The Greatest Responsibility of Ubah Is To Both Prepare The Future For The Young And Prepare The Young For The Future.

47th DAP Anniversary Statement By DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng Released In DAP Headquarters, Kuala Lumpur on 18 March 2013

DAP celebrates the 47th anniversary of the birth of our party on 18.3.1966 for the first time in Johor, the critical new frontier that PR must win to bring about Ubah or Change. Inikalilah! It is now or never!

For the first time in our nation’s 56-year history, change is possible. For the first time ever, Malaysians have a real alternative. For the first time ever, there is now a clear and tangible choice between a regime that is undemocratic, corrupt, racist and bankrupt, versus one that is clean, practices integrity, values freedom and human rights and is proven to be competent, accountable and transparent.

But one thing for sure, change will not come easy. In the last few weeks we have already seen cases of hooliganism by BN thugs, when even the Chief Minister’s Office in Penang can be attacked by an unruly mob and Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s bus was stoned and pelted when he was inside the bus, resulting in injury to a few people. This is only the beginning – BN’s desperate tricks will only get worse.

DAP and PR’s biggest challenge is still electoral fraud by BN and biasedness by a partisan Election Comission in the coming general elections. The electoral rolls are still not cleaned up with the astonishing 28% unidentifiable voters or 140,000 unaccounted for voters in Selangor. Is this the 28% “handicap” built in to the electoral process in benefit BN?

Further the constituency delineation is gerrymandered in an undemocratic manner to benefit BN. The smallest parliament seat in Malaysia, P125 Putrajaya, has 15,308 voters as of Quarter 3, 2012 while the largest seat, P109 Kapar, has 142,419 voters. The number of voters in the largest seat is 9 times that of the smallest seat.

In other words, one vote in P125 Putrajaya is roughly equal to 9 votes in P109 Kapar. This is a gross violation of the ‘One Man One Vote’ principle where one person’s vote should have the same weightage and power as another person’s vote.

For this reason PR is starting at a disadvantage as we have to win more than our fair share of the popular vote to win 50% of the seats, or else BN will steal the election. The disparity between votes received by BN and seats won by BN at every election is clearly shown below.



In other words PR has to win more than 51% of the popular votes,not 50% of the votes to win Putrajaya. It is therefore extremely important that we now put aside whatever minor differences we may have and rally united behind our party, and behind the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “There is enough in this world for everyone’s need, but there is not enough in this world for one man’s greed.” Corruption by BN is deeply entrenched in Malaysia. Whilst making corruption history is amongst the highest priority of PR, the most difficult task is to give our young hope of a brighter future. In other words, the greatest responsibility of Ubah is to both prepare the future for the young and prepare the young for the future

An education system that is available, accessible and affordable must also inculcate a culture of excellence. Instead we have increasing mediocrity with the drop in Malaysia’s ranking in the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 from 20th to 26th in the Mathematics and from 21st to 32nd in Science. This confirms the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) that the competency of 15-year olds in Malaysia was 3 years behind the international average.

Malaysians as a nation face a talent cliff that can hamper economic growth and cripple our efforts to transform ourselves into a high-income, knowledge-based developed country. Unless we grow and build human talent, retrain and retain them as well as attract new talent, we face the risk of not just falling behind from new developed economies like Singapore and South Korea but also being overtaken by neighbours like Indonesia and Thailand.

PR offers not just free education but will abandon political connections in favour of choosing the the best and brightest. At the same time, PR will build learning centres to give tuition to academically weak students so that we do not only focus on the best but can create a rising tide of supporting talents of high standards.

To succeed, Malaysia needs to be freed from the shackles on our mind imposed by a BN that refused to let us think. The greatest gift a government can bestow on its population is not cash handouts but knowledge and freedom from fear. Plato said, “We can forgive a child who is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy is when men and women are afraid of the light”.

Let us UBAH and Change to shine the light on all four corners of Malaysia!

