Mahathir should make fulsome and unqualified apology for unwarranted attack on Suqiu and its supporters for being "communist" and "like Al-Maunah" in his 43rd Merdeka Day Message in Parliament on Monday


Media statement
by Lim Kit Siang 

(Petaling Jaya, Saturday): On Monday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad would be in Parliament during question time to personally answer the question by the DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Kerk Kim Hock, on his 43rd Merdeka Day Message where he made the unwarranted, baseless and outrageous attack on Suqiu and its supporters in likening them  to the "communists in the past" and  to the Al-Ma’unah movement.

There is no doubt that Mahathir’s repeated,  unrepentant  and baseless attacks on the Suqiu and Dong Jiao Zhong and the Malaysian  Chinese community which supported Suqiu and the opposition to the Vision Schools plan were the primary cause for the Barisan Nasional defeat in the Lunas
by-election on November 29, 2000.

In the Lunas by-election, the Chinese voters were the decisive factor determining the outcome of the by-election.  In the final analysis, Barisan Nasional was not only unable to win back Malay support it lost in the 1999 general election, it lost the Chinese support which played the critical role in the last general election to ensure that the Barisan Nasional is returned to power with two-thirds parliamentary majority.

However, Mahathir and the Barisan Nasional had been practising the politics of ingratitude in the past year, as  the Malaysian Chinese were the target of unwarranted, baseless and outrageous attacks by the Barisan Nasional leadership, particularly by the Prime Minister,  UMNO and UMNO Youth leaders for their open aspiration to uphold the multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-cultural character of the Malaysian nation-building process.

Mahathir  must make full amends in Parliament during question time on Monday  and take  the opportunity of answering Kerk’s question to make a fulsome and unqualified apology for his unwarranted, baseless and outrageous attack on Suqiu and its supporters for being "communist" and "like Al-Maunah" in his 43rd Merdeka Day Message as well as for other unwarranted and baseless attacks in connection with mother-tongue education in the country.
 

(9/12/2000)


*Lim Kit Siang - DAP National Chairman