He said he had briefed the Cabinet yesterday on the associations� election appeals and said he would make a personal appeal to the associations.
The 11 Chinese associations should convince Liong Sik that the issue is not their participation in NECC II but whether MCA Ministers would immediately implement the Hua Tuan Election Appeals in Cabinet and Government.
The 11 Chinese associations should tell Liong Sik it is no use MCA Ministers declaring their support in principle for the 17-point Hua Tuan Election Appeals when the MCA is not prepared to implement anyone of the 82 concrete proposals contained in the Election Appeals in Cabinet and Government.
For instance, what is the use of MCA Ministers declaring support for the Hua Tuan Election Appeals when no MCA Minister is prepared to ask the Cabinet yesterday to review and rescind its decision to include religion in new identity cards, which put the clock back for nation-building after 42 years and is cllearly a retrogressive step in trying to make all Malaysians regardless of race or religion to think of themselves as Malaysians first.
Instead of removing differences among Malaysians, the Cabinet decision to include religion in new identity cards will make religion an even greater divisive factor than race, which goes against the first point of the Hua Tuan Election Appeals to "Promote National Unity".
It is also no use for the MCA Ministers to declare support for the Election Appeals on the independence of the judiciary if MCA Ministers dare not raise the grave crisis of confidence in the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law in Cabinet.
What is worse, when I gave notice to move a substantive motion in Parliament for debate on Monday on serious allegations of judicial improprieties, no MCA Minister dare to show concern by at least expressing support in Cabinet that the issue should be debated in Parliament. I do not expect MCA Ministers and MPs to have the courage to articulate the grave concerns of Malaysians about loss of public confidence in the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law, but they should at least use their great parliamentary numbers to ensure that there could be a parliamentary debate on such a burning issue in Malaysia.
Again, what is the use of expressing support for Point 14 of the Hua Tuan Election Appeals to "Restore confidence in the police force" when no MCA Minister dared to raise the issue of police trigger-happy killing of innocent people as highlighted recently by the shooting-death of Dr. Tai Eng Teck and to demand that the police adopt a new culture of zero-trigger happy police shooting?
May be, for a start, the 11 Chinese Associations should ask Liong Sik to state how many out of the 82 concrete proposals of the 17-point Hua Tuan Election Appeals which MCA could adopt and endorse for immediate implementation.
(14/10/99)