Johore DAP has made history in the 53-year history of the DAP, as never before in a state meeting has there been more questions and more opinions expressed in the past three hours.
When I decided in 1966 to take the political plunge and join in the establishment of the DAP, it was purely for idealism and patriotism of what we can do for Malaysia. There was never a thought of elections, becoming a Member of Parliament or be part of the government.
But these became necessary steps in the process to translate our ideas and ideals into reality.
DAP leaders and members have undoubtedly found in the past 15 months that it is easier to be an Opposition party, and this explain for the thicket of views and questions by the Johore branch leaders this morning.
But in opposition, we cannot translate our ideas, ideals and hopes into reality, which we can while we are in government.
DAP members and supporters must have trust and confidence of DAP and its leaders that after so many sacrifices and struggles that they have gone through, the objectives and principles of the party for unity, integrity, justice and progress for all Malaysians will never be betrayed.
DAP is one of the four political parties in the Pakatan Harapan coalition in Putrajaya. None of the four political parties, whether PKR, DAP, Amanah or Bersatu, can achieve 100% of what it wants, as we are different political parties with different histories, objective and trajectories, but we are bound by the consensus of a New Malaysia that we have embodied in the Pakatan Harapan manifesto in the 14th General Election.
In a week’s time, we will be celebrating the 62nd National Day to be followed by the 56th Malaysia Day on Sept. 16.
But there seems to be plot to denigrate and defile these two important occasions.
I said yesterday that Malaysians must be alert to the unusual increase of traffic of fake news and hate speech on Malaysian social media in the past few days as if to provoke inter-racial and inter-religious strife in the country.
I myself have been demonised by some Malay extremists as wanting to eradicate Malay rights and interests in Malaysia while at the same time, demonised by some non-Muslim extremists as having sold out Chinese and Indian rights and interests in Malaysia. Is it possible for one same person to be doing these contradictory objectives? In fact, both are lies and falsehoods.
My concerns of a deliberate plot by irresponsible extremists and desperados seemed to have been confirmed by the Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who urged Malaysians in Kuala Lumpur this morning to cool down after observing rising temperatures fanned by sentiments surrounding race, religion and royalty.
He said the perception was consistent with police intelligence which found such incidents have doubled since last year.
He said: “I would like to be frank here.
“Data gathered by the police that was briefed to me and Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad show there is already this negative tendency (to raise issues) surrounding race, religion and royalty”.
I call on Malaysians in the run-up to the 62nd National Day/56th Malaysia Day from August 31 to Sept. 16 to prove the extremists and desperados wrong, that they will not succumb to their machinations to live in fear, doubt and hate of other communities but on the other hand, focus on what the Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah’s speech at the Second Malaysia-China Youth Civilisational Dialogue on Islam and Confucianism to respect, understand and appreciate other cultures and civilisations in the country.
Malaysia is the confluence of four great civilisations in the world – Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western.
Let Malaysians play an active role to leverage on their values and qualities of the four great civilisations to build a great Malaysian nation and a better world.
When the United Nations adopted the Alliance for Civilisations initiative in 2005, it was to defuse tensions between Western and Islamic worlds.
Today, we see the rise of the Asian century the growing importance of Chinese and Indian civilisations.
Let Johore be in the forefront to pioneer to recasting of the 2005 United Nations Initiative of Alliance for Civilisations to defuse tensions between Western and Islamic worlds into a genuinely universal civilizational collaboration of all the great civilisations of the world with the growing importance of Chinese and Indian civilisations in the last two decades.
(Speech by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang at a meeting of Johore branch leaders in Kulai on Saturday, 24th August 2019 at 1.30 pm)