DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang today expressed his outrage over the government-controlled Radio Television Malaysia's coverage on the opposition over the language switch controversy.

Lim demanded MCA and Gerakan ministers to explain why RTM was allowed to carry out "a most biased, unfair and distorted propaganda attack camouflaged as news" on the DAP and two education movements known as Dong Jiao Zong on its channel news programmes last night.

He said DAP had received widespread public complaints over the latest "abuse" of government resources and machinery by RTM.

According to Lim, the "blatant political propaganda" broadcast entitled "Dangers of Chauvinism Part I " was slipped into prime-time news in the various television language channels last night and Part II of the segment will be telecast in the various news programmes tonight.

"The political propaganda programme painted Dong Jiao Zong and DAP as chauvinists which posed threats to the national well-being and distorted issues like the 1999 Suqiu Election Appeals, Vision School and relocation of the Damansara Chinese Primary school relocation and the recent controversy over the use of English," Lim said in a press statement.

Shocking history

"What is even more shocking, the propaganda programme last night went as far back as 1959 to claim that it was the Dong Jiao Zong Chinese educationists who were responsible for the MCA-Umno political showdown before the 1959 general election," he added.

The programme claimed that in the 1959 general election, MCA "Young Turks" led by the then new MCA president Lim Chong Eu, demanded at least one-third allocation of the parliamentary seats.

This was said to have prompted the then Umno president Tunku Abdul Rahman to regard the demand as a "stab in the back", and that Chong Eu later capitulated and apologised to Tunku and explained that his action was forced by the Chinese educationists.

"Are the RTM television channels prepared to telecast the historical truth of the background leading to the Umno-MCA confrontation in the run-up to the 1959 general election, allowing Chong Eu and the Dong Jiao Zong representatives the freedom to give their correct historical versions?

" If not, RTM is being doubly unfair to distort the present as well as the past," said Lim.

PM's attacks aired

Last night's programme repeated the attack of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Dong Jiao Zong over the Suqiu issue as "extremists and like communists".

The controversial Suqiu appeals, which requested for reforms including reviewing the position of Malay special rights, were fully endorsed by the Chinese-based Barisan Nasional parties and approved in principle by the Cabinet before the 1999 general election.

However, Lim said it stands as a lesson that pre-election promises of the BN parties cannot be trusted as they had supported Suqiu before the elections but denounced it later.

"If the RTM piece, "Dangers of Chauvinism", is objective and serious, it should show Malaysians the real faces of chauvinism and extremism," he added.

The 'real faces'

For the "real faces" of chavinism and extremism, Lim pointed to the recent demand by Umno Youth's Dr Adham Baba on Thursday for the closure of Chinese primary schools and the August 2000 episode where Umno Youth leaders demonstrated outside and threatened to burn down the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in Kuala Lumpur because of the Suqiu election appeals .

At a time when BN ministers are talking about compulsory "national service" to foster patriotism and national unity, the telecasting of such divisive and biased propaganda programmes camouflaged as prime time news can only raise many questions including the true purpose of the "national service" proposal.

Lim said DAP will decide on the course of action to take after studying the " tendentious and mischievous political propaganda camouflaged" as prime-time news over the various RTM television channels, including the second part of the programme tonight.