Call on Malaysians who believe that DAP has still
an important political role to play in the country to rally to the "Save
DAP Campaign" to prevent
the DAP from collapsing financially Media Conference Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Petaling Jaya, Tuesday): On Sunday, 12th December 1999, the DAP Central Executive Committee at its second meeting after the Nov. 29, 1999 general election, adopted a resolution expressing "regret that the DAP
suffered a catastrophic setback in the 1999 general election and the loss
of the Malaysian
people and nation of a golden political opportunity to smash the Barisan Nasional political hegemony and parliamentary two-thirds majority to bring about a paradigm shift in Malaysian politics in the new millennium where it would be less dominated by race and religion and more issues-based on questions of justice, freedom, democracy and good governance". The CEC also expressed its
"disgust at the dirtiest
election in the nation’s history in the recent general election with the
MCA/Gerakan and
Barisan Nasional resorting to a campaign of falsehoods and intimidation, confusing, misleading and scaring the Chinese voters into believing that a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS and Islamic state". The CEC resolved that the DAP should learn
from the lessons of the 1999 general election and undergo a total
political and organisational revamp to reinvent the
DAP to better meet the political challenges of the new millennium. There has been a completely different reaction and
mood in the party this time as compared to the catastrophic result of the party
in the 1995 general election - a
sense of anger and outrage that Malaysians had been robbed of the historic opportunity for a political and nation-building breakthrough by the Barisan Nasional in turning the tenth general election into the dirtiest in the nation’s history. DAP is prepared to accept the verdict of the people
and be rejected in the polls, but it must be for the right reasons, as for
instance, repudiating the DAP’s call to
break the Barisan Nasional political hegemony and two-thirds majority to restore justice, freedom, democracy and good governance. In the recent general election, the Chinese voters
swung against the DAP for all the wrong reasons, as for instance, in Bukit
Bendera, succumbing to the
Gerakan/MCA propaganda of falsehoods and fear that a vote for DAP is a vote for PAS and an Islamic state, and that if I am elected, the Chinese cannot eat pork, take alcohol, go to temples, beautiful women cannot find jobs and that there would be a chopping of hands and feet. The DAP and the Malaysian people feel that they had
been cheated of the historic opportunity to recast the Malaysian political
landscape, which has been intensified
by the announcement of a Jurassic Cabinet line-up completely out of sync with the aspirations of Malaysians for justice, freedom, democracy and good governance. After the 1995 election catastrophe, the DAP
leadership and rank-and-file were completely demoralised resulting in
division and fault-finding and the Party wasted
the first few years in destructive party infighting. As a result, the party reform launched after the 1995 election debacle failed - and we had the spectacle of those who obstructed party reforms leaving the party claiming to be reformists! This time, after the initial disappointments at the
Nov. 29, 1999 election catastrophe, the party leadership and rank-and-file are
largely united and there is a steely
determination and commitment to start work immediately not to allow the Barisan National to completely destroy the political opportunity to bring about a paradigm shift in Malaysian politics - and to salvage the opportunity to recast the Malaysian political landscape although five years delayed! This is why the DAP on Sunday held a meeting of all
DAP MPs, State Assembly members and candidates to reaffirm their commitment that
despite the catastrophic
election result of Nov. 29, 1999, they are raring to start work immediately. DAP has many weaknesses in organisation and
publicity which must be addressed and rectified if we are to be fully effective
to salvage the lost opportunity to bring
about a political breakthrough to restore justice, freedom, democracy and good governance. This is why the DAP CEC last Sunday
resolved that the party must learn from the lessons of the 1999
general election and undergo a total political and
organisational revamp to reinvent the DAP to better meet the political challenges of the new millennium. DAP leaders and members are prepared to start from
scratch to rebuild the DAP to ensure that the political opportunity to smash the
Barisan Nasional political
hegemony is not completely lost. We are however faced with a insuperable obstacle -
finance. DAP is faced with an impending financial collapse.
The DAP had always operated on a shoe-string
basis. The primary source of income for the party had always been on the
contributions of the DAP MPs and State
Assemblymen. The DAP had never received a single sen from
foreign sources in our 33 years of existence.
The election debacle of the DAP in 1995 where DAP’s
20 Parliamentary and 45 Assembly seats was slashed to nine Parliamentary and
eleven state assembly seats
(which was further reduced with the disqualification two MPs in the course of ninth Parliament) was a great financial blow to the party, as our financial mainstay was virtually destroyed. Overnight, our income was unable to meet our
expenditures, although we operated on a very shoe-string basis as compared to
the Barisan Nasional parties.
We struggled along, eating into all our reserves
and capital - hoping that in the 1999 general election, we could win enough MPs
and State Assemblymen to make
ends meet. The 1999 election result was another disaster,
winning 10 Parliamentary and 11 state assembly seats - which is grossly
inadequate to finance the DAP’s shoe-string
operations. At the rate that we are going, with all our reserves and capital completely wiped out, we cannot even afford our shoe-string operation after a year or two and we face the prospect of even having to sell off our humble party headquarters. But we do not want just to continue with our
present shoe-string operation. We have ambitious plans to conduct a total
political and organisational revamp of the
party, which means more staff and expenditures. Our political spirit and commitment, despite our
two consecutive election general setbacks in 1995 and 1999, are not only
undimmed, but even stronger than ever,
but we are faced with an impending financial collapse. This is why the party has decided to appeal to
Malaysians who believe that DAP has still an important political role to play in
the country to rally to the "Save DAP
Campaign" to prevent the DAP from collapsing financially. We estimate that if the DAP is to undergo a total
political and organisational revamp to re-seize the political opportunity to
bring about a paradigm shift in Malaysian
politics, we need a million ringgit a year for our party operations - or about RM5 million for the next five years. For Barisan Nasional parties, RM5 million is a
paltry figure. Barisan Nasional would have spent RM50 million just on its
obnoxious mass media advertising on
radio, television and newspapers in the eight short days during the recent general election and RM500 million for the whole campaign. But for the DAP, RM5 million for the next five
years will decide whether DAP lives or dies in Malaysian politics.
Malaysians who wish to support the "Save DAP
campaign" can contact any DAP leader or branch, whether in one-off donations or
commitments to give monthly
donations to prop up the DAP financially. The National Treasurer, Sdr. Fong Kui Lun is head
of the "Save DAP Campaign" committee to try to raise RM5 million to fund the DAP
for the next five years.
(14/12/99)
*Lim Kit Siang - DAP National Chairman
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