of Parliament.
They have before them, two candidates, two parties and two policies.
The Alliance stands for dividing Malaysians into bumiputras and non-bumiputras. This division is not based on place of birth, citizenship or loyalty, but on colour of the skin.
A Malaysian Chinese or Indian, born, bred and educated in Malaysia, a citizen of Malaysia and loyal to this country, is not a bumiputra or ‘son of the soil’.
But an Indonesian, not born in Malaysia, nor bred or educated in this country, is a ‘bumiputra’. He may not even be a citizen, but he will treated like a bumiputra.
Is this fair? Is this just? Is this the way to build a united Malaysian nation, where a full-blooded Malaysian like Dr. Chen Man Hin, Chairman of the DAP, born, bred and educated in Malaysia, is not a bumiputra, while Syed Jaafar Albar, former Secretary-General of UMNO and medicine-seller, who was born in Celebes in Indonesia, is a bumiputra and ‘son of the soil’?
The Alliance’s divisive racial policies is one of the causes of the Penang racial disturbances.
With every passing month, the Alliance policies remind the non-Malay Malaysians that they are second-class citizens.
The DAP is opposed to this racial policy of the Alliance, which can only lead to the break-up of Malaysia and the destruction of this beautiful country of ours.
We know that all thinking Malaysians are opposed to the Alliance policy. We urge them to act by voting against the Alliance, and by voting for a movement which stands truly for a Malaysian nation, Malaysian unity and Malaysian destiny.
The DAP was formed to bring about a Malaysian society where no man exploits man, no class exploits class, no race exploits race.
We want to abolish Malay poverty. We also want to abolish racial inequality, whether in education, economics, politics or culture.
The racialists in the UMNO are gaining strength. This is why at the recent general meeting of UMNO, well-known ultras like Syed Jaafar Albar and Syed Nasir bin Ismail were re-elected to top UMNO office.
We can expect these ultras to campaign for racial to policies to be intensified.
A defeat for the Alliance in the Segamat Utara by-election will be a sobering reminder to Alliance leaders that they will face greater defeats if they continue with their racial policies.
The people of Segamat Utara have a historic choice in their hands. We urge them to exercise it wisely, and vote for the Rocket.
Audited on 2021-05-03.