Call on all political and civic leaders, regardless of whether in government or opposition, or neither, to support the petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong to pardon Lim Guan Eng so that he would not be disqualified as MP and could continue his good work for people and country


Media Conference Statement
- on the eighth day of the  18-day
‘Free Guan Eng" Marathon  Fast
by Lim Kit Siang  

(Kajang, Thursday):  I thank former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his wife, Datin Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for supporting and signing the nation-wide  mass signature petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong to pardon DAP Deputy Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng so that he would not be disqualified as Member of Parliament and could continue his good work for people and country.

I would in fact call on all political and civic leaders, regardless of whether in government or opposition, or neither, to support the petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong to pardon Lim Guan Eng, who have been convicted and jailed for two concurrent terms of 18-month jail under the Sedition Act and the Printing Presses and Publications Act for three reasons:
 

I think it is most unfair for the New Straits Times report  under the heading "Former DPM sings new tune for Guan Eng, signs petition" accusing Anwar of opportunism in saying one thing while in Government while doing the opposite after he had been sacked as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

In fact, I also  want to thank Anwar when as Deputy Prime Minister and speaking to Malaysian students in London at the end of May expressed his concern and sympathies at the injustice of the Lim Guan Eng case.

This is the Bernama report of Anwar’s comments in London:
 

In this regard, Anwar speech yesterday expressing concern and sympathy for Guan Eng and his signing the petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong to pardon Guan Eng is fully consistent with his public statement to Malaysian students in London on May 30.

Berita Harian and The New Straits Times reported that Anwar had done an "about-turn to his previous stand on the issue", referring to his statement at a "meet-the-people" session in Teluk Intan on May 14 last year, when Anwar was reported to have said that what happened to Guan Eng was due to his own doing.  Anwar also said that the DAP should not criticise the court’s decision but accept the fact that he had committed wrong.

The meet-the-people session in Teluk Intan in May last year was clearly part of the Barisan’s campaign in the Teluk Intan parliamentary by-election, where the Gerakan candidate was trounced in what I have described as a  Richter-6 political earthquake with the DAP candidate, M. Kulasegaran becoming the MP in the  area although the Barisan Nasional had never expected to lose the by-election altogether.

May be, Anwar has learnt to listen to the voice of the people as expressed by the voters of Teluk Intan parliamentary by-election on May 17, 1997 and accepted the verdict of the overwhelming majority of electorate that Guan Eng’s case is a case of injustice in Malaysia.

It is a double injustice that Guan Eng should  lose his personal liberty, his Parliamentary status,  his professional qualification as a certified accountant and even his life-long health for having to sleep on the cold hard cement floor without any mattress causing him   acute daily back pains and to lose six pounds in 18 days for championg the rights  of a Malaysian of a different ethnic and religious group  - when in fact he should be rewarded and held up as a role model of what a true Malaysian should be!

The injustice of the Lim Guan Eng case has in fact  raised the fundamental question as to what type of a society and civilisation we are trying to build in the country.   Is this the Vision 2020 that all Malaysians have been asked to dedicate themselves for the next two decades?

There is clearly something wrong with our values and our society if a responsible MP who goes to the defence of the honour, human rights and women rights of an underaged girl should be jailed for 36 months, with the girl even detained for a period while the accused is able to get off completely scot-free.
 
The Lim Guan Eng  case has brought to the fore the fundamental issues of justice, freedom, democracy and good governance in Malaysia.

I hope all political and civic leaders, regardless of whether in government or opposition, or neither, can come forward to  support the petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong to pardon Lim Guan Eng, as this is strictly a case about justice.

So far one Barisan Nasional State Executive Councillor has come forward to sign the petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong to pardon Guan Eng, and I commend his sense of justice, and I hope that his example can be followed by other Barisan Nasional leaders, both at the national and state levels.

(17/9/98)


*Lim Kit Siang - Malaysian Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Democratic Action Party Secretary-General & Member of Parliament for Tanjong