Recently, there has been an escalation of the campaign of lies and falsehoods against Pakatan Rakyat leaders, not only in cyberspace, but even in Parliament and the various State Assemblies.

The latest instance is in the Johore State Assembly, where the DAP State Assemblyman for Pekan Nenas, Yeo Tung Siong was accused of being a “communist” by the Umno State Assemblyman for Kukup Suhaimi bin Salleh for his speech in the State Assembly.

What was Tung Siong’s crime? What did Tung Siong say? Did Tung Siong glorify communism?

I asked Tung Siong and he sent me his speech in the Johore State Assemby early this week where he did not make any mention of communism.

He was speaking on Malaysia’s Gini coefficient or Gini index, i.e. income inequality in Malaysia, caused by scandals of corruption and abuses of power “berselindung atas nama keadilan social dan merakyatkan ekonomi”.

This is what Tung Siong said in the Johore State Assembly:

“Menurut laporan statistik Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia 2012, pendapatan purata bulanan bagi setiap isi rumah adalah RM 5000 pada tahun 2012. Bagi kumpulan 40 peratus terendah, pendapatan bulanan purata isi rumah hanya RM 1,847. Bagi kumpulan 40 peratus pertengahan adalah RM 4573. Manakala bagi Kumpulan 20% tertinggi adalah RM 12,159. Kumpulan 20% terkaya telah menguasai 48.6% pendapatan ekonomi manakala 40% termiskin hanya menguasai 14.8% pendapatan ekonomi.

“Nilai Koeffisien Gini Malaysia pada tahun 2012 adalah 0.431. Nilai ini telah melebihi tahap yang bahaya mengikut standard antarabangsa yang nilainya ditetapkan pada 0.4. Semakin tinggi nilai Koeffisien Gini, semakin jauh perbezaannya jurang pendapatan dalam kalangan rakyat.

“Kalau kita bandingkan Koeffisien Gini Malaysia dengan negara lain di Asia, kita akan dapati bahawa Koeffisien Gini di Thailand hanya 0.4, Indonesia 0.37 dan India 0.33. Malaysia telah menjadi salah sebuah negara yang mempunyai indeks gini yang tertinggi di negeri Asia.

“Apakah punca yang menyebabkan pengagihan kekayaan di negeri kita ini amat tidak seimbang dan dapat kita lihat sendiri sejumlah besar rakyat dibelenggu kesempitan hidup?

“Ada di kalangan kita akan melihat perkara ini dari perspektif perkauman， dakwaan seperti orang cina kaya akan timbul dalam fikiran mereka. Tetapi, adakah dakwaan ini mengambarkan realiti yang sebenar?

“Dengan memetik laporan statistik Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia 2012, ternyata negara kita ini menghadapi masalah dalam pengagihan kekayaannya kepada seluruh rakyat tanpa mengira batasan etnik kaum.

“Koeffisien Gini 2012 bagi kaum Bumiputra adalah 0.421, kaum Cina 0.422 manakala kaum India adalah 0.443. Ini telah menunjukkan bahawa jurang perbezaan kekayaan dalam golongan kaum yang sama adalah lebih kurang sama dengan nilai koeffisien Gini keseluruhan negara kita. Kesemuanya Koeffisien Gini telah melebihi 0.4 di mana sesuatu petunjuk tahap pengagihan kekayaan yang amat tidak seimbang dan merbahaya.

“Sekali lagi saya cuba tekankan dalam dewan yang mulia ini, tak semua yang berbangsa Cina itu kaya, masih ada lagi yang hidup dalam kesempitan. Begitu juga dari kalangan orang Melayu dan India. Masalah kemiskinan dan pengagihan kekayaan yang tidak seimbang di negara kita ini bukanlah suatu isu perkauman. Masalah ini adalah masalah yang dihadapi semua rakyat tanpa mengira bangsa dan agama.”

For advocating economic justice for all races in Malaysia through the closing of the widening gap of income inequality, Tung Siong was accused of having a “communist” objective.

Tung Siong has challenged Suhaimi to repeat outside the Assembly his “communist” aspersions against him, but Suhaimi has not dared to do so.

This is not an isolated incident. In fact, in the past four years, I have repeatedly been accused of being a communist by Umno cybertroopers on the Internet.

This is a phenomenon which started in 2009 after the 12GE.

How did I suddenly become a communist in the past four years when in the previous 43 years, I was not a communist.

I trace such lies and falsehoods against DAP and Pakatan Rakyat leaders to the increasing desperation of UMNO and BN leaders, who find that they are losing out in the battle for the hearts and minds of Malaysians.

Recently, I was accused of being part of the “Illuminati”, the so-called secret global organisation of the most powerful and influential elite to exercise political and economic control of the world. After the allegation in the Umno cyberblogs, I have to search the Internet to learn about the so-called Illuminati conspiracy.

I was accused in the Umno cyberblogs of belonging to one of the 13 so-called “families bloodlines” of Illuminati, in the company of the “Astor, Bundy, Collins, Freeman, Kennedy, Li, Onassis, Reynolds, Rockefeller, Rothschilds, Russell and Van Duyn”.

How did I become one of the 13 “families bloodlines” of this so-called Illuminati? This is the Umno cybertrooper explanation:

This is of course utter garbage – saying that I am a bloodline of the mysterious “Li”, that Lee in Singapore and Lim in Malaysia are the same, that Lee Kuan Yew and I are cousins, or that “when Lee Kuan Yew was studying in High School in Batu Pahat, Lim Kit Siang was also schooling there and stayed with Lee Kuan Yew and his family”.

This is a measure of the desperation of Umno/BN propagandists which should give us all hope and confidence that the days of extremism, intolerance and bigotry are on their way out, so long as we are committed to stay the course of moderation, tolerance and reason for a Middle Malaysia to achieve the Malaysian Dream for all Malaysians.

(Speech 3 by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang at the DAP Veterans Club Fourth Congress in Butterworth on Sunday, 17th November 2013at 10 am)