Shall I just forget about New Malaysia and call it quits?


Patutkah saya hanya lupakan impian satu Malaysia Baharu dan bersara sahaja?

Salah satu respons kepada kenyataan saya semalam mengenai keupayaan Pakatan Harapan untuk memenangi PRU15 pada tahun 2023 — di mana saya telah menyatakan keyakinan saya untuk kemenangan ini — yang berbunyi seperti berikut:

“Bukan, bukan sekarang. Buat masa ini DAP pasti akan musnah. Sila turun ke peringkat akar umbi sekarang, dengar apa yang rakyat ingin katakan… dengar pendapat mereka yang dahulunya penyokong DAP… yang kini jumlahnya dapat dibilang dengan jari… Pemimpin DAP kini sudah menjadi pekak, buta… dan BODOH.”

Dua minggu yang lepas, saya telah mengatakan di Gelang Patah yang saya akan kehilangan kerusi parlimen Iskandar Puteri ini dan DAP akan kehilangan 30-40 peratus undi dalam negara jika pilihanraya umum diadakan sekarang.

Perkara ini menunjukkan betapa kritikalnya salah faham dan salah tanggapan yang dihadapi DAP dan Pakatan Harapan dalam kalangan penyokong kami.

Kami memerlukan masa untuk membolehkan penyokong kami menyedari yang DAP belum pernah dan tidak pernah mengkhianati mereka dan kami masih komited terhadap matlamat Malaysia Baharu yang berteraskan perpaduan, kebebasan, keadilan, kecemerlangan, dan integriti.

Jika benar DAP telah mengkhianati rakyat dan harapan dan matlamat Malaysia Baharu, maka layaklah DAP ditolak oleh rakyat Malaysia dan tidak akan ada cara untuk DAP mendapatkan semula sokongan rakyat. Malah sokongan ini hanya akan makin merosot.

Tetapi, jika DAP tidak mengkhianati prinsip kami dan harapan rakyat, maka masa akan membuktikan kesilapan semua salah tanggapan dan salah faham mengenai DAP ini.

Setelah berdekad-dekad berjuang, DAP tidak akan sesekali mengkhianati rakyat ataupun prinsip kami mahupun aspirasi Malaysia Baharu yang berteraskan perpaduan, kebebasan, keadilan, dan integriti ini. Oleh itu, para pemimpin DAP haruslah mempunyai stamina untuk terus cekal dan komited terhadap matlamat ini.

Dalam tempoh masa dua bulan kebelakangan ini, melalui kempen berita palsu dan hasutan besar-besaran, ramai rakyat Malaysia terperangkap di dalam satu keadaan yang sangat buruk di mana hampir setiap komuniti hidup dalam ketakutan, syakwasangka, dan kebencian antara satu sama lain. Di mana mereka merasakan hak, kaum, budaya, dan agama mereka menghadapi satu krisis eksistensial.

Bagaimanakah kita sampai ke tahap sebegini? Di mana kaum Melayu kini merasakan yang mereka telah hilang kuasa politik dan hak, agama, dan budaya mereka kini terancam.

Sebagai contoh, kerosakan kepada sistem data Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) baru-baru ini telah digunakan untuk menyebarkan berita palsu mengenai kemasukan tiga juta rakyat China ke negara ini, sekaligus mengubah demografik negara. Sedangkan berita ini tidak mempunyai sebarang asas langsung memandangkan proses semakan imigresen masih dijalankan secara manual dan semua pelawat tertakluk kepada prosedur yang telah ditetapkan oleh Jabatan Imigresen.

Malahan, jika difikirkan logik akal, mustahil untuk tiga juta rakyat China mendarat di KLIA dalam masa tiga hari kerana perkara ini akan memerlukan pendaratan lebih daripada 10,000 pesawat setiap hari! Tidak mungkin perkara ini boleh berlaku tanpa disedari oleh sesiapa.

Pada masa yang sama, rakyat Malaysia berkaum Cina ketakutan mengenai kehilangan hak, kaum, dan budaya mereka. Nasib baik berita palsu yang mengatakan kononnya kerajaan Pakatan Harapan akan menyekat tarian singa ini disangkal dengan pantas oleh Timbalan Menteri Belia dan Sukan semalam.

