MP SPEAKS | When DAP announced Penang as the “front-line state” in the battle for unity, justice, freedom and democracy in Malaysia, it took us 20 years before we could accomplish our mission in the 2008 general elections when DAP led and formed the Pakatan Rakyat state government in Penang.

Umno/Barisan Nasional did its worst in the past decade after resorting to the politics of race, religion, fear, hatred and lies in particular to create the impression that the so-called “Chinese DAP” Penang state government was oppressing and persecuting the Malays and Islam in Penang.

While the Umno/BN campaign of lies had some effect outside Penang, the people of Penang, in particular, the Malays, knew better.

This is why Gerakan and MCA were completely wiped out in the 2008, 2013 and 2018 general elections, unable to win even a single state assembly seat in Penang.

Umno in Penang did not do very much better. From 11 state assembly seats in the 2008 general election, Umno was reduced to 10 seats in the 2013 GE. This was further slashed to two seats in the 2018 GE.

In fact, in the last general election, Umno failed to gain support and lost about 10 percent of the Malay popular vote in Penang.

How could Umno perform so badly in the 2018 GE, losing eight of the 10 State Assembly seats and even losing 10 percent of the Malay popular vote, if Umno had conducted an honest campaign based on truth and facts instead of indulging in a campaign of lies about the Malays and Islam in Penang being oppressed and persecuted?

In 2013, when DAP announced Johor as the new “front-line state” in the DAP struggle for unity, justice, freedom and democracy in Malaysia, Umno/BN leaders regarded this as a joke, as it seemed to be “mission impossible”.

This is because Umno/BN regarded itself as having the strongest presence in Johor, to the extent that it campaigned to make Johor a zero-opposition state in the 2008 general election.

However, in the last election, the impossible happened. Pakatan Harapan toppled Umno/BN not only throughout Malaysia, but also in Johor.

Now we are on our third historic mission as we are declare Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Perlis the latest set of “front-line states”.

DAP has state assembly members in Pahang but none in Kelantan, Terengganu and Perlis.

The third phase of the DAP “front-line” campaign in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Perlis will be more difficult and more formidable than our two earlier campaigns in Penang and Johor but DAP is a party for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.

We will co-operate with the other three Harapan parties to ensure that we can succeed in ensuring that we not only have a Harapan federal government, but also state governments in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and Perlis in future.

This is why I am visiting Terengganu and Kelantan. I am glad to see the surge of support from the people, with the formation of four new branches in Terengganu and 17 in Kelantan with membership from all racial and religious groups in Malaysia.
 

LIM KIT SIANG is the MP of Iskandar Puteri.

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