As general election may come faster than everyone is expecting, Gerakan leaders should say a loud and clear “No to 929” to live  up to their claim as the “conscience” of the Barisan Nasional to save and defend the 1957 Merdeka Constitution “social contract”

(Penang,  Friday):  The  “No to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957” campaign of the DAP is not a numbers game nor to spark off a political party poster  war but a citizens’ awareness campaign transcending race, religion or political affiliation to preserve the 1957 Merdeka Constitution “social contract” solemnly agreed by our forefathers in the major communities and by the peoples of Sabah and Sarawak when this nation was founded that Malaysia is a democratic, secular, multi-religious, tolerant and progressive nation with  Islam as the official religion but Malaysia is not an Islamic state.   

When the DAP started the campaign by putting up the “No to 929” posters in  Penang on the eve of May Day, 99 per cent of the people in Penang and Malaysia did not know what  is “929” or why saying “No to 929”  in the next general election is one of the most critical decisions of the people in the 44-year history of the nation - although more people  know what is “911” and support saying “No to 911”.  

In short, 99 per cent of the people in the country were  not aware that the country is facing the second great nation-building crisis since Merdeka in 1957 - the attempt to jettison the 1957 Merdeka “social contract” and  to establish an Islamic state in Malaysia embodied in the “929 declaration” of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at the Gerakan national delegates’ conference on September 29 last year.  

Two weeks into the  “No to 929” campaign, the people of Penang have reached a  higher level of  political awareness than Malaysians in the rest of the country whether about 929 or the importance of saying “No to 929”, but we are still a very long way from the objective of ensuring that by the time Parliament and the State Assemblies are dissolved, 99% of the people of Penang and Malaysia would have become aware of the importance of  saying “No to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957”  and that the time for action has come in the 11^th general elections to save the country from the nation-building  catastrophe of jettisoning the 1957 Merdeka Constitution “social contract”. 

I would hazard that after two weeks of the “No to 929” campaign, some eight per cent of the people of Penang should know what is 911 but the percentage of those who know why saying “No to 911” is one of the most important and far-reaching decisions Malaysians must take and act on in the 21^st century  is still below five per cent. 

The DAP’s “No to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957” has provoked a numbers poster war, with Gerakan coming out with “4302, Yes to PAS”, and the DAP free consultancy and poster design service to Gerakan that it should have followed up with a “8502, Yes to PAS” poster, and the “Yes to PAS? 8502?” posters to remind the Gerakan leaders of their political and propaganda lapses and inconsistencies.  Last night, the “4896” poster has appeared.  

The DAP’s “No to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957” is not a numbers game or to provoke a political party poster war, but we are thankful to  the Gerakan’s “4302” poster and even the latest “4896” poster in  helping to focus public attention on the “No to 929” campaign, as this is a not a campaign just for  DAP members and supporters, but for all Malaysian citizens and future generations with  time fast running out if the 1957 Merdeka Constitution “social contract” is to be saved, defended and preserved.  

I had said at the  “No to 929”  campaign launch media conference  on 6^th May that Malaysian voters should learn a lesson from the recent French presidential elections as Malaysians  will not have  a second chance to undo their mistakes if in the next general election in less than 12 months, they unconsciously and unintentionally give a national mandate to endorse  the  929 declaration that  Malaysia is an Islamic state.  

There should now be a greater sense of urgency to send this message out to the overwhelming majority of Malaysians who still do not know what is 929 or do not know why it is important to say “No to 929” as the next general election may come even faster than everyone is expecting and earlier than what I envisaged on May 6  - with the post-911 cockiness and arrogance of Mahathir who predicted last week before he left for the United States that the Opposition  parties should “shiver in fear” of a humiliating defeat in the next general election; the UMNO ban on MCA party elections; moves to put off UMNO’s own triennial national party elections and the unusual speed with which the Election Commission is redelineating electoral constituency boundaries to add 20 new Parliamentary seats for the next election.  

The “No to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957” campaign is  to defend the fundamental constitutional rights of Malaysians as agreed in the “social contract” reached by our forefathers from the major communities on the attainment of Independence and laid down in the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and is not directed against any political party, whether in government or opposition. 

It  is not anti-religion and in particular, not anti-Islam, as the 1957 Merdeka Constitution had been defended by Bapa Malaysia and the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman and the second and third Prime Ministers, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn as the fundamental bedrock for a democratic, secular, multi-religious, tolerant and progressive nation with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic state - and I hope nobody is suggesting that the first three Prime Ministers of Malaysia were against Islam.  

For this reason, I would urge the Barisan Nasional, in particular Gerakan and MCA, not to be frightened of the “No to 929” campaign but to embrace and support it , not only in the spirit of the 1957 Merdeka Constitution but in line with their  respective party constitutions which committed them to uphold a democratic, secular, multi-religious, tolerant and progressive Malaysia with Islam as the  official religion but not an Islamic state.  

Gerakan leaders have always prided themselves as being the “conscience” in the Barisan Nasional - which distinguished them from other political parties in the ruling coalition like the MCA.  This is the time for the Gerakan leaders to prove that they are indeed the  “conscience” of the Barisan Nasional and defender of the 44-year Merdeka Constitution “social contract” of Malaysia as a democratic, secular, multi-religious, tolerant and progressive nation with Islam as the official religion but not as an Islamic state.

Gerakan leaders should say a loud and clear “No to 929” to live  up to their claim as the “conscience” of the Barisan Nasional to save and defend the 1957 Merdeka Constitution “social contract” of Malaysia as a democratic, secular and multi-religious nation with Islam as official religion but not  an Islamic state.  

Which Gerakan leader or leaders are prepared to step forward to say a loud and clear “No  to 929”? 

If Gerakan leaders have allowed their vested personal and political interests to blind them to their self-proclaimed role as the “conscience” of the Barisan Nasional, Gerakan members and grassroot leaders should urgently remind the Gerakan leaders to play the role of the “conscience” of the Barisan Nasional by being  the first political party in Barisan Nasional to say, loud and clear, “No to 911” to be an integral part of the nation-wide movement to save, defend and uphold  the 1957 Merdeka Constitution “social contract” reached by our forefathers from the major communities and meant to be binding for all future generations.

(17/5/2002)