Call on UMNO, MCA, Gerakan, SUPP, PBS and all other BN parties to condemn and dissociate themselves from the uncivil, gangsterish and even barbaric  UMNO Youth threat to Dong Jiao Zong to repeat another Suqiu


Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang

(Penang,  Saturday)The warning by UMNO Youth at the UMNO General Assembly yesterday to the Chinese education movement  Dong Jiao Zong that they would face similar action to that of Suqiu if its persisted in its campaign for the maintenance of Chinese schools in Malaysia must be condemned by  UMNO, MCA, Gerakan, SUPP, PBS and all other Barisan Nasional parties and leaders as downright  provocative, irresponsible, unacceptable and intolerable in the democratic politics of a plural Malaysia. 

Was the UMNO youth spokesman, Dr. Zamri Abdul Kadir who proposed the motion on education at the UMNO General Assembly,   threatening a repeat of  the uncivil, gangsterish and even barbaric UMNO Youth demonstration  outside the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in August 2000 over the Suqiu election appeals, displaying inflammatory and  racist placards and threatening to burn down the building? 

Malaysians have not forgotten that the Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, who was  Umno Youth exco member at the time, also said  that the Malays were willing to “bathe in blood” to defend their privileges.  

It is shocking that the UMNO Youth’s uncivil,  gangsterish and even barbaric demonstration outside the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall in August 2000 is paraded  as a badge of pride by UMNO Youth leaders when it should be regarded as a blot of shame  in decent and responsible political behaviour in a multi-racial Malaysia – just like the previous blots in UMNO Youth history, such as the lawless and gangsterish UMNO Youth break-up of the Second Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor (APCET II) in Kuala Lumpur in November 1996 and UMNO Youth’s escalation of racial tensions in 1987, creating the conditions for the subsequent Operations Lalang Internal Security Act  mass arrests. The Government White Paper "Towards Preserving National Security" tabled in Parliament on 22nd March 1988 referred to an UMNO Youth Rally on 17.10.1987 which displayed  "banners bearing strong words", including "May 13 HAS BEGUN" and "SOAK IT (KRIS) WITH CHINESE BLOOD".

In January last year, the secretary of the Suqiu Committee, Ser Choon Ing, lodged a police report that he was threatened by a group of four or five men outside his house in Petaling Jaya, when one of them shouted at him in an intimidating manner: "Eh, Suqiu! Kurang ajar. Jangan awak ganggu orang Melayu."

The UMNO Youth threat to Dong Jiao Zong confirmed my judgement three days ago that UMNO Youth  has yet to prove  that it could  keep abreast with the changes and challenges of the time, rising to become an all-rounded Malaysian nationalist  movement,  recognizing that the single biggest problem facing Malaysia in the era of globalislation  is not competition between bumiputras and non-bumiputras but Malaysia and the rest of the world. 

What is worse, it has also proven that some of the leading UMNO Youth leaders have not outgrown the  uncivil, gangsterish and even barbaric complexes of the disgraceful  1987 pre-Operation Lalang, 1996 APCET II and 2000 Suqiu episodes and therefore  pose the greatest threat to the healthy development of democratic politics and a vibrant  civil society. 

If UMNO Youth and Zamri are really convinced that Dong Jiao Zong and Chinese schools in Malaysia are stumbling blocks to Malaysian nation-building and national integration – which is a short-sighted and baseless viewpoint – they should have the courage of their convictions to engage in a dialogue with Dong Jiao Zong instead of threatening a repeat of the uncivil, gangsterish and even barbaric demonstrations and outbursts as with Suqiu in 2000, APCET II in 1996 and during pre-Operation Lalang in 1987. 

Or have UMNO Youth and Zamri no confidence that they could put up a persuasive let alone an overpowering case in such a dialogue that they can only think of threats of uncivil, gangsterish and even barbaric conduct?

I call on UMNO, MCA, Gerakan, SUPP, PBS and all other BN parties to condemn and dissociate themselves from the uncivil, gangsterish and even barbaric  UMNO Youth threat to Dong Jiao Zong to repeat another Suqiu, and to demand  that Zamri should tender a public and unqualified  apology for such irrational and unMalaysian threat. 

UMNO Youth and Zamri’s threat at the UMNO General Assembly yesterday have only undermined public confidence in the assurances  given by the Barisan Nasional Government, in particular MCA and Gerakan, that Chinese schools are permanent and integral parts of the national education system and will not be forcibly closed down – as well as strengthen concerns and fears that the national education policy has the “final objective” to eventually have only one single medium schooling in the country resulting in the closure of Chinese primary schools and independent Chinese secondary schools. 

The Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad,  should make a Ministerial statement in Parliament on Monday on the government’s stand on UMNO Youth and Zamri’s threat and the implications involved.   

(22/6/2002)


*Lim Kit Siang - DAP National Chairman