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MCA in denial over their role in suppressing human rights

MP SPEAKS | MCA’s Ti Lian Ker should watch what he says when making allegations against DAP, when it was Najib Abdul Razak, then acting Umno Youth Chief and now BN chairperson, who rallied the rowdy, racist crowd in 1987 at the TPCA Stadium 10 days before Operasi Lalang.

While it is a known fact that former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the mastermind behind the Operasi Lalang dragnet in 1987, Ti Lian Ker appears to be trying to play up the protest at the Thean Hou temple on the mass appointments of 100 non-Mandarin speaking senior assistants in Chinese vernacular schools.

The protest, which saw the participation of over 2,000 people, was countered by an Umno rally a week later on 17 October, and less than two weeks before the Operasi Lalang crackdown.

Najib was given a rousing welcome at the rally by the predominantly Umno crowd, attended by members and supporters alike. The key figure at the rally, he stirred the already baying crowd bearing banners spewing vitriol and hatred against Chinese Malaysians.

It was the same acting Umno Youth chief who then spoke words of hatred, vilifying the very friends and supporters in the BN component he keeps now, and who has been instrumental in implementing laws that threaten fundamental liberties.

After the Ops Lalang crackdown, a white paper had been tabled as an “important document” in Parliament in 1988, entitled “Towards Preserving National Security.” Najib is stated in the report as having led the rally.

Ti has totally missed the mark and is still in denial on the current state of affairs today under the Najib leadership, as a slew of equally draconian, unjust laws – like the Peaceful Assembly Act, amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act, the Prevention of Terrorism Act, the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, and Section 124B of the Penal Code – are still features of this administration.

What is not only peculiar but also downright astonishing is the fact that MCA representatives stood in the Dewan Rakyat and shamelessly voted in support of these draconian laws which threaten democracy, freedom and justice as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

Why ostracise the DAP now, when MCA had the opportunity to make a bold stand in the Cabinet and in Parliament against these laws, which incarcerated eight of their own leaders under Ops Lalang 30 years ago?

MCA representatives and ministers should have stood by opposition MPs in Parliament to vote against draconian laws detrimental to parliamentary democracy.

Ti and his party members are crying wolf. Too little too late, as there will be no end to unjust detention given the barrage of laws introduced, supported and passed in the Parliament by the Najib administration, of which MCA ministers, deputy ministers and MPs are part.

DAP has been steadfast, resolute and unwavering in opposing against any form of law that supresses fundamental liberties. What is MCA’s stand on these laws as part of the government?

MCA should stop behaving like champions for human rights, when it remains an accessory to BN and Najib’s leadership that propagates aggression against freedom, democracy and justice.


KASTHURI PATTO is MP for Batu Kawan and publicity secretary for Wanita DAP.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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