Lim Guan Eng

—Mandarin Version —-

民主行动党秘书长林冠英于2013年3月18日在吉隆坡行动党总部发表民主行动党成立47周年纪念献词：

改朝换代，告别腐败的重大任务在于，为年轻一代的未来做准备，为了未来，让年轻一代做好准备。

今天是民主行动党自1966年3月18日创党以来第47周年纪念。我们将在柔佛州庆祝党庆， 这也是我们在柔佛州这个重要的前线州庆祝党庆，这是民联必须赢下的州属，告别贪腐，改朝换代。

这是马来西亚立国56年以来，第一次改朝换代的机会。 这是我国历史上第一次，马来西亚人民有真正的替代选择。 第一次，我们拥有清楚、切实的选择，究竟人民要一个不民主、贪污、种族主义及导致国家破产的政权，还是一个廉洁、重视自由及人权、能干、有公信力及透明的政府。

肯定的是，改朝换代不容易。过去几个星期我们已经看过国阵流氓的下三烂手段，就连槟州首长也无法免于暴徒的攻击，而拿督斯里安华坐在巴士内时也被人抛石头及投掷物品，结果数人被砸伤。这只是开始，国阵的阴招将会越来越多。

来届大选，民主行动党及民联最大的挑战依然是选举舞弊， 这是国阵及具政治偏见的选委会所导致的。我们的选民册还没有清理干净，在雪州。选民册上还有28%或14万名无法辩识的选民，这28%选民是不是加插进去选举过程，以让国阵得利？

还有，选区划分也是在不民主的情况下，为己党利益擅改选区，让国阵得利。 截至2012年第三季，我国最小的国会选区是P125布城，选民人数为1万5308人，而最大的国会选区为P109加埔区，14万2419人。最大选区的选民人数是最小选区的9倍。

换句话说，一个布城国会选民相等于加埔9个选民。这严重违反“一人一票”原则，每一个人的票应该同等重要。

因此，民联已经输在起跑点上，我们还得赢得更多选票，才能获得超过50% 的议席，否则，国会就会窃取选举。每一次的大选中，国阵所获选票及议席的差距如下：



换句话说，民联要入主布城，必须获得多过51%的多数票，而不是50%的选票。因此，在这个时候，我们应该放下任何不重要的歧见和差异，在党内、民联团结一致，迎战大选。

印席圣雄甘地说过：“这个世界足以满足每个人的需要，但不足以填满每个人的欲望。”国阵的贪腐已经根深蒂固。我们要告别腐败，最困难的任务就是让我们的年轻一代对光明的前程充满希望。换句话说，改朝换代，告别腐败的重大任务在于，为年轻一代的未来做准备，为未来让年轻一代做好准备。

一个可近、可用、可获得的教育制度也能培育追求卓越的文化。我国数理科水平下跌，显示出我们越来越平庸。2011年国际数理水平评估（TIMSS）中，我国数学成绩排位从20名滑落26名，理科成绩从21名滑落至32名。这确定了2009年国际学生评估（PISA）的结果，那就是我国15岁的学生水平比国际水平落后3年。

马来西亚面对的“人才悬崖”，足以摧毁我们的经济成长及转型成为高收入、知识型经济体的努力。除非我们栽培人才、再培训及留住他们，并且吸引新人才，我们面对的风险不只是落后于发达经济体如新加坡、韩国，我们也将落后于印尼及泰国。

民联不只将提供免费教育，我们也将摒弃政治联系，选择最好的、最优秀的。同时，民联也会兴建学习中心，协助学业成绩较弱的学生，让我们不只注重最好的学生，也创造一个支持人才进步提升的环境。

如果要成功，马来西亚必须免于国阵加诸于我们的思想镣铐，我们必须思考。一个政府能给予它的国民最好的礼物，不是现金，而是知识及免于恐惧。柏拉图说，“孩子怕黑暗是情有可原的，人生真正的悲剧是成人害怕光明。”

让我们改朝换代，让改变的光明照亮全马各个角落！

林冠英

A reply to The Malaysian Insider ― Lim Guan Eng

Lim Guan Eng

MARCH 14 ― I refer to your editorial and a plethora of articles opposing the proposed 3 separate highway and one third link tunnel project awarded by the Penang state government by open competitive tender recently for RM6.3 billion. I hope that you will allow the state government to explain the rationale for this “desperate” effort to decongest traffic congestion on the island and bring about smoother traffic flow on the mainland of Seberang Perai.

