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DAP calls for all-party roundtable conference to forge an united national non-partisan response to the US unilateral-led war against Iraq to deal with the international, political and economic fall-outs of the first war of the new millennium which might claim UN as its first casualty outside Iraq Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Petaling Jaya,  Friday): DAP endorses the call by the Acting Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that Malaysians must be rational and not be guided by sentiments and emotions in facing the Iraq crisis. Yesterday, the United States launched its war against Iraq, starting with an opportunistic stike to kill Saddam Hussein and decapitate the top Iraqi leadership with a salvo of cruise missiles and bombs, but which proved to be a failure. Abdullah's live RTM live telecast on the start of the US-led war on Iraq is a proper reflection of the gravity of the new international situation as Malaysia will not be spared from its international, political and economic effects and the country must take the necessary measures not only to lessen their adverse impacts but to adapt to a new geo-political world scene. It is unfortunate that Parliament yesterday failed to rise to the occasion to adjourn its current business to proceed to an emergency motion to convey the unanimous all-party condemnation of the US-led unilateral war against Iraq without United Nations Security Council sanction as well as to demonstrate a national unity and resolve to address the challenges arising from the second Gulf War. In this hour of national and international crisis, there is an even greater need for national unity to deal with the new global threats. For this reason, DAP calls for an all-party roundtable conference to forge an united national non-partisan response to the US unilateral-led war against Iraq to deal with the international, political and economic fall-outs of the first war of the new millennium which might claim the United Nations as its first casualty outside Iraq. Malaysia is Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), dubbed the second largest organization of nation-states after the United Nations. How is Malaysia to provide leadership to NAM to face the challenges of the illegal and unjust war unleashed by the United States against Iraq without UN sanction, and the worst-case scenarios in a post-Iraq-war world? Or is NAM to be finally exposed as utterly irrelevant and impotent in the world affairs of the 21st century, with Malaysia in the chair after we have spent hundreds of millions of ringgit to host the recent 13th NAM Summit in Kuala Lumpur? What could NAM do to salvage the credibility and purpose of the United Nations from meeting the fate of its predecessor, the League of Nations and relegated to the dustbin of history? What should Malaysia, both the government and people, do to act rationally to respond to the Iraq crisis? What are the economic impacts of the Iraq war on Malaysia and what should be the thrust and priority issues in the first economic stimulus package to protect and safeguard the Malaysian economy? The police ban on all protests and demonstrations against the US-led war against Iraq, except for the government-sponsored demonstration by the Malaysian People's Alliance for Peace (Peace Malaysia), smacks of political double-standards and expediency which have nothing whatsoever to do with a "rational response" to the Iraq war or maintaining order and security, and should be rescinded. These and many other weighty issues consequent upon the launching of the United States-led unilateral war against Iraq should be properly addressed at the all-party roundtable conference on the second Gulf War which should be convened within 48 to 72 hours. (21/3/2003) * Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman