The Acting UMNO Youth leader, Datuk Hishammuddin Tun Hussein would shout that Commonwealth and other foreign diplomatic missions in the country are giving financial support to the Opposition, and the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would dutifully express his regret over such foreign interference in domestic affairs without checking whether there is any truth in the allegation.
Let me state clearly that the DAP had not received any financial support
from any Commonwealth or foreign diplomatic mission, whether for the general
election or before, and Hishammuddin is just talking rubbish!
All the proof that Hishammuddin has for his serious allegation is that
senior officials from the High Commissions of Commonwealth countries
like Britain, Australia and Canada and the Embassy of the United
States of America were
seen meeting opposition politicians and listening to their political
speeches as well as attending opposition news conferences.
These senior officials also meet politicians from the Barisan Nasional and listen to their political speeches as well as attending Barisan Nasional news conferences.
Is Hishammuddin seriously suggesting that it is all right for officials of foreign embassies to meet Barisan Nasional politicians and to be present at their functions but wrong, improper and gross interference with domestic affairs if they meet Barisan Alternative politicians and be present at their functions?
If Hishammuddin is serious in not wanting any foreign interference in our domestic political affairs, why didn’t he protest when the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad went to the American Council of Foreign Relations in New York at the end of September to appeal for the help and support of foreign powers on behalf of Barisan Nasional as against the Barisan Alternative?
Why didn’t Hishammuddin protest at the holding of the general election at a time when the Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji is scheduled to visit Malaysia, as it could be controversially interpreted as foreign interference in the domestic affairs of Malaysia?
What type of a mindset and mentality does Hishamuddin want to exhibit to Malaysians - a narrow, devious and obscurantist personality or a millennium leader with an open and liberal outlook who could "break the shackles of the past"?
Let me advise Hishammuddin to please grow up and to stop treating the general election as a game without regard to facts and truth.
(24/11/99)