I used the word “desperate” deliberately because for the five years that the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government has been in power, we attempted to implement a public transport system in Penang. Initially we hopped on to the federal government’s proposal of an elevated monorail even though we felt that reviving the tram system would be the preferred option for Penang as George Town is a UNESCO World Heritage city.

Every year during the federal budget wish-list, we put in the monorail proposal without any positive response. Out of desperation, we thought outside the box by paying Rapid Penang to give free bus services in the George Town heritage city enclave ― which was extremely well received. We extended this programme to free bus services back and forth from the mainland to Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone and Balik Pulau during peak hours again paid for by the state government.

The federal government refused to respond when we proposed our local councils to run bus services. Our final effort to pay the federal government RM10 million yearly for Rapid Penang to offer free bus services throughout Penang state during peak hours was unceremoniously rebuffed.

Much as we prefer the public transport option, you have failed to highlight that public transport in whatever form is the exclusive prerogative of the federal government. Even if it is funded by the state government, nothing can be done without the sanction of the Federal government. Therefore, regurgitating the homily that we should be investing in public transport instead is akin to beating a dead horse.

As the federal government appears determined to choke our roads to death, the Penang state government decided to act decisively. We cannot do nothing and wait passively. That is why we decided to improve our road network by building alternative roads in the most heavily congested areas. And also connect to the mainland to bring both parts of the state closer as well as ensure that the Seberang Perai Utara area is not left out of economic growth.

Let the people decide

The PR Penang state government will listen and submit to the will of 1.6 million Penangites. Consequently, the state government has taken the unprecedented step of engaging with the public and civil society since the proposal was first mooted in 2011. This was no rush job. We are still continuing such town hall meetings.

The project, which was first announced in 2011 when the tender was called, consists of a 6.5-km underwater tunnel connecting Gurney Drive to Bagan Ajam, a 12-km dual carriageway between Tanjung Bungah and Teluk Bahang, a 4.2-km bypass connecting Gurney Drive to Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway and a 4.6-km bypass connecting the same expressway to Bandar Baru Air Itam.

The state government had awarded the tender to Consortium Zenith BUCG, a special purpose vehicle company set up by a joint venture between local company Construction Zenith, China Railway Construction Corporation Ltd (CRCC) along with Beijing Urban Construction Group, Sri Tinggi Sdn Bhd and Juteras Sdn Bhd. Beijing Urban Construction Group, a major Chinese construction company that built the Beijing Olympic Stadium Bird Nest, and CRCC built most of China’s railroads including the highest railroad to Tibet. These are not RM2 companies as alleged by our detractors.

No to monorail, yes to tram

Should PR win power in Putrajaya, PR is also proposing a tram system throughout the state linking both the island and the mainland. BN’s monorail is inappropriate for a world heritage city like Penang, as its elevated structure will destroy Penang’s charms. As a tram system on level ground would match Penang’s heritage, new alternative roads are required so that existing roads can make way for tram lines.

BN’s monorail project will not happen even if BN wins in Penang because of two reasons. One, the monorail would not be permitted by UNESCO and its construction would cause George Town to lose its UNESCO World Heritage city status. Two, BN has never fulfilled its promise when the monorail was first made by former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2006. Neither was this promised delivered when Datuk Seri Najib Razak became the prime minister. Clearly we have to wait until Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim becomes the prime minister, then only then will there be a tram system.

No to entry charges to George Town, Penang.

I wish to categorically deny wild allegations that these four road improvement projects were not included in the proposed Public Transport Masterplan (PTM). The only difference is the timing. The PTM called for the completion of the tunnel by 2025-2030 whereas the state government hopes to bring it forward by 2023, a difference of two years. The 10 year period required to build the tunnel third link is to satisfy all the feasibility and safety requirements including environmental protection. Should environmental safeguards not be complied with, then the project would simply not proceed.

