MP SPEAKS | In the DAP’s 55-year history, it had been the victim of many lies, falsehoods and baseless allegations.

The DAP had been falsely accused of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-royalty when throughout our history, DAP had remained committed to the Malaysian dream for the country to become a world-class great nation which is only possible if all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region are united under the Federal Constitution and Rukun Negara to build a harmonious, just, democratic, progressive and prosperous plural nation.

I was accused of causing the May 13, 1969 riots in Kuala Lumpur and having led an illegal procession along the streets of Kuala Lumpur. I was even accused of having urinated at the official residence of the Selangor menteri besar in Kampung Baru, Kuala Lumpur during that time. 

But I was never in Kuala Lumpur after the 1969 general election results on May 10 that year and I was in Kota Kinabalu on May 13, 1969, to campaign for Sabah independent candidates as polling in Sabah and Sarawak were to be held later after Peninsular Malaysia.

The police knew that I had nothing to do with the May 13 riots and that was why I was never questioned about it in my two detentions under the Internal Security Act.

I was accused of being a communist and having come to Malaya when I was 17 years old. In fact, I was born in Batu Pahat, Johor, 80 years ago, and went to school there. 

In the 1969 general election, the communists wanted to see me defeated, and that was why in my letter to then prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman from Muar detention centre on Aug 5, 1969, I expressed my “anxieties for the future of Malaysia”.

I wrote: “The May 10 general elections result was a defeat for the Alliance Party. But it was a graver blow to the MCP (Malayan Communist Party).

“During the general elections campaign, the MCP and its open auxiliaries campaigned for a boycott of elections to discredit parliamentary democracy and to prepare the political base for its second armed insurrection.

“The people rejected the MCP line and came out solidly to vote. This proved that the people had faith in the democratic process to peacefully bring about the changes they want.

“The result of May 10 was the people’s verdict for democracy, as against the MCP campaign. There was joy and expectancy, after the results, not to deprive anyone of his rights, but at the new hope to work for a more just, equal and fulfilling society.

“The May 13 disturbances and the subsequent events, however, had greatly undermined the people’s faith in democracy.”

In my letter to Tunku, I made a three-point proposal for forging national unity in the wake of the May 13 racial riots, viz:

1. The immediate convening of Parliament (a) for an affirmation and pledge by all MPs to the concept and ideal of racial tolerance, understanding and multi-racialism; and (b) to restore the people’s confidence in the democratic process and deny the MCP from making political capital from the disturbances
2. The establishment of a royal commission of inquiry into the causes of the May 13 disturbances, and to apprehend and punish the culprits; and
3. The establishment of an all-party, all-races royal commission of inquiry to probe into the entire gamut of racial problems in Malaysia, with a view to seeking long-term solutions.

Now, there is a social media campaign to accuse me of selling out the rights and future of the Chinese in Malaysia and questioned why the DAP was not fielding only Chinese candidates in all DAP contested seats.

The latest allegation is that DAP wants to “de-Chinese” the party, and that the DAP should not “dilute its Chineseness” to belittle or degrade itself just to gain Malay support.

I must be “superman” – accused of being anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-royalty on the one hand and now anti-Chinese and anti-non-Malay on the other.

There is no basis or truth in such wild allegations.

DAP does not advocate any de-Chinese, de-Malay, de-Indian, de-Kadazan or de-Iban policy, but the very opposite - to accept that Malaysians will have multiple identities but first and foremost that they are all Malaysians.

In pursuit of the Malaysian dream for all Malaysians, I have to bear many crosses. This is the latest one.

Is this because of what I said about Jawi in Chinese and Tamil primary schools in 2019?

I said in Salem, Tamil Nadu, India in August 2019 that I taught myself Jawi while I was serving my first detention in Muar in 1969 and that it did not “make me any less of a Chinese, and may have helped in making me more of a Malaysian”.

This has been distorted into my saying that one has to learn Jawi to be a Malaysian.

Malaysia is a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious nation and we should leverage our unique position where the great Malay/Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western civilisations meet in confluence in Malaysia to build a great Malaysian nation.

This is what I said in Bangalore, India on Aug 5, 2019: “We must be careful not to fall into the trap of conspirators who want to pit race against race, religion against religion to arouse suspicion, distrust and hatred in our plural society to regain political power and work against the flowering of the best of our multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious nation.

“Just as a Malay who can speak and write in Chinese does not make him or her less of a Malay in Malaysia, a Chinese who knows Jawi does not make him or her less of a Malaysian Chinese. Probably, the additional acquisition of another language make him or her a better Malaysian – but there must be no compulsion in the learning of another tongue!”

Just as my statement on Jawi had been twisted and distorted into a statement that one must learn Jawi to be a Malaysian, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had been accused of declaring that he was not a Chinese when he became finance minister in 2018 when all he said was that he would be a finance minister for all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion.

As Malaysians, we are all going to have multiple identities – ethnic, religious, cultural.

In the early years of Malaysian nationhood, it may be understandable for Malaysians to regard themselves as Malays, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan, Iban or Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Sikhist, Taoist first and Malaysian second. 

But if after six decades of nationhood we still regard our ethnic, religious or cultural identity first and common Malaysian identity second, then it is a failure of Malaysian nation-building and nationhood.

Whatever the setbacks, we must continue to pursue the Malaysian dream, based on the principle that power must be used to unite Malaysians to ensure that their common interest of having a better life in terms of economy and jobs, education, housing, health, environment, transportation, respect for the diverse cultures can be met, and that we must reject the thesis of “Power for power’s sake”.

LIM KIT SIANG is DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri.