By P Ramakrishnan | 12 August 2012
Aliran

It is a wonder how the makers of the film, Tanda Putera, raked up an incident in our history that had never been documented or talked about. In fact, such an incident never even took place!

Yet, the producer-director, Shuhaimi Baba, claims that the events depicted in the movie are based on established truth. “My team and I did a lot of research, such as studying documented materials and photographs, to make sure the scenes were backed by historical facts,” she asserted on 4 August 2012.

But where was it documented and by whom that Lim Kit Siang had urinated on the flagpole (in the compound of) the Selangor Menteri Besar’s residence while at the same time shouting a racial slur? Which photographer captured this alleged despicable act being committed?

We need to ask some simple questions:

• Can anyone just wander into the Menteri Besar’s residence, pee on the flagpole and quietly walk away?

• Isn’t the Meneri Besar’s residence gated and guarded?

• If this incident had actually taken place, why hadn’t anyone mentioned it over the last 43 years? Was it classified under the OSA?

• If Kit Siang had committed this unmentionable act, wouldn’t they have finished him off politically long ago? He wouldn’t have survived this alleged sordid episode! No sane person would have supported him!

• How could this incident have taken place when Kit Siang had irrevocably established the fact that he was not in Kuala Lumpur on 11–13 May 1969?

• Was Kit Siang a delinquent or educationally subnormal or mentally deranged to have committed this shameful act?

• Knowing Kit Siang, would anyone believe that he would be that foolhardy to commit this insane act?

The answers to these questions are simple and straightforward. This incident could not have taken place at all! Shuhaimi Baba should not attempt to apply artistic licence to an episode that is as serious and dangerous as the nation’s bloody 13 May 1969 riots!

Kit Siang is known to have walked the straight path of decency by observing the norms of good conduct. Without such an unblemished record it would not have been possible for him to have remained as the longest-serving Opposition Leader in our parliamentary democracy.

But why is this incident – without doubt a figment of the imagination – projected as something that has taken place to denigrate and degrade him?

Is it because – as many tend to think – the DAP has evolved into a formidable force posing the fiercest challenge to the BN by threatening to wipe out the MCA? Is it because of this fear that the makers of this film have chosen to be part of this political ploy to save Umno?

It is despicable that lies are being invented and history is being distorted to serve selfish interests to preserve power and position.

This disgraceful conduct also poses a challenge to the electorate: Are we going to condone lies and deceit or will we have the moral courage to punish the BN – or more specifically Umno – for this unforgivable lie and rotten conduct at the 13th General Election?
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P Ramakrishnan, the immediate past president of Aliran, now serves on the Aliran executive committee