PR has firmly rejected extreme calls for entry charges for all vehicles entering George Town, Penang as PR is committed to free movement of people within Penang as well as those from outside Penang. To adopt this “Singapore model” to reduce traffic congestion is elitist at best in reserving George Town for existing residents and discriminatory at worse by only ensuring that the well-off can enter George Town, Penang.

The federal government was aware of this proposed project as far back as April 2011 when both Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Chinese Premier Wen Jia Bao witnessed the exchange of Memorandum of Understanding attended by me for these 4 highway and tunnel projects in Kuala Lumpur. The open competitive tender was called in November 14, 2011 and public engagement with the public was carried out in 2011 briefing them of the project.

The evaluation and recommendation of the winning tender bid was made by two committees headed by the Penang State Secretary Datuk Farizan Darus and the Penang State Finanical Officer Datuk Haji Mokhtar Mohd Jait without any involvement of the chief minister. The entire tender exercise was a transparent and accountable process.

Out of 24 participants, only one objected, nine supported whilst the remainder sought more information

How can these four project be done with amazing speed when the first of the highway projects will be completed after 2017 and the underwater sea tunnel by 2023-25? The long construction time is due to the need to comply with Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) requirements. Failure to comply with EIA would mean that the four projects would not go on.

The formal contract is still subject to discussion and is expected to be formalized and signed in a few months time after the next general elections and it will not proceed if rejected by the people. Input from public consultations and town hall meetings will assist the state government to refine our position when the contract is formalized over the next few months.

The state government was pleasantly surprised that at the last town hall meeting on March 10, 2013, out of the 24 who gave their views only one objected. Nine had supported whilst the remainder 14 sought more information. What was noteworthy was that all the younger members who spoke supported the proposed project whole-heartedly as they said they did not want to spend their life stuck in traffic jams.

The Penang state government is determined to invest in the future so that our young do not grow up as part of the traffic jam generation.

Can Teng Chang Yeow explain why BN sold the 940 acres of reclaimed land in Tanjung Pinang at only RM1 per square feet?

Further, the final tender price is not the estimated RM8 billion but RM6.3 billion awarded to the lowest tenderer, Consortium Zenith BUCG Sdn Bhd. No cash will be paid but payment will be made in the form of 110 acres reclaimed land in Tanjung Pinang. This reclaimed land was approved by the previous BN state government, just as former Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon had also supported a half tunnel project from Tanjung Bungah to Butterworth.

For BN Penang Chair Teng Chang Yeow to claim that the reclaimed land is non-existent is a shameless lie as BN had approved the reclamation of 940 acres at a shocking price of RM1 per sq foot and 10 per cent of the land to be given to the state government. Can Teng explain why BN had sold the land at such a low and illogical price of RM1 per sq ft? The PR Penang state government had managed to increase the amount of land to be given the state from 10 per cent to more than 20 per cent, which will be used to finance the construction of the four major highways.

The horrible traffic congestion two weeks ago on the 1st Penang Bridge due to repairs works reminds us of the importance of having this 3rd link for the future. Whilst the three highways will assist in mitigating the traffic congestion accessing to Batu Ferringhi, around George Town as well as to Bandar Baru Air Itam and Farlim area, the 3rd underwater sea tunnel serves another function to spur economic development in Seberang Perai Utara (SPU).

The Penang state will not sit back and do-nothing on traffic congestion by taking the easy way out in blaming the federal government for failing to provide public transport. Neither will we adopt an island-centric approach but instead develop a state-centric approach that encompasses the needs of the mainland. If there is a bridge linking the island in both Seberang Perai Tengah and Seberang Perai Selatan, there should be a link at Seberang Perai Utara to advance economic growth.

Lim Guan Eng is the chief minister of Penang.

Spending your money to lie to you

By Abdul Samad Sulaiman | TMI

How would you react if someone used your money to put together a plan to deceive you? I repeat used your money.

Well, that is what the Najib administration did when it paid millions of ringgit in taxpayers’ money to right-wing bloggers in the United States to write articles damaging to Anwar Ibrahim on sites such as Huffington Post, etc. Essentially, the government used OUR money to plant fictitious reports about the opposition leader.

There is something very disturbing when leaders who swear to respect law and order and whom we hope would have the moral spine to navigate this country on the path of what is right would agree to promoting falsehood and slander. And use government funds at that!

But for me even more upsetting is the fact that this tactic of funding the factory of lies and deceit is happening on our shores and now targetted at the Malaysian audience — you and me.

What government would stoop so low and use taxpayers’ funds to pay bloggers, cybertroopers, set up websites such as The Choice and Malaysian Review and lie to its own people? Can we trust a government, which has embraced lies and deceit, with governing with integrity?

Many of us have been receiving “articles” directly through our emails, written by “eunice the, etc”. A couple of days ago, a “Steve Roads” wrote an “article”, quoting Philippine intelligence sources, alleging that Anwar Ibrahim was behind the Sultan of Sulu’s invaders.

For good measure, the article was accompanied by a Philippine Inquirer logo, giving the impression this was an Inquirer article.

It appears that the government believes that controlling the Internet means dumping fake articles written by fake writers. Isn’t it enough that we have to put up with the fiction written by the mainstream media (Utusan Malaysia’s 100 per cent record of losing all defamation suits shows that I am not overstating the claim) that we have to be sent fictional reports on the Internet.

But that this government chooses this approach to propaganda speaks volumes of the morality of the people at the top. How can we trust these people when they don’t trust us to make a good choice on who should govern Malaysia based on facts?

And really grating is that my money and yours is being given to intellectually-challenged and morally-bankrupt cybertroopers to spin.

BN must be destroyed

Dean Johns | Malaysiakini

I’ve expressed this obvious message in so many ways over the years – in attempts to spice it up with variety – all to no apparent avail thus far, that it strikes me that I should try mindless repetition for a change.

This will be terribly tedious for us all of course, but the possible gain could be well worth our collective pain. Because repetition of the patently, blatantly obvious has worked a treat in the past.

Most famously, as history recalls, for Cato the Elder, who in the years between 175 and 146BC bored his fellow ancient Romans witless by ending his every speech in the senate with the statement that “Carthage must be destroyed”.

Four words that for years rendered Cato a figure of fun. But finally taken seriously and given force by the Roman sword, they proved to be a death sentence to the dreaded Carthage.

Thus my hopes for the similar success of my mantra for the foreseeable future, or at least until Malaysia’s endlessly-awaited 13th general election: BN must be destroyed.

Admittedly, BN is not a foreign threat to Malaysia as Carthage was to Rome. But this criminal coalition is arguably as dangerous to the future of the Malaysia and Malaysians as any external enemy might be.

For more than 50 years, and especially in the past 30, BN has been an insidious, creeping evil attacking and infesting Malaysia by stealth.

Steadily stealing as much of the nation’s land, oil, timber, corporate wealth and hard cash as it can get away with, and simultaneously robbing Malaysians of all possible forms of defence or redress.

BN may not be an invader, but it is certainly an all-pervader. It has systematically colonised and co-opted the civil services at every level from federal to local with its own relatives, cronies, sycophants and place-seekers.

Perverting the system of justice

It has flooded the country with foreign workers to ensure cheap, sweated – if not slave labour – for its captive economy, and secretly handed-out citizenships to illegal immigrants selected as most likely to show their gratitude in the form of votes.

And simultaneously the regime has robbed Malaysians of their proper protections in the face of such assaults on their rights and property by subverting the forces of law and order, perverting the system of justice, corrupting the electoral commission and turning the people’s last hope of protection, the mass media, into its own pack of propagandising ‘prostitutes’.

BN must be destroyed. As of course someday it certainly will be, just as Carthage was over 2,000 years ago by its destroyer, Rome, centuries later.

But BN won’t last for 500 years, despite its desperate attempts to emulate Roman emperors’ ‘bread-and-circuses’ method of control of their subjects with 1Malaysia-styled 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) and sandiwaras.

