Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, in this Q&A forum with malaysiakini readers, talks about DAP's perceived anti-Malay image, the future of the party and his plan for a no-holds-barred memoir of his many decades in politics.

PaViMeUS: Many, many, many heartiest congratulations on your thumping victory and return to Parliament. It must be an incredibly proud moment for you as you re-enter the august chambers of our Parliament. No doubt, an 'in your face' sweet revenge as well to all your critics.

You are perhaps one of the most prolific political writers Malaysia has ever known. You are undoubtedly meticulous, well read and incredibly well informed. Would you consider writing a tell-all memoir of your decades of experience in the Malaysian political arena? A book that would "spill all the beans", so to speak, of our many scandals? Including your own personal challenges ala Operasi Lalang, KOKS (Knock Out Kit Siang campaign), S46 and BA alliances?

Lim Kit Siang:

Firstly, my full apologies to all malaysiakini readers for the long delay in responding to the Q & A as I was caught up in the hectic pace of the first parliamentary meeting and after.

I also wish to take the occasion to thank all for their congrats and support on my re-election. I am returning to Parliament with an opposition shrunk to less than 10 percent of the parliamentary strength - the first time in Malaysian history. In every general election since Merdeka in 1957, the realistic goal had always been to deny the BN its unbroken two-thirds majority with the 1999 polls offering the greatest promise of a paradigm shift with the end of such BN political hegemony. But the March 21, 2004 general election landed the country with an unthinkable nine-tenth BN parliamentary majority - itself posing the greatest threat to a healthy and vibrant maturing of parliamentary democracy.

I was not joking but extremely serious when I suggested in Parliament that apart from the big TV screens on the walls of the meeting chamber projecting MPs speaking and debating, there should be huge letterings on the central wall constantly reminding BN MPs of Lord Acton's warning: "Power tends to corrupt and absolutely power corrupts absolutely"!

On a no-holds-barred memoir of my decades in politics, the ups-and-downs of politics and the turns-and-twists of human foibles, my answer would be "yes". The only question is "when". It will probably have to wait until I am in the retirement mode.

Simon:

How are you going to transform the opposition from being just an opposition in Parliament to being a credible alternative government?

Lim Kit Siang:

The DAP has often been accused of being an opposition party which is content to be an opposition and does not want to come to power. I am not aware that there is any political party which had forsworn any intention of coming to power or being part of a government, which is a contradiction in terms, as it would defeat the very rationale of its existence or formation. This is because there is no more effective way to realise a party's political objectives or programme than to come to power or be a part of government.

DAP is definitely not a party which is so enamoured by its decades in opposition that it does not want to become part of government - except DAP is not prepared to come to power or be part of government just for the sake of sharing the spoils of office. In other words, power just for power's sake or to be a minister just for the sake of office - where principles, beliefs, conviction, right and wrong are all irrelevant and could be put up in the market place for sale like commodities to the highest bidder.

There are political parties which are formed with the sole objective of getting into the Barisan Nasional coalition, regardless of the cost and price. If DAP leaders are similarly minded, and their yardstick of political success is whether they are ministers or not, many MCA and Gerakan ministers in the past quarter of a century would not have the opportunity to serve in the cabinet.

There have been opposition parties which have not been shy of declaring as their election objective the formation of the national government by toppling the Barisan Nasional from power, although they had never won a single seat in Parliament.

DAP prefers to be realistic and down-to-earth about election chances and expectations, instead of indulging in flights-of-fancy which deceive nobody.

One important reason why DAP decided to support the formation of the Barisan Alternatif in 1999 was to promote the beginning of a process which could have led to the emergence of a two-party or two-coalition system in Malaysia - with Malaysia becoming a "normal country" like developed countries with power alternating between two major parties or coalitions, and may be a change of government come 2008 or 2013.

For the DAP, the 1999 general election objective was not to topple the Mahathir government - not because we loved Dr Mahathir so much that we did not want to let him go, but because the toppling of the Barisan Nasional government was simply not on the cards five years ago - but to achieve the "first" in Malaysian elections of denying the BN its unbroken two-thirds parliamentary majority. DAP had hoped that this feat would have signaled a new Malaysian political scenario with two far-reaching consequences:

- The emergence of a multi-ethnic opposition front led by Anwar Ibrahim's Keadilan but not PAS to pave the way for the emergence of a two-coalition system; and

- A new paradigm shift in Malaysian politics where political parties on both sides of the political divide will have to be increasingly issue-centred on questions like justice, freedom, equality and excellence instead of being exclusively based on race or religious appeals.

Both these hopes of the DAP in the BA proved illusory, which eventually led to DAP's pull-out from the alternative front, specifically on PAS' insistence on Islamic state and the lack of support from the other two BA parties to salvage the 1999 BA Common Manifesto, as it was only "alternative" in name but not in substance.

The five years after the 1999 general election saw a major setback to the goal of transforming the opposition from being just an opposition in Parliament to being a credible alternative government - resulting in an weakened and emasculated opposition in Parliament unprecedented in the 47-year history of the nation. This goal is as formidable and forbidding as ever.

