Press Conference Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Saturday, October 5, 1996 at 11.30 am

I will not be deterred by the “death threat” in a poison-pen pamphlet circulated widely in Sibu and will propose to the DAP CEC to conduct an inquiry into the SUPP leadership’s boycott campaign against Borneo Post, See Hua Daily News and Sin Hua Evening News

It is most pathetic and deplorable that the response of the DAP challenge to SUPP to a series of four public debates in Miri, Bintulu, Kuching and Sibu on its boycott campaign against Borneo Post, See Hua Daily News and Sin Hua Evening News, and dragging the Sarawak State Government into the SUPP’s unfair, undemocratic and vindictive campaign, is a “death threat” to me in a poison-pen pamphlet circulated extensively in Sibu.

The death threat was couched in the terms that “ a coffin awaits to send you to hell”. In my 30 years of political work and struggle for freedom, justice and equality, I have never come across such a deplorable response to my challenge to a political party to a public debate, and the SUPP leadership should be thoroughly ashamed of such a poison-pen death threat to me!

I will not be deterred by any such despicable “death threat”, and I will not even lodge a police report.

It is clear that the circulation of “poison-pen” pamphlets has become the most fashionable culture for certain sections of the SUPP leadership after the Sarawak state general elections on Sept. 8, which is even more serious than UMNO in Peninsular Malaysia which had always been notorious for “poison-pen” letters against various levels of UMNO leadership.

When I was in Sibu four days ago, I saw some of these “poison-pen” pamphlets which have mushroomed after the Sarawak state general elections, one targetting the SUPP Federal Minister for Science, Technology and Environment, Datuk Law Hieng Ding and another targetting the Sarawak tycoon, Tan Sri Ting Pik Khiing.

I had not expected to be a target in these “poison-pen” pamphlets mushrooming in Sibu after the Sarawak state general elections, or even to receive a public “death threat”, but I have no doubt that all these “poison-pen” pamphlets have one thing in common - they all emanate from inside the SUPP!

I am not really surprised that the response of the DAP’s challenge to the SUPP leadership to public debates on its boycott campaign against Borneo Post, See Hua Daily News and Sin Hua Evening News is a public “death threat” in a poison-pen pamphlet.

The SUPP leadership has found that its unfair, undemocratic and vindictive campaign to boycott and break the See Hua newspapers had failed to get support, not only from the general public, but also from the SUPP membership.

This is why the Deputy Chief Minister and SUPP secretary-general, Datuk Dr. George Chan, has changed tune and claimed that the SUPP leadership did not blame the Borneo Post, See Hua Daily News and Sin Hua Evening News for the SUPP defeats, although he had previously announced that the boycott campaign was precisely because these newspapers had been an important cause of the SUPP defeats!

That the SUPP leadership had originally wanted to blame Borneo Post, See Hua Daily News and Sin Hua Evening News as the “scapegoats” for the SUPP loss of three State Assembly seats to the DAP, and in particular the defeat of the SUPP President, Tan Sri Dr. Wong Soon Kai, has been confirmed by none other than the Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Taib Mahmud, who gave this reason for the SUPP boycott campaign over television news last night.

I would concede that the SUPP leadership would have good and proper reason to launch a boycott campaign against the See Hua group of newspapers if it was indeed true that they were responsible for the SUPP losses and Dr. Wong Soon Kai’s defeat! However, this cannot be the case, for the DAP has more ground to complain against their news coverage during the general elections than the SUPP, as the See Hua Daily News carried 79 items on SUPP while only 18 items on the DAP - a ratio of 80 per cent for SUPP and only 20 per cent for DAP! Yesterday, Borneo Post had also denied the SUPP allegation that it had published a front page commentary under the heading “Give the Opposition a Chance” on Sept. 8 or on any other day.

Furthermore, one of the articles in the Borneo Post cited by the SUPP leadership to justify its campaign was actually a Bernama report! Are the SUPP leadership and the Sarawak State Government also going to boycott Bernama?

In actual fact, Dr. George Chan and the SUPP leadership have no good and proper reason to mobilise a boycott campaign involving the Sarawak State Government against the See Hua newspapers, or they would have no hesitation in accepting the challenge I issued to them in Miri on Tuesday to have a series of four DAP-SUPP debates in Miri, Bintulu, Sibu and Kuching on the boycott.

Dr. George Chan had asked why if the DAP could “burn” the Star newspaper in Penang in the last year’s general elections, the SUPP can’t boycott the See Hua newspapers.

This is the big difference between the DAP and the SUPP. Whether it is the burning or the boycott of newspapers, there must be good and proper reasons for doing so. The DAP had good and proper reason for burning the “Star” in last year’s national general elections, but the SUPP leadership has no good or proper reason to launch a boycott of See Hua newspapers!

This is why the DAP dare to challenge Dr. George Chan and the SUPP leadership to a series of four DAP-SUPP debates, including justifying our action on the burning of the “Star” in last year’s national general elections and why I think the SUPP leaders dared not accept, as confirmed by the silence of the SUPP leadership to this challenge in the past four days!

Journalists and Journalists’ Associations in Sarawak and Malaysia should take a serious view of the threat to press freedom posed by the SUPP and Sarawak State Government boycott of See Hua Group of newspapers

Journalists and journalists’ associations in Sarawak and Malaysia should take a serious view of the threat to press freedom posed by the SUPP and Sarawak State Government boycott of the See Hua group of newspapers.

They should set up a inquiry committee to investigate whether there is any basis for the SUPP leadership to blame the loss of three SUPP State Assembly seats to the DAP, and in particular the defeat of the SUPP President, Tan Sri Dr. Wong Soon Kai, in the Sarawak state general elections on Borneo Post, See Hua Daily News and Sin Hua Evening News, and whether the boycott campaign is a grave threat to press freedom and a setback to efforts by the Federal Government to develop a strong civil society in Malaysia in keeping with Vision 2020.

If no one is prepared to conduct an inquiry as to whether the SUPP and Sarawak State Government’s boycott campaign against Borneo Post, See Hua Daily News and Sin Hua Evening News, constitutes a threat to press freedom and the development of a civil society in Malaysia, I will propose to the DAP Central Executive Committee meeting on Oct. 16 that the DAP organise such an inquiry - inviting the participation of independent journalists and Malaysians concerned about press freedom and democracy in Malaysia.

(5/10/96)