Ahoy Borneo, the battleground for GE14

COMMENT Nearly half a century ago, a band of Malaysians came together and despite considerable difficulties and obstacles, succeeded on March 18, 1966 to register the Democratic Action Party (DAP) as a new political party to rally and mobilise Malaysians behind our call for a Malaysian Malaysia.

Transcending ethnic, religious and socio-economic differences, this band of idealistic Malaysians, regardless of whether Malays, Chinese or Indians, shared a common vision and Malaysian Dream - a Malaysia for all Malaysians regardless of race, religion, class or region, where democracy, good governance and  socio-economic justice could  flourish to allow every Malaysian to achieve his or her fullest potential for the collective good and greatness of the nation.

In the past 47 years, DAP had traversed a long political road, with many DAP leaders and stalwarts tested to the limits of their convictions undergoing many trials and tribulations.

While many had fallen by the wayside, the party had kept faith and stayed true of our founding principles of freedom, justice, solidarity, integrity and  good governance.

We became the first pan-Malaysian political party in the country, active not only in Peninsular Malaysia, but also represented at both the Parliamentary and State Assembly levels in Sabah and Sarawak.

We have now 38 elected MPs, two senators and 106 state assembly representatives in the country.

DAP had contested in 10 general elections, but it is only in the last two general elections - the 12GE in 2008 and GE13  in 2013 - that  the impossible seemed possible as with PKR and PAS in the Pakatan Rakyat, Malaysians are within reach of effecting a political transformation not only at the state level, as in Penang, Selangor and Kelantan, but also at the federal level in Putrajaya.

In fact, based on popular vote in the GE13, Pakatan Rakyat should form the national government of the day.

After Johor, tackle Borneo

The road to Putrajaya, although no more impossible, still requires great commitment, loyalty to principles, integrity and sense of purpose to accomplish.

My message to DAP veterans is: Keep faith with the Malaysian Dream - the ration d’etre of the DAP for 47 years.

The greatest challenge to DAP veterans is how to help the DAP to accomplish this journey to Putrajaya in the campaign -  Putrajaya in 14th GE.      

Just as GE13  ended Johor as BN “fixed deposit” state, Pakatan must end Sabah and Sarawak as “fixed deposit” states to reach Putrajaya in GE14

One of the highlights of the 13th General Elections was to transform Johor, one of the three “fixed deposit” states of Barisan Nasional with Sabah and Sarawak, into a Pakatan Rakyat front-line state.

During the last general elections, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad not only led the campaign to ask the people of Johor to ensure that Gelang Patah becomes my “kubur”, Barisan Nasional leaders talking about making Johor into a “zero-opposition” state.

In the event, Johor achieved the greatest  political breakthrough for Pakatan Rakyat in the GE13, increasing from one parliamentary to five parliamentary seats (500% increase) and six State Assembly seats to 18 State Assembly seats (300% increase). In popular votes, Pakatan Rakyat achieved the biggest increase of 10.3% from 34.7% in the 12GE in 2008 to 45% in the GE13  - transforming Johor from a BN “fixed deposit” state into a Pakatan “front-line” state.

The table above shows that apart from Johor, which registered a 10.3% increase of voter support for Pakatan, Sarawak is the second state with the largest increase of  voter support of 8.9% for Pakatan Rakyat in the GE13  as compared to GE12.

The five states where Pakatan Rakyat retained majority popular voter support in the GE13  are Penang (67.8%), Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (63.9%), Selangor (59.4%), Perak (54.7%) and Kelantan (53.7%).

Just as GE13  ended Johor as BN “fixed deposit” state and transformed it into a “front-line” state, Pakatan must end Sabah and Sarawak as “fixed deposit” states to reach Putrajaya in GE14.

80 marginal seats hold key

I have said that based on present redelineation, the Battle for Putrajaya in the GE14 will depend on the outcome in 80 marginal seats - 51 presently held by  Barisan Nasional and 29 from Pakatan Rakyat.

Taking more than 55 percent vote secured in the GE13  as a “safe” seat, BN has 82 safe seats while Pakatan Rakyat has 60 safe seats.

In the GE13, Pakatan Rakyat won the popular vote but robbed of Putrajaya as Barisan Nasional is the federal government with  the majority of seats - 89 for Pakatan Rakyat as against BN’s 133 seats.

If Pakatan Rakyat had won another 23 seats in the GE13, Pakatan would have the simple majority of 112 out of 222 seats.

In the GE14, apart from retaining all our 89 parliamentary seats, Pakatan Rakyat should not just aim at winning 23 of the 51 BN marginal seats, but should aim to double this target to win over 46 out of the 51 BN marginal seats so that the Pakatan Rakyat can win a total of 135 out of 222 parliamentary seats with a parliamentary majority of 48 - with the seats evenly distributed among the three Pakatan Rakyat parties, i.e. PKR, PAS and DAP each having 45 parliamentary seats.

At present, DAP has 38, PKR 30 and PAS 21 MPs. This means DAP has to win another seven parliamentary seats, PKR another 15 and PAS another 24.

I call on all DAP veterans and supporters to help, NOW and not until the GE14 whether in 2016, 2017 or 2018, Pakatan Rakyat to achieve the goal of winning not only majority popular vote but majority parliamentary seats in the next general elections, with the target of  45-45-45 seats each for DAP, PKR and PAS as everyone’s individual patriotic mission.

Overnight communists

How did I suddenly become a communist in the past four years when in the previous 43 years, I was not a communist

Recently, there has been an escalation of the campaign of lies and falsehoods against Pakatan Rakyat leaders, not only in cyberspace, but even in Parliament and the various state assemblies.

The latest instance is in the Johor state assembly, where the DAP state assemblyman for Pekan  Nenas, Yeo Tung Siong (right) was accused of being a “communist” by the Umno state assemblyperson for Kukup, Suhaimi Salleh, for his speech in the state assembly.

What was Tung Siong’s crime?  What did Tung Siong say? Did Tung Siong glorify communism?

I asked Tung Siong and he sent me his speech in the Johor state assembly early this week where he did not make any mention of communism. He was speaking on Malaysia’s Gini coefficient or Gini index, i.e. income inequality in Malaysia, caused by scandals of corruption and abuses of power “berselindung atas nama keadilan social dan merakyatkan ekonomi”.

This is what Tung Siong said in the Johor state assembly:

“Menurut laporan statistik Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia 2012, pendapatan purata bulanan bagi setiap isi rumah adalah RM 5000 pada tahun 2012. Bagi kumpulan 40 peratus terendah, pendapatan bulanan purata isi rumah hanya RM 1,847. Bagi kumpulan 40 peratus pertengahan adalah RM 4573. Manakala bagi Kumpulan 20% tertinggi adalah RM 12,159. Kumpulan 20% terkaya telah menguasai 48.6% pendapatan ekonomi manakala 40% termiskin hanya menguasai 14.8% pendapatan ekonomi.

Nilai Koeffisien Gini Malaysia pada tahun 2012 adalah 0.431. Nilai ini telah melebihi tahap yang bahaya mengikut standard antarabangsa yang nilainya ditetapkan pada 0.4. Semakin tinggi nilai Koeffisien Gini, semakin jauh perbezaannya jurang pendapatan dalam kalangan rakyat.

Kalau kita bandingkan Koeffisien Gini Malaysia dengan negara lain di Asia, kita akan dapati bahawa Koeffisien  Gini di Thailand hanya 0.4, Indonesia 0.37 dan India 0.33. Malaysia telah menjadi salah sebuah negara yang mempunyai indeks gini yang tertinggi di negeri Asia.

Apakah punca yang menyebabkan pengagihan kekayaan di negeri kita ini amat tidak seimbang dan dapat kita lihat sendiri sejumlah besar rakyat dibelenggu kesempitan hidup?

Ada di kalangan kita akan melihat perkara ini dari perspektif  perkauman, dakwaan seperti orang cina kaya akan timbul dalam fikiran mereka. Tetapi, adakah dakwaan ini mengambarkan realiti yang sebenar?

Dengan memetik laporan statistik Jabatan Perangkaan Malaysia 2012, ternyata negara kita ini menghadapi masalah dalam pengagihan kekayaannya kepada seluruh rakyat tanpa mengira batasan etnik kaum.

