Media Statement by DAP National Chairman Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Friday, 29th March 2002:

Call on Ketari voters to show their outrage at Keng Yaik's resort to last-minute dirty tactics in copying the infamous Tengku Razaleigh 'tengkolok' tactics in 1990

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When the Gerakan President, Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik warned of the DAP's last-minute electoral attack in the Ketari by-election, he was behaving as "thief shouting thief" to distract attention from the Gerakan's last-minute dirty trick in copying the infamous Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's Sabah "tengkolok" tactics in the 1990 general elections.

Two days before the polling day in the 1990 general election, radio, television and the Malay press were mobilised to saturate the Malay heartland with the accusation that Tengku Razaleigh had sold out the Malay race and honour and betrayed Islam, giving as proof his wearing of a Kadazan headgear purportedly bearing the Christian cross.

This was a most potent last-minute dirty trick of the Barisan Nasional in the 1990 general election, as the Malays in the rural heartland were misled to believe that Tengku Razaleigh's wearing a Kadazan headgear purportedly with the Christian cross was proof that he had sold out the Malay race and honour and betrayed Islam.

Attempts by Semangat 46 to show that Mahathir had himself worn a Kadazan headgear with a similar motif when he visited Sabah during the election campaign failed to counter the mischievous and malicious last-minute Barisan Nasional propaganda - effectively breaking the political challenge and marking the demise of Semangat 46 led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

The Razaleigh "tengkolok" tactics were downright lies, but they achieved their nefarious objectives of misleading the Malay voters to vote for UMNO and Barisan Nasional. Ironically, both Tengku Razaleigh and Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan - to whose Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Razaleigh was supposed to have sold out the Malay race and honour and betrayed Islam - are now both back in the Barisan Nasional!

This dishonest and dishonourable dirty trick is now being copied by Keng Yaik and the Gerakan in their last-minute onslaught in Ketari by flooding the Chinese areas in the constituency with four-coloured pamphlets, posters and billboards carrying the hand-shaking photograph between PAS Kelantan Mentri Besar, Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat and myself to mislead the Chinese voters in Ketari in believing that the DAP had sold out its principles to PAS.

The question to be decided on Sunday is whether Malaysians, and in particular the Chinese voters who are the specific target of the Gerakan's Razaleigh "tengkolok" 2 tactics, have learnt anything from the history of the Barisan Nasional's dirty tricks during elections.

Will the Gerakan's Razaleigh "tengkolok" 2 tactics be as potent and effective in misleading the Chinese voters in Ketari to vote for the Gerakan on Sunday as the original Razaleigh "tengkolok" tactics in 1990 in stampeding the Malay voters to vote for UMNO in the 1990 general election?

The Razaleigh "tengkolok" dirty trick cannot work anymore among the Malay electorate, for it was based on the spurious premise that when Malay leaders co-operate with non-Malay leaders in the Opposition, it was on the basis of the sell-out of the Malay rights and honour and the betrayal of Islam.

Any attempt by UMNO to repeat the Razaleigh "tengkolok" dirty tricks will fail because Malay voters have become more mature after the 1990 general election for at least three reasons:

· the realisation that they had been gravely misled into voting against Razaleigh and Semangat 46 in the 1990 general election;

· the Anwar "black eye" which was the final confirmation that UMNO claims and allegations cannot be trusted - especially after the public assurance that Anwar was "safe and sound" in police custody and the subsequent insinuation by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad that the "black eye" was self-inflicted; and

· the realisation that when Malay leaders co-operate with non- Malay leaders in the Opposition , it was not to sell out the Malay race and honour or betray Islam but on areas of common agreement, as justice, democracy, human rights and good governance.

Keng Yaik's Razaleigh "tengkolok" 2 dirty trick in Ketari in using the hand-shake photograph between Nik Aziz and myself is based on the premise that the Chinese voters have not reached the political maturity of the Malay voters and that the dirty tricks used on the Malay voters 12 years ago but which cannot be repeated on the Malay electorate can still be used to mislead the Chinese voters.

Keng Yaik believes that although the Malay voters are no more gullible to UMNO dirty propaganda that when Malay leaders co-operate with non-Malay leaders in the Opposition, it must be to sell out the Malay race and honour and betray Islam, the Chinese are still gullible to Gerakan false propaganda that when DAP co-operates with PAS leaders, it must be to sell out the interests of the Malaysian Chinese and the non-Malays and to betray the DAP's principles.

The Ketari by-election on Sunday will decide whether Keng Yaik and the Gerakan are right - that the Chinese voters are at least 12 years behind the Malay voters in their political maturity and can still be gullible and can fall victim to their last-minute dirty tricks and false propaganda onslaught that non-Malay leaders must sell out the rights and interests of their communities and their political convictions when they co-operate with Malay leaders in the Opposition.

Keng Yaik and Gerakan are trying to character-assassinate me. They are trying to character-assassinate the DAP. Worse, they are trying to character-assassinate the Chinese voters in Ketar when they tell UMNO leaders that although the Razaleigh "tengkolok" tactics cannot be used on the Malay voters any more, it can still be used on the Chinese voters in Ketari.

I call on the Ketari voters to show their outrage at Keng Yaik's resort to last-minute dirty tactics in copying the infamous Tengku Razaleigh 'tengkolok' tactics in 1990 by voting solidly against the Gerakan candidate on Sunday.

Let the Chinese voters tell Keng Yaik and the Gerakan that the Razaleigh tengkolok dirty trick is not only unworkable among the Malay voters but also among the Chinese voters, that they do not buy the falsehood that when DAP co-operates with PAS it is to sell out the rights and interests of the Chinese and non-Malays or the DAP principles, and that they respect and support the 36-year political record of integrity, consistency, conviction and sacrifice of the DAP and political leaders to fight for justice, freedom, democracy and good governance for all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion.

Let Ketari by-election on Sunday be an an important chapter in the advent of new politics in Malaysia, where the people demonstrate that they are not easy victims to the Barisan Nasional politics of money, falsehoods and threats and are prepared to speak up and vote for their equal and rightful citizenship rights.

- Lim Kit Siang -

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Terbitan : 30 Mac 2002

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