DAP veteran has a dream despite setbacks for the country and the Opposition Alliance.
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is in the international doghouse again over the rule of law, democracy and human rights, a terrible ordeal for the country after it recently secured a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council and was elected as chairman of Asean.
“The 5-0 unanimous decision of the Federal Court on Tuesday in rejecting Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal was a disservice to Malaysia’s international reputation and its Vision 2020 for developed nation status,” said DAP elder statesman Lim Kit Siang.
He was lamenting the fact that Anwar will be 72 years before he is released. “He will be disqualified from holding elective office for another five years after his release, unless the Umno/Barisan Nasional (BN) government is toppled in the 14th General Election.”
The unprecedented statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, minutes after Chief Justice Ariffin Zakaria announced the court’s unanimous rejection of Anwar’s appeal, but before sentencing had been announced, added Lim, only escalated national and international doubts about whether there was true independence of the Judiciary and rule of law in the country.
The heart-rending scenes of Wan Azizah Ismail, Nurul Izzah and her five siblings, and Anwar’s grandchildren in the Federal Court when Anwar’s appeal was dismissed and the sentence passed, continued Lim who is also DAP Parliamentary Leader and Gelang Patah MP, brought back similar heart-breaking memories 17 years ago in the Federal Court in Kuala Lumpur.
At that time, he recalled, the victim of persecution was Lim Guan Eng, then MP for Kota Melaka, who was being punished for championing the rights of a 15 year-old Malay girl in Melaka. “He lost his final appeal and was immediately sent off to Kajang Prison to serve his 18-month jail sentence.”
The whole Lim family was in court, said Lim in walking down memory lane, “but we were utterly helpless like Azizah and her family in the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya on Tuesday”.
“The battle for justice, freedom and human dignity, the causes which Anwar had dedicated his entire life, must burn stronger in the hearts and souls of all Malaysians until such injustices and abuses are nightmares of the past.”
He reiterated his take at the “Rakyat Hakim Negara” dinner in Petaling Jaya on the eve of the Federal Court decision on Anwar’s case, that “Pakatan Rakyat (PR) was the embodiment of Anwar’s greatest success in the national agenda for change”.
PR scored unprecedented victories first in the 2008 and then in the 2013 General Elections, said Lim. “Anwar was denied his destiny as the 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia because of an undemocratic electoral system. PR secured 52 per cent of the national vote.”
The three allies in PR — DAP, PKR and PAS — as well as countless NGOs and NGIs (Non-government individuals) who had given unstinting support to PR in the past seven years, pleaded Lim, “must all be prepared to walk the last mile to ensure the success of the Opposition Alliance”.
“Let me repeat the pledge I made on behalf of DAP on the eve of Anwar’s third incarceration”.
”We do not hide the fact that PR is afflicted with our greatest crisis since our formation seven years ago, even more challenging than the first crisis PR faced in September 2011, which nearly led to the end of PR.”
If PR had broken up over the hudud controversy in September 2011, reminded Lim, then the historic result of the 13th General Elections in May 2013, which saw PR winning 52 per cent of the electoral vote and reducing Najib’s Federal administration into a minority government, would not have been achieved. “PR won 89 Parliamentary seats and 229 state assembly seats outside Sarawak.”
“If PR now breaks up before the next polls, it is anybody’s guess as to what would be the outcome in the 14th General Elections to be held in three years’ time,” warned Lim.
“It is precisely because PR embodies the hopes of generations of Malaysians for change and Malaysia’s rendezvous with greatness, that DAP leaders are prepared to walk the last mile to make Pakatan Rakyat work.”
This, continued Lim, is also the common sentiments and commitments of PKR and PAS leaders on the unprecedented promises and challenges presented by the PR experiment.
PR’s greatest tribute to Anwar is its two fundamental principles.
“PR can only sustain and succeed if we adhere to two fundamental principles which had been the secrets of PR’s success in the past six years.”
The first, he said, was strict adherence to the PR Common Policy Framework which had formed the bedrock common principles of the three parties in the alliance.
The second, he said, was the operational principle of consensus in the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council as the highest policy-making body for PR.
“The greatest tribute we can pay to Anwar, starting on his third incarceration, was to reaffirm these two fundamental principles which held the secrets of PR’s success,” said Lim. “It will lead PR from strength to strength.”
“Our political opponents in Umno/BN fear most, and are trying their utmost to destroy, PR’s integrity and viability based on the two fundamental PR principles.”