Kerana kekurangan maklumat dan perundingan, legasi kerajaan sebelum ini dalam memperkenalkan mata pelajaran jawi di sekolah jenis kebangsaan Cina dan Tamil dilihat sebagai satu serangan ke atas sistem pendidikan Cina dan Tamil oleh kerajaan Pakatan Harapan.

Dalam masa dua bulan sahaja, melalui berita palsu dan hasutan, oportunis politik telah memarakkan api perkauman dan sentimen keagamaan sehingga wujudnya perasan syak wasangka, kebencian, dan ketakutan antara satu sama lain di negara ini.

Proses pembinaan negara kita terumbang-ambing sepanjang 16 bulan sejak pilihanraya umum ke-14 yang lalu.

Sepatutnya kita semua sebagai rakyat Malaysia bertanyakan satu soalan; jika setiap komuniti, suku kaum etnik, dan budaya menghadapi ancaman eksistensial, siapakah yang menimbulkan ancaman ini?

Saya percaya kepada satu Malaysia Baharu yang boleh menjadi salah satu daripada negara terulung di mata dunia dalam semua bidang yang diceburi manusia, memandangkan empat tamadun hebat dunia — tamadun Islam, Cina, India, dan Barat — bertembung di negara ini.

Satu kajian Malaysiakini baru-baru ini menunjukkan kira-kira satu daripada enam rakyat Malaysia tidak tahu apa-apa mengenai budaya dan agama lain selain daripada budaya dan agama sendiri dan tidak berminat untuk mengetahui lebih lanjut.

Hampir satu per empat responden mengatakan yang mereka tidak mengenali budaya atau agama lain tetapi bersedia untuk mengetahui lebih lanjut dan baki 60 peratus mengatakan mereka agak faham atau sangat faham mengenai budaya yang lain daripada budaya sendiri.

Bagaimanakah dapat kita menggunakan kajian ini untuk menjadikan Malaysia sebagai negara model Perikatan Peradaban di mata dunia.

Bolehkah kita lakukannya?

Jika kita mempunyai komitmen ini untuk menjadi model Perikatan Peradaban ini, kita semua perlulah keluar daripada kepompong etnik masing-masing dan mula berinteraksi dan menghargai nilai-nilai murni yang ada dalam setiap budaya dan tamadun yang ada di negara ini. Bukan menjadi mangsa oportunis politik yang hanya bergantung kepada perpecahan dan sentiasa menghasut kita untuk berasa syak wasangka, benci, dan takut antara satu sama lain — dengan melagakan agama, budaya, dan kaum di dalam negara ini.

Ramai yang telah memberikan respons terhadap kenyataan saya dan menggesa saya untuk berputus asa.

Patutkah saya hanya lupakan impian satu Malaysia Baharu dan bersara sahaja?

(Kenyataan Media Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Gelang Patah pada hari Rabu 28 Ogos 2019)

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One response to my statement yesterday asking “Can Pakatan Harapan win the 15th General Election in 2023?”, where I had given a tentative “yes” answer, is as follows:

“No, not like now. DAP likely to perish. Go to the ground now, listen to the people … to once DAP supporters … few if any now … DAP leaders have gone deaf, blind … & DUMB.”

A fortnight ago, I said in Gelang Patah that I will be defeated in Iskandar Puteri parliamentary seat and DAP would lose 30 to 40 per cent of our votes in the country if an general election is held now.

This is the extent of the misperception and misunderstanding about the DAP and Pakatan Harapan among our long-standing supporters.

We need time for our supporters and the people to realise that the DAP has not betrayed them and that we have not given up on our hopes and objectives of a New Malaysia of unity, freedom, justice, excellence and integrity.

If the DAP had in fact betrayed the people and the hopes and objective of a New Malaysia of unity, freedom, justice, excellence and integrity, then DAP deserves to be rejected by Malaysians and there is no way that DAP can recover or recapture the support of the voters with the passage of time. In fact, the outcome can only be worse.

But if the DAP had not betrayed our principles and the hopes of the people, then time will demonstrate how wrong were the misperceptions and misunderstandings about the DAP.