Richard YW Yeoh:

What will DAP do to attract more professionals and intellectuals to join the party? Why has DAP not be successful in this area? Is DAP too authoritarian? What will DAP do to change its very Chinese image, and project a Malaysian image instead? What will the DAP do to ensure that it grows from year to year, instead of rising and falling from time to time? After all, it is 38 years old!

On behalf of Malaysians of all ethnic and religious groups, I salute you for your lifetime of selfless service and sacrifice for the Malaysian nation, and I pray that God grants you long life and good health so you can carry on your commitment!

Lim Kit Siang:

Yes, the DAP has a Chinese, anti-professional, authoritarian image thanks to decades of poison and propaganda of the BN-owned and controlled mainstream media. In my decades in politics, I had at one time or another been accused of being anti-Malay, anti-Indian, anti-Chinese educated Chinese, anti-English educated Chinese, anti-Islam, a stooge of Special Branch, CIA, KGB, Australian secret service, etc.

For 17 years, the Umno president and deputy president could not be challenged in Umno party elections. I had always wondered what avalanche of epithets of authoritarianism and dictatorship would have been invoked if the DAP national chairman and secretary-general need not have to seek party electoral endorsement in DAP central executive committee elections and were assured that their party positions were unchallenged in the past 17 years.

This said, I agree that DAP must try harder, whatever the odds and difficulties, to get more professionals, intellectuals and young Malaysians to join the party.

It is not that DAP has no young blood, but we need more. In every general election, there had been an infusion of young blood as candidates, but because of the poor party electoral performances in the past three general elections, there was less opportunity for them to be elected and recognised publicly like Fong Po Kuan, Teresa Kok, Chong Eng, Chow Kon Yeow, Nga Kor Ming, Seah Leong Peng, Betty Chew, Danny Law all first-term MPs or state assembly members in 1999, or Chong Chieng Jen, Thomas Su, Anthony Loke in the 2004 general election.

There is of course the peculiar Malaysian political phenomenon, where DAP leaders are regarded as pedestrian and common-place so long as they are loyal and committed party workers but once they have a run-in with the party leadership, especially if it could be distorted as a fall-out with my "dictatorial" ways, they are immediately hailed by the BN mainstream press as stellar talents of incomparable quality who were victims of my "suppression".

DAP will not survive 38 years in the tumultuous Malaysian political arena for the opposition if we had been "authoritarian", as we do not have the spoils and patronage of power in government to trade off and buy compliance to a party regime of authoritarianism when what held the party leaders, cadres and members together are the common political bonds and convictions to strive for a Malaysia where there is justice, freedom, democracy, development and good governance of all Malaysians.

DAP does have image problems, and this is a challenge that the present DAP leadership must confront and overcome.

Mogan Thamotheran:

Politics is an on-going process that needs consistent nurturing of new faces to continue the struggle. I can see now BN, especially Umno, has already started to get fresh faces into important ministries. What has DAP done on this score? Your good self and Karpal Singh have done a good job, but I'm sure you cannot go on for long. Fresh faces need to stand against fresh faces in the government.

If you were the PM, what would your five important tasks you will do for the nation and why.

Lim Kit Siang:

I have just covered the same subject in Question 3, and will only say that the message on the importance of fresh faces is well made and taken.

I do not expect to be a PM or see a non-Malay become a PM in my lifetime. In fact, in the recent Parliament, my reminder and reiteration that under the Malaysian Constitution, the post of PM is open to all Malaysians regardless of race or religion although the political reality would only see a Malay becoming a PM in Malaysia, attracted fire and brimstone from certain Umno quarters.

Regardless of who is PM, the following five important tasks should bulk large in his order of priorities:

1) Making every Malaysian proud to be a Malaysian, to give his or her best, in every field of national endeavour.

2) Restore public confidence in a truly independent judiciary and a just rule of law.

3) Establish Parliament as a "First World Reform Parliament" to end the regression of democracy in the past two decades, reducing Malaysia to a semi-democracy, and returning to Malaysians their democratic freedoms and human rights.

4) Quality education system, from tertiary, secondary to primary, with Malaysian universities internationally recognised as world-class to enhance Malaysia's international competitiveness to earn our rightful place in the international marketplace and global relations.

5) Make the Anti-Corruption Agency independent and answerable only to Parliament as the centerpiece of the national integrity plan for Malaysia to be ranked among the world's 10 least corrupt nations.

Brian Yap:

Who are the Malay leaders of DAP and why hasn't there been more of an attempt to put them in the forefront to dispel the myth that DAP is a Chinese party? What efforts have there been to attract more non-Chinese members and leaders? Do you think it's possible for the Malay community to look past DAP's image and focus on its political beliefs and stances, and support the party?

The average urban middle-class youth is today generally apathetic to politics and most other social issues. As someone who has devoted most of your life to politics and seen many changes since the 60s, do you think this is new? Or is apathy only applicable to young people today? What can/should we do to encourage the young to become responsible citizens the country? And what is DAP doing to attract younger people?

The merger with Parti Keadilan Rakyat: I was happy to hear you bring up the idea of a merger though I question your seriousness when you presented it to the media instead of Keadilan leaders. I really do think DAP and Keadilan (and perhaps smaller parties like Prim and PSM) are our hope for progressive politics. Is a merger completely out of the question now?

Lim Kit Siang:

DAP was never founded as a Chinese party but a Malaysian party for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or territory. In fact, DAP is the first pan-Malaysian political party, represented not only in Peninsular Malaysia but also Sabah and Sarawak.

While it is conceded that Malay representation in DAP falls short of our own aspiration, which other political party in Malaysia, whether in government or opposition, can claim to have elected MPs and state assembly representatives from all major racial groups - as DAP's roster of MPs and state assembly members in the past 35 years come from all racial groups, Malays, Chinese and Indians.

DAP's efforts to attract more Malays had been particularly difficult in the period when DAP was part of the Barisan Alternatif, as Malay dissent would gravitate to either PAS or Keadilan.

With DAP out of the Barisan Alternatif, fresh efforts must be made to attract progressive Malays into the party. There are prophets of doom who predict that DAP could at most survive for two more general elections, on the premise that the DAP is a Chinese party which would be progressively marginalised with the slower demographic growth of the Chinese and consequently fewer and fewer electoral constituencies where Chinese voters alone could decide the electoral outcome.

I am not that pessimistic as DAP is not a Chinese party dedicated solely to Chinese issues or causes. We are a Malaysian party dedicated to fight for justice and betterment for all Malaysians, regardless of race, and we have within our ranks Chinese, Indians, Malays, Ibans and Kadazans. Contrary to mischievous BN propaganda, DAP leaders and I are not anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

From the 60s to 80s, I had been painted in the Malay media as some sort of an anti-Malay ogre, not that I had made any anti-Malay statement or conducted any anti-Malay campaign or activities.

My "crime" was to uphold and defend the plural character of Malaysia as a multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious nation where integration and not assimilation should be the basis for nation-building.

In 1994, Dr Mahathir himself finally admitted in public that the previous Barisan Nasional nation-building policy of assimilation was wrong and that the proper approach was that of integration although he never acknowledged the DAP's role in defeating assimilation and upholding integration as the nation-building policy.

The last 15 years have seen Malays coming to realise that DAP is not anti-Malay, as a result of the following events:

- The DAP's consistent stand in Parliament from the 70s to champion the cause of Malays who were oppressed or marginalised, whether workers, Felda settlers or the landless, in keeping with our commitment to fight for justice and fair play of all Malaysians, regardless of race, whether Chinese, Indians, Malays, Kadazan or Iban;

- DAP's co-operation with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Semangat 46 to form Gagasan Rakyat in the 1990 general election to "Save Malaysia" although Ku Li and his party eventually returned to Umno;

- DAP deputy secretary-general Lim Guan Eng's sacrifice, imprisonment, disqualification as member of parliament and disenfranchisement of his civil and political rights until Aug 25, 2004 for defending an under-aged Malay girl from statutory rape and victimisation by the powerful; and

- DAP's cooperation with Keadilan, Parti Rakyat Malaysia and PAS to form Barisan Alternatif after the victimisation and persecution of Anwar Ibrahim to restore justice, freedom, democracy and good governance in Malaysia although DAP broke off from BA in September 2001 over the issue of PAS Islamic state.

When Karpal Singh and I were re-elected to Parliament in the March 21 general election, there was joy not only among the non-Malays but also the Malays. Wherever we went, both Malays and non-Malays came up to us to congratulate our re-election and to express their gladness that our voice can again be heard in Parliament.

Malays who rejoiced at our re-election cannot be rejoicing that anti-Malay monsters have got back to Parliament to have the opportunity to attack the Malays but because they see us as MPs who dare to speak out loud and clear against all forms of injustices, inequalities and iniquities in the country without racial bias or prejudice.

My answer therefore to the question as to whether it is possible for the Malay community to look past DAP's image and focus on its political beliefs and stances, and support the party, is a sanguine one.

This is why I believe that far from awaiting our political demise, DAP is now presented with the greatest opportunity in our 38-history to reach out to attract the Malays into the DAP to join hands with all like-minded Malaysians whether Chinese, Indians, Ibans or Kadazans concerned about creating a Malaysian nation of the 21st century to fight for a tomorrow where there is justice, freedom, democracy, development and good governance for all Malaysians.

The problem of political apathy is a serious one, which appears to be a universal phenomenon. For the interests of the common wealth of all Malaysians, however, we must get the young generation of Malaysians to be more committed to the political process to bring about reform and improvement in our society. This is a challenge for both DAP and Dapsy (the party's Youth wing).

Immediately after the general election, I had broached the possibility of a merger between the DAP and Keadilan and I drew unexpectedly ferocious flak from both the party rank-and-file and the general public. Clearly, the conditions do not exist for such a proposition at this moment.

Do you have more questions for Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang? Please send them to editor@malaysiakini.com .