(Petaling Jaya, Sunday): In the Teluk Intan by-election on May 17, the voters of Teluk Intan "wrote history and created miracle" by turning around 16,884 votes in a matter of two years to elect M. Kulasegaran as Member of Parliament with a 2,916-vote majority not out of sympathy for the DAP or Kulasegaran, but to enunciate on behalf of all Malaysians the Teluk Intan 20-Points on their vision of a fair and just Malaysian society.
Similarly, the Repah by-election on May 29 is not about sympathy for the DAP or the DAP candidate, Wong Yauk but about the fundamental rights of the people in Repah, in Negri Sembilan and in Malaysia.
Like the Teluk Intan by-election, the voters of Repah should make full use of the Repah by-election to articulate their fundamental demands and aspirations on behalf of all Malaysians.
For a start, the voters of Repah should outline Ten Fundamental Demands and Aspirations on behalf of the people of Negri Sembilan and Malaysia, as follows:
1. FULLY ENDORSE DAP's success in bringing down Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Cik as Malacca Chief Minister and Tan Sri Muhammad Taib as Selangor Mentri Besar.
2. DEMAND that the time has come for a new Mentri Besar for Negri Sembilan who is less arrogant, more humble, more people-oriented, more accountable and more prepared to correct the injustices done to the people in the previous five year, such as the arbitrary and inequitable acquisition of the people�s land for private development and profit by a handful of people in the State and who have a high moral and ethical standards which would not permit the use of dirty tactics just for the sake of winning in an election, even to the extent of committing an offence of "publishing false news" as making the baseless allegation that the DAP is repeating the Teluk Intan tactics of calling on Malay voters not to come out to vote on the ground that the MCA candidate can win without Malay votes.
3. DEMAND that Malaysia adopt "Zero Corruption" as a national objective as proposed at the recent National Congress on Vision 2020 and which should aim to make Malaysia universally recognised to be among the 10 cleanest and least corrupt nations in the world - instead of being placed in the 26th position out of 54 countries in the Transparency International's international corruption perception index for 1996.
4. PLEDGE full support to Member of Parliament Lim Guan Eng in his brave and courageous battle to fight corruption and establish integrity in high political places regardless of his own personal risks, so that Malaysia can have a good international reputation, and declare that Lim Guan Eng should be rewarded for making a distinctive contribution in Malaysian nation-building rather than being persecuted and victimised as if he is an anti-national criminal.
5. CALL on the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah to uphold the Malaysian Constitution and the integrity of his office and to stop misuse of his discretionary prosecution powers and the selective prosecution against the Opposition and NGOs.
6. DEMAND the cancellation of all arbitrary and inequitable compulsory acquisition of land without the consent of the landowners between 1991-1996 or to increase compensation to the landowners based on a 20 per mark-up of the present market land value.
7. ENDORSE the need for the restoration of an Opposition voice in the Negri Sembilan State Assembly which always had a DAP representative for over 30 years from 1965 to 1996 so as to check on the abuses, misuses and arrogance of power of the government of the day and to ensure that the people�s voice is returned to the State Assembly.
8. DEMAND restoration of press freedom in Malaysia as guaranteed by Article 10 of the Malaysian Constitution on freedom of speech. Just as M. Magendran and N. Mohanadas have done Malaysia proud by being the first two Malaysians to plant the Malaysian flag on Mount Everest, notching a world-class achievement for the country, Malaysia must be able to achieve world recognition as having a free press. Malaysia has come out very unfavourably in the latest survey by Freedom House, which conducts an annual survey of print and broadcast media in most countries of the world, measuring press freedom by assessing the impact of laws, administrative decisions and economic or political influences on the content of the news media. The countries surveyed are placed in three categories of having (I) a free press; (ii) a partyly free press; and (iii) a "not-free" press. Malaysia is grouped in the third category of having a "not-free press".
9. SUPPORT the analysis of the MIC President, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu that one reason for the Barisan Nasional defeat in Teluk Intan is the insensitivity of RTM in scheduling Tamil and Mandarin news telecasts and other programmes at inconvenient hours, EXPRESS REGRET that the Minister for Information, Datuk Mohamad Rahmat has refused to change the programems to more convenient times and REAFFIRM the demand of the people of Teluk Intan on behalf of viewers of the programmes throughout the country for the re-timing of the Tamil and Mandarin programmes and in particular, that of the Tamil and Mandarin news telecasts to the prime time between 7.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.
10. DEMAND that the Barisan Nasional Government deliver its promise of "zero inflation" and STRONGLY PROTEST
(25/5/97)