In fact, 50+ years look to be pretty much BN’s limit. Most Malaysians with any brains are utterly scornful of the regime’s efforts to forgive the plundering of countless billions of their cash and resources in return for ‘gifts’ of trifling sums of hush-money.

And the sandiwaras intended to amuse and divert the populace seem to be alienating more of the masses than they impress. Throwing Christians to the lions seemed to have been a big hit with ancient Romans for a while, but BN’s threats to burn Christian Bibles seem to have gone down like a lead balloon.

As have many former entertainments that BN has arranged for the diversion and instruction of the public, like the shooting and C4-dismemberment of Altantuya Shaariibuu, the throwing of Teoh Beng Hock out of a window of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) building, and the deaths of dozens of ‘suspects’ in police shoot-outs and custody.

Similarly, while displays of armed combat to the death were reportedly highly popular back in ancient Rome’s Coliseum, the Malaysian people are apparently giving the thumbs-down to the gladiatorial contest that BN has been staging between its commandoes and police and a band of insurgents from the Southern Philippines in Sabah.

Considerable suspicions cast over BN

It has not only resulted in the considerable loss of lives, but has cast considerable suspicions over the BN regime’s grip on the national security that it claims as its forte, the usefulness or otherwise of its armed forces, grossly over-priced weapons acquisitions, and its innocence of involvement in Muslim uprisings in the southern Philippines and Thailand.

But perhaps the most telling casualty of this long-running and still ongoing saga has been any shred of credibility that the BN regime might have retained.

The regime first claimed that two Malaysian casualties had been caused by mortar fire, then changed the story to shooting.

But even then the powers that be couldn’t get their stories straight, with Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein (right) explaining that gunfire had begun when the insurgents tried to make a rush to break through their surrounding cordon, and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak claiming that the Malaysians casualties had been tricked into presenting themselves as targets by the other side’s waving of a white flag of truce.

Meanwhile, BN’s original assertion via Hishammuddin that the insurgents were not terrorists but fellow Muslims, which struck most of us as quite amazingly oxymoronic, has now morphed into the accusation that Anwar Ibrahim is behind the whole thing.

BN mouthpiece ‘news’ media, including Bernama, Utusan Malaysia, Star Online and TV3 have reported Najib as having urged the intelligence authorities to “probe claims that the opposition had instigated the heir of the Sulu Sultanate to reclaim Sabah”.

This allegation was reportedly based on a claim that Anwar recently met with the leader of the Moro National Liberation Front, Nur Misuari. But embarrassingly for Najib, Misuari recently stated in an interview with the Philippines’ Davao Today that Najib is his friend and a cousin of his grand-nephew.

Thus adding weight to what many of us suspect – that far from Anwar and the opposition, it is actually BN that is using the incursion to destabilise Sabah, either for the purpose of postponing the coming general election, or declaring a state of emergency in line with Najib’s stated strategy to retain power even at the cost of broken bodies and lost lives.

In short, this is yet another sign that it’s way past time for Malaysians to put an end to this rotten regime’s reign of robbery, terror and error. Or as old Cato would put it if he were alive today, BN must be destroyed.

DEAN JOHNS, after many years in Asia, currently lives with his Malaysian-born wife and daughter in Sydney, where he coaches and mentors writers and authors and practises as a writing therapist. Published books of his columns for Malaysiakini include ‘Mad about Malaysia’, ‘Even Madder about Malaysia’, ‘Missing Malaysia’, ‘1Malaysia.con’ and ‘Malaysia Mania’.

Debunk the Five Big Lies of UMNO/BN 13GE Campaign

By Lim Kit Siang

Tonight, on the fifth anniversary of the “308 political tsunami” of March 8, 2008, I want to debunk the five Big Lies of the Umno/Barisan Nasional 13th General Elections campaign.

Lie No. 1 – that Malaysia will be bankrupt in five, three or even two years’ time (depending on which Umno/BN leader is telling the lie) if Pakatan Rakyat forms the Federal Government after the 13 GE.

Only a person with a very low IQ will make or believe such a lie.

Have the state governments of Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan which are run by Pakatan Rakyat gone bankrupt after five years in the case of Penang, Selangor and Kedah and for over 22 years in the case of Kelantan?

If Pakatan Rakyat succeeds in the journey to Putrajaya in the 13GE, we want to be the Federal Government not just for one term, but also to be able to continue to get the national mandate to govern Malaysia in the 14th, 15th and future general elections.

The fastest way to end Pakatan Rakyat’s mandate to govern Malaysia is to lead the country to bankruptcy and economic ruin and this is the last thing that a Pakatan Rakyat government in Putrajaya will do.

In fact, a Pakatan Rakyat government in Putrajaya will prove that we can govern Malaysia better than Umno/Barisan Nasional, leading the country to new heights in national unity and harmony, good governance, international competitiveness and economic prosperity.

Lie No. 2 – that the Malays and the Chinese will be oppressed and marginalized. To the Malay electorate, UMNO leaders warned that if Pakatan Rakyat governs Malaysia, the Malays will suffer as the DAP will be the dominant party and PAS is only a puppet and stooge of DAP; while to the Chinese crowd, MCA and the other BN component parties warned that the Chinese will be the real victims as the DAP is a “eunuch” to PAS as DAP leaders would not dare to speak up or stand up to the PAS leaders who will be the real powers of a Pakatan Rakyat government.

This double falsehood typifies the hypocrisy, dishonesty and total lack of ethics of the Umno/BN leadership who could spread different and even conflicting lies to different audiences – trying to incite racial hatred and distrust by arousing baseless fears among the Malays and non-Malays that they will be oppressed by the other communities.

Lie No. 3 – the Malays warned that a vote for PR is a vote for DAP and the oppression of the Muslims as DAP wants to establish a Christian state; while the Chinese and non-Muslims warned that a vote for PR is a vote for PAS and the amputation of their limbs with the introduction of hudud and establishment of an Islamic State.

Lie No. 4 – that there will be another May 13 riots and racial conflagration if Pakatan Rakyat wins in the 13GE, particularly with the specific warning that Malays will lose their political rights if Umno is defeated. This is a downright lie as it is only the UMNO leaders and their cronies, and not the ordinary Malays, who will lose their political rights if UMNO loses, as replacing UMNO in the corridors of power will be the Pakatan Rakyat representing all races, religions and regions in the country.

In and out of Parliament, I had challenged the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to declare that UMNO/BN leaders will accept the verdict of the electorate and will effect a peaceful and democratic transition of power from BN to PR if this is the result of the 13GE, but Najib has been conspicuously silent on this issue up to now although he claims to want to make Malaysia “the best democracy in the world”.

Umno/BN leaders are showing their utter lack of responsibility, ethics and even patriotism by spreading these three lies about the 3Rs on race, religion and riots.

A Pakatan Rakyat government in Putrajaya is committed to demonstrate that all races and religions in Malaysia stand to benefit, as it will be a better government than Umno/BN to promote and safeguard the rights and welfare of all races, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Orang Asli, Kadazans and Ibans, with full freedom of religion as enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution.

Lie No. 5 – that Pakatan Rakyat is “sama-sama” like Umno/BN, particularly with regard to corruption and abuses of power. One of the first tasks of a PR government in Putrajaya is to show it is not “sama-sama” like the UMNO/BN government, which has presided over worsening corruption, cronyism, financial scandals, abuses of power and the subversion of the independence, professionalism and integrity of the national key institutions in the country.

Let all patriotic Malaysians who want a peaceful democratic change in Malaysia in the 13GE ala-South Korea Spring in 1997 and not ala-Arab Spring help to debunk these five Big Lies so as not to allow UMNO/BN leaders and propagandists to continue to mislead and bamboozle the Malaysian voters after five decades.

(Speech at DAP Kepong Anniversary Dinner at Taman Menjalara, Kepong on Friday, 8th March 2013)