(Petaling Jaya, Wednesday): The Popular Socialist Party has informed the DAP that seven Argentinian MPs have presented in the Argentinian Parliament a resolution calling for the unconditional release of DAP Deputy Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Guan Eng from Kajang Prisons. The Argentian Parliament resolution also expressed concern about the limitation of the right to expression in Malaysia.
This is further evidence that the injustice of the Lim Guan Eng case, with its larger policy implications on the freedom of speech and expression, press freedom, the role, rights and duties of Members of Parliament, the independence and impartiality of the judiciary, the future of democracy is receiving increasingly widespread concern not only of Malaysians but of world citizens as well.
Today, we are launching the second phase of the nation-wide mass signature campaign launched by the Council for Justice, Freedom, Democracy and Good Governance for Malaysians to appeal to the Yang di Pertuan Agong to pardon Lim Guan Eng so that he would not be disqualified as Member of Parliament and could continue his good work for people and country.
Yesterday, the first batch of 203,933 signatures of the nation-wide mass signature campaign appealing to the Yang di Pertuan Agong to pardon Lim Guan Eng was submitted to the Istana Negara.
This is a most heart-warming response from Malaysians regardless of race, religion, gender or age, in a short span of ten days, showing that Malaysians do care and a testimony of the dismay, shock, grief and outrage felt by the nation and people at the injustice of the Lim Guan Eng case.
I have no doubt that Guan Eng would feel very encouraged by the great support, sympathy and solidarity shown by 203,933 Malaysians in the first ten days of the mass signature campaign, and this would make his prison ordeal a little more bearable - even when he has to sleep on the cement floor without any mattress, with the light in his cell on 24 hours a day, drink from the water in the cell used for all-purposes and denied the freedom which should never have been taken away from him for defending the honour, women rights and human rights of a 15-year-old girl.
The second phase of the mass signature campaign would be for a period of one month and the target is another 200,000 signatures.
The seven leading states with the most signatures in the first phase
of the signature campaign are:
I believe that there are states which should aim to double or treble the number of signatures collected in the second phase of the campaign, in particular Perak, Penang, Selangor, Johore and Federal Territory.
The emphasis of the second phase of the mass signature campaign should be to conduct a "smart" signature campaign, not just to collect individual signatures, but to distribute signature books to the people to ask them to (I) collect signatures for the campaign and (ii) to distribute signature books to more justice-loving Malaysians so that more Malaysians can put in their word for the release of Guan Eng from Kajang Prisons.
Guan Eng is still Member of Parliament for Kota Melaka until the Yang di Pertuan Agong disposes of the petition for pardon which he submitted on Monday.
I met the Parliament Speaker, Tun Mohamad Ismail Zahir yesterday to ask that Parliament should send all correspondence to Guan Eng as MP for Kota Melaka c/o Kajang Prisons.
Parliament will be meeting on Oct. 20, with the 1999 budget to be presented on Oct. 23. Guan Eng should be able to sent questions for the next meeting of Parliament from Kajang Prisons although he may not be able to attend the next Parliamentary meeting.
(9/9/98)