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is in the international doghouse again over the rule of law, democracy and human rights, a terrible ordeal for the country after it recently secured a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council and was elected as chairman of Asean.
“The 5-0 unanimous decision of the Federal Court on Tuesday in rejecting Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s appeal was a disservice to Malaysia’s international reputation and its Vision 2020 for developed nation status,” said DAP elder statesman Lim Kit Siang.
He was lamenting the fact that Anwar will be 72 years before he is released. “He will be disqualified from holding elective office for another five years after his release, unless the Umno/Barisan Nasional (BN) government is toppled in the 14th General Election.”
The unprecedented statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, minutes after Chief Justice Ariffin Zakaria announced the court’s unanimous rejection of Anwar’s appeal, but before sentencing had been announced, added Lim, only escalated national and international doubts about whether there was true independence of the Judiciary and rule of law in the country.
The heart-rending scenes of Wan Azizah Ismail, Nurul Izzah and her five siblings, and Anwar’s grandchildren in the Federal Court when Anwar’s appeal was dismissed and the sentence passed, continued Lim who is also DAP Parliamentary Leader and Gelang Patah MP, brought back similar heart-breaking memories 17 years ago in the Federal Court in Kuala Lumpur.
At that time, he recalled, the victim of persecution was Lim Guan Eng, then MP for Kota Melaka, who was being punished for championing the rights of a 15 year-old Malay girl in Melaka. “He lost his final appeal and was immediately sent off to Kajang Prison to serve his 18-month jail sentence.”
The whole Lim family was in court, said Lim in walking down memory lane, “but we were utterly helpless like Azizah and her family in the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya on Tuesday”.
“The battle for justice, freedom and human dignity, the causes which Anwar had dedicated his entire life, must burn stronger in the hearts and souls of all Malaysians until such injustices and abuses are nightmares of the past.”
He reiterated his take at the “Rakyat Hakim Negara” dinner in Petaling Jaya on the eve of the Federal Court decision on Anwar’s case, that “Pakatan Rakyat (PR) was the embodiment of Anwar’s greatest success in the national agenda for change”.
PR scored unprecedented victories first in the 2008 and then in the 2013 General Elections, said Lim. “Anwar was denied his destiny as the 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia because of an undemocratic electoral system. PR secured 52 per cent of the national vote.”
The three allies in PR — DAP, PKR and PAS — as well as countless NGOs and NGIs (Non-government individuals) who had given unstinting support to PR in the past seven years, pleaded Lim, “must all be prepared to walk the last mile to ensure the success of the Opposition Alliance”.
“Let me repeat the pledge I made on behalf of DAP on the eve of Anwar’s third incarceration”.
”We do not hide the fact that PR is afflicted with our greatest crisis since our formation seven years ago, even more challenging than the first crisis PR faced in September 2011, which nearly led to the end of PR.”
If PR had broken up over the hudud controversy in September 2011, reminded Lim, then the historic result of the 13th General Elections in May 2013, which saw PR winning 52 per cent of the electoral vote and reducing Najib’s Federal administration into a minority government, would not have been achieved. “PR won 89 Parliamentary seats and 229 state assembly seats outside Sarawak.”
“If PR now breaks up before the next polls, it is anybody’s guess as to what would be the outcome in the 14th General Elections to be held in three years’ time,” warned Lim.
“It is precisely because PR embodies the hopes of generations of Malaysians for change and Malaysia’s rendezvous with greatness, that DAP leaders are prepared to walk the last mile to make Pakatan Rakyat work.”
This, continued Lim, is also the common sentiments and commitments of PKR and PAS leaders on the unprecedented promises and challenges presented by the PR experiment.
PR’s greatest tribute to Anwar is its two fundamental principles.
“PR can only sustain and succeed if we adhere to two fundamental principles which had been the secrets of PR’s success in the past six years.”
The first, he said, was strict adherence to the PR Common Policy Framework which had formed the bedrock common principles of the three parties in the alliance.
The second, he said, was the operational principle of consensus in the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council as the highest policy-making body for PR.
“The greatest tribute we can pay to Anwar, starting on his third incarceration, was to reaffirm these two fundamental principles which held the secrets of PR’s success,” said Lim. “It will lead PR from strength to strength.”
“Our political opponents in Umno/BN fear most, and are trying their utmost to destroy, PR’s integrity and viability based on the two fundamental PR principles.”
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