With our decades of struggle and sacrifice, DAP will never betray the people, our principles and our hopes and objective of a New Malaysia of unity, freedom, justice, excellence and integrity, but DAP leaders must have the stamina, perseverance and commitment to stay the course for a New Malaysia, whatever the temporary misperceptions and misunderstanding of the people.

In a matter of two months, through a massive and orchestrated campaign of fake news and hate speech, Malaysians have been entrapped in a vicious position where every community lives in fear, doubt, suspicion and even hatred of other communities and religions, believing that their rights, ethnicity, religion and culture are facing an existential threat.

How could this be possible. The Malays are made to believe that they had lost political power and their rights, ethnicity, religion and culture are facing an existential threat.

For instance, the recent Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) system malfunctions were used to spread alarm and fear that three million Chinese nationals have entered the country, changing the demography in the country, when there is completely no basis for such fake news as the process of inspecting the entry of foreigners was conducted by the Immigration Department manually, and all visitors had to follow terms according to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

In any event, a little thought would show that it is just impossible for three million Chinese to slip through the KLIA in three days, which would mean over 10,000 aircrafts landing in one day! Could this be done without anyone noticing?

The Chinese Malaysians fear that their rights, ethnicity and culture face an existential threat, and it is fortunate that the latest scare that the Pakatan Harapan Government was restricting lion dance performance was nipped in the bud by quick anticipatory response by the Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports yesterday.

Because of lack of information and inadequate consultation, a legacy of the previous government on Jawi in Chinese and Tamil Primary Schools was perceived as an existential attack on Chinese and Tamil education and culture by the Pakatan Harapan Government.

In just two months, through fake news and hate speech, political opportunists and desperados had fanned racial and religious insecurities in each community into a powder-keg of distrust, fear and hatred of other communities.

Malaysian nation-building is in a quandary in the last 16 months after the 14th General Election.

Let every Malaysian ask this question: If every community, ethnicity and culture is facing an existential threat, who is creating all these threats to all the communities, ethnicities and cultures in the country?

I believe in a New Malaysia that can become a top world-class nation in various fields of human endeavour as four great civilisations – Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western – meet in confluence in Malaysia.

A recent Malaysiakini survey shows that about a sixth of Malaysians say they do not know about other religions and cultures, and have no interest in learning more.

Nearly a quarter of respondents said they were unfamiliar, but willing to learn, while the remaining 60 percent say they are either very familiar or somewhat familiar.

How can we leverage on this survey for Malaysia to be showcase to the world as the success of an Alliance of Civilisations, so that it could be a model of the Alliance of Civilisations in the world.

Can this be done?

If we have this commitment to be a showcase to the world of the success of Alliance Civilisations, we must come out of our ethnic shells and enclaves, interact and appreciate the virtues and best values of each other’s ethnicity, culture and civilisation and not to fall victim to desperados who only want to engender and incite suspicion, distrust, fear and hatred – by pitting race against race, religion against religion, culture against culture and civilisation against civilisation.

Many had responded to my statements and urged me to call it a day.

Shall I just forget about New Malaysia and call it quits?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Wednesday, 28th August 2019)

  1. #1 by FrenchConnection on Thursday, 29 August 2019 - 9:00 am

    This blog of LKS ignores comments and fails to publish them.

    Anyway, let me get through to you by telling you that it is futile to explain away the problems, whether it be due to cleaning the garbage of past BN rule or due to PR incompetence.

    Tell us how you are going to clamp down and nail the problems instead, not interested in the past culprits but how as the ruling incumbents can get to the root cause and formulate corrective and preventive measures.

    That’s all.

    I don’t expect to get my comments published, but read it all the same!

  2. #2 by drngsc on Thursday, 29 August 2019 - 11:48 am

    It is not you, Kit. It is DAP as a significant Harapan component party. This is now not the time to quit, although DAP must keep that quit card, on the table. That will allow your partners in the Harapan parties to know that there are limits to DAP’s position. That AP is prepared to leave the Harapan coalition and just be Harapan friendly. Then you can control your own destiny. There are redlines that PM will not be allowed to cross. It is only 15 months. There is 45 months more to go. So lets see. There is still adequate time to improve the country’s sentiments towards Harapan. We hope that PM/Bersatu will behave in the spirit of New Malaysia and reform this government. Thank you for working so hard for us. There is still more work to be done.

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