Archive for September 22nd, 2019
DAP will fight 12th Sarawak state general election for the first time to be part new Pakatan Harapan Sarawak state government and not to be Opposition in Sarawak
The DAP will fight the 12th Sarawak state general election, whether next year or latest by 2021, for the first time not to be an Opposition in Sarawak but part of a new Pakatan Harapan Sarawak state government.
Sarawak is a rich state but the wealth of the country had not been distributed fairly, benefitting only a clique of people instead of all Sarawakians, regardless of race, religion of region.
Sarawak state government has the largest annual state budget for any state in Malaysia, reaching a high of RM11.9 billion for 2019, which is more than four times that of Selangor which was RM2.56 billion; about eight times that of Johor which had a state budget of RM1.55 billion for 2019; about 10 times more than Penang which had an annual budget RM1.2 billion and about 12 times that of Perak which had a budget of RM1.06 billion.
But Sarawak ranks as one of the three poorest states in Malaysia, in the company of Sabah and Kelantan.
In the latest report compiled by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Issues, Philip Alston, the percentage of low-income earners in Sarawak is higher than the national-level figure. Read the rest of this entry »
Challenge to all political parties, whether in government or opposition, whether at the national or state level, to take an united and firm stand against fake news and hate speech calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious polarisation in Malaysia
I want to issue a challenge to all political parties, whether in government or opposition, whether at the national or the state level – to take an united and firm stand against fake news and hate speech calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious polarisation in Malaysia.
Fake news and hate speech calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious polarisation is the greatest threat to Malaysia becoming a united, successful and top world-class nation where Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, can feel proud as a Malaysian.
When DAP was in the Opposition – and we were in Opposition in the federal level for 52 years – DAP would have immediately responded positively to any such proposal by any government party to take an united and firm stand against fake news and hate speech calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious polarisation in the country – without any hesitation whatsoever.
Let us see whether the Opposition today, whether at national or state levels, would be equally forthcoming and patriotic to take an united and firm stand against fake news and hate speech calculated to incite inter-racial and inter-religious polarisation in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Farid’s death – A promising political future cut short by heart attack
The sad and shocking news of the death of the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and the MP for Tanjong Piai, Mohamed Farid Md Rafik, came to me while DAP MP for Kepong Lim Lip Eng and I were visiting a long-house in Kapit, away from any telephonic access.
Mohamad’s sudden death is a promising political future cut short by heart attack, and I convey the deepest condolences to his bereaved family. The passing of Farid is a great loss to his family, Johor state and the nation.
Pondering on the unkind twist of fate, the poem by H.W. Longfellow which I had learnt in school in the fifties came back to me:
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, act in the living Present!
Heart within and God o’erhead!Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
RIP Farid.
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Sibu on Sunday, 22nd September 2019)
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