Koeffisien Gini 2012 bagi kaum bumiputra adalah 0.421, kaum Cina 0.422 manakala kaum India adalah 0.443. Ini telah menunjukkan bahawa jurang perbezaan kekayaan dalam golongan kaum yang sama adalah lebih kurang sama dengan nilai koeffisien Gini keseluruhan negara kita. Kesemuanya Koeffisien Gini telah melebihi 0.4 di mana sesuatu petunjuk tahap pengagihan kekayaan yang amat tidak seimbang dan merbahaya.

Sekali lagi saya cuba tekankan dalam dewan yang mulia ini, tak semua yang berbangsa Cina itu kaya, masih ada lagi yang hidup dalam kesempitan. Begitu juga dari kalangan orang Melayu dan India. Masalah kemiskinan dan pengagihan kekayaan yang tidak seimbang di negara kita ini bukanlah suatu isu perkauman. Masalah ini adalah masalah yang dihadapi semua  rakyat tanpa mengira bangsa dan agama.”

Umno's usual smear tactics

For advocating economic justice for all races in Malaysia through the closing of the widening gap of income inequality, Tung Siong was accused of having a “communist” objective.

Tung Siong has challenged Suhaimi to repeat outside the assembly his “communist” aspersions against him, but Suhaimi has not dared to do so.

This is not an isolated incident. In fact, in the past four years, I have repeatedly been accused of being a communist by Umno cybertroopers on the Internet.

This is a phenomenon which started in 2009 after the 12GE.

How did I suddenly become a communist in the past four years when in the previous 43 years, I was not a communist.

I trace such lies and falsehoods against DAP and Pakatan Rakyat leaders to the increasing desperation of Umno and BN leaders, who find that they are losing out in the battle for the hearts and minds of Malaysians.

Recently, I was accused of being part of the “Illuminati”, the so-called secret global organisation of the most powerful and influential elite to exercise political and economic control of the world.  After the allegation in the Umno cyberblogs, I have to search the Internet to learn about the so-called Illuminati conspiracy.

I was accused in the Umno cyberblogs of belonging to one of the 13 so-called “families bloodlines” of Illuminati, in the company of the “Astor, Bundy, Collins, Freeman, Kennedy, Li, Onassis, Reynolds, Rockefeller, Rothschilds, Russell and Van Duyn”.

Lee Kuan Yew's relative? Rubbish!

How did I become one of the 13 “families' bloodlines” of this so-called Illuminati? This is the Umno cybertrooper explanation:

“Ada 13 keluarga yang membawa bloodline Illuminati, dan salah satu darinya ialah keluarga Li. Di Malaysia panggilan Li di tukar kepada Lim seperti Lim Kit Siang dan Lim Guan Eng dan di Singapura Lee. Ramai yang tak tahu Lee Kuan Yeu serta Lim Kit Siang adalah sepupu".

"Ever since its formation, DAP has one member who happens to be a relative of PAP leader Lee Kuan Yew.

"His name is Lim Kit Siang, and in the early years when Lee Kuan Yew was studying in a High School in Batu Pahat, Lim Kit Siang was also schooling there and stayed with Lee Kuan Yew and his family (the historical fact about Lew Kuan Yew’s stay in Johor has been deleted from Singapore texts. So don’t bother yourself seeking verification. If you need corroborative evidence, ask the old folks at Batu Pahat).

I guess you can already guess where I am going with this. Yes, Lee Kuan Yew and Lim Kit Siang are related or at least as close as a relative as can be. It’s already known in public that Lee Kuan Yew was Lim Kit Siang‘s mentor."

This is of course utter garbage - saying that I am a bloodline of the mysterious “Li”, that Lee in Singapore and Lim in Malaysia are the same, that Lee Kuan Yew and I are cousins, or that “when Lee Kuan Yew was studying in High School in Batu Pahat, Lim Kit Siang was also schooling there and stayed with Lee Kuan Yew and his family”.

This is a measure of the desperation of Umno/BN propagandists which should give us all hope and confidence that the days of extremism, intolerance and bigotry are on their way out, so long as we are committed to stay the course of moderation, tolerance and reason for a Middle Malaysia to achieve the Malaysian Dream for all Malaysians.

The above is Lim's speech at the DAP Veterans Club Fourth Congress in Butterworth today.

LIM KIT SIANG DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Gelang Patah.