By Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, August 16, 1994:
DAP calls on the Chinese community to give full support to the MCA Chinese Independent Secondary Schools donation drive provided it is not a MCA Jempol Division style of donation drive
In the past few day, MCA leaders like its President, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik and its Secretary-General, Datuk Dr. Ting Chew Peh have been going around alleging that the DAP wanted to sabotage the MCA donation drive for Chinese Independent Secondary Schools, as the MCA’s success is the DAP’s failure.
DAP does not take such a short-sighted and petty view of politics and national service considering everything in the political context as a ‘zero sum game’ – that when somebody gains, some other person must lose.
Under this MCA ‘zero sum game’ theory of politics, MCA’s success must mean the DAP’s failure.
DAP Subscribes to a larger vision of politics and national service and believes in the ‘win-win’ situation, where the MCA’s success can also be a DAP success.
This is why the DAP has not objected and will not sabotage MCA’s donations drive for Chinese Independent Secondary Schools.
In fact, I call on the Chinese community to give full support to the MCA donation drive for Chinese Independent Secondary Scholls, provided they impress on the MCA two important paints:
*Firstly, the MCA donation drive must not be the MCA Jempol Division styel of donation where the MCA keeps 75 per cent of all donations while giving only 25 per cent of the donations to Chinese Independent Secondary Schools; and
* Secondly, that MCA’s primary duty with four Ministers is not to get donations from the Chinese community, but to get regualr annual financial allocations from the Cabinet, for the 60 Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in the country.
If Liong Sik does not understand the DAP’s ‘win-win’ political approach, then he has an additional reason why he should declare that he is prepared to attend the ‘Kit Siang-Liong Sik mutual verification’ appointment in Bukit China so that I can fully enlighten him and other MCA leaders why the DAP does not regard success of MCA in its donation drive for Chinese Independent Secondary Schools as a failure for the DAP, but can regard such MCA success as a DAP success as well!
I must remind Liong Sik that tomorrow is the final deadline for my challenge to him to declare whether he is prepared to keep the ‘Kit Saing-Liong Sik mutual verification’ appointment in Bukit China.
He should realise that the whole Chinese community is waiting to see whether the MCA President dare to keep the “Two-Lim mutual verification’ appointment in Bukit China, where he could answer the questions about the MCA donation drive for Chinese Independent Secondary Schools which had greatly disturbed the Chinese community.
These are questions about the three items in the MCA donation drive for Chinese Independent Secondary Schools.
The MCA Jempol Division scandal where the MCA kept 75 per cent of the donations collected in the name of Chinese Independent Secondary Schools while handing over only 25 per cent to the Chinese Schools has raised two further questions:
* Whether the MCA is making the Chinese community to contribute RM6 million on behalf of the 600,000 MCA members so that MCA can claim that evey MCA member has donated RM10; and
* whether MCA is making use of the name of Chinese Independent Secondary Shools to collect donations fo ritself, where it keeps 75 per cent of the total donations collected giving only 25 per cent to Chinese Independent Secondary Schools.
Liong Sik should realise that every day he maintains silence on the three items of MCA donation drive for Chinese Independent Secondary Schools, and th etwo questions arising from the MCA Jempol Division donation scandal, the more suspicious the Chinese community will become about the honesty, integrity and accountability of the MCA donation drive.
If Liong Sik announces that he would keep the ‘Kit Siang-Liong Sik mutual verification’ appointment in Bukit China in Malacca, I will extend a hand of co-operation to the MCA donation drive for Chinese Independent Secondary Schools and suspend further questioning about the MCA donation drive until the Bukit China ‘mutual verification’ appointment.