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Speech at Taman Indah Branch Dinner
by Ronnie Liu
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(Balakong, Saturday) :  More than 1,100 people turned up to support DAP in Taman Indah Cheras tonight. The dinner was organized by the DAP Taman Indah Branch together with the Selangor Public Complaints Bureau with an objective to raise fund for a party premises.

A similar fundraising dinner was organized here to purchase a mobile service van. The service van has been moving around to serve the Selangor people. It has been taking the team to events such as weekly demonstrations in Bandar Mahkota Cheras (a struggle to open the access road to the township) and Pandamaran (Protest against Zakaria Md Deros over the Palace Idaman issue).

We thank the Balakong people for giving strong support to the Selangor Public Complaints Bureau headed by Yap Lum Chin and our team in Taman Indah. A stronger DAP is certainly working in the interest and benefits of the people and we urge all Malaysians to give their undivided support to the party.

The administration under PM Abdullah has failed to deliver all his pledges and promises. He has failed miserably in fighting corruption, poor delivery system and police reforms. He also failed to manage economy efficiently and effectively. On the other hand, he allowed both racial and religious extremisms to rear their heads in the country. He is a big disappointment for all Malaysians who have trusted him, given him the biggest mandate ever in the history of Malaysia.

Before I proceed with my speech, I like to know how many who are present here tonight think that the current Prime Minister is doing a good job so far. I ask all of you to show a "Yes" by clapping your hands. ( Not to my surprise, there was a complete silence. I received no applause apart from a confused helper who did not hear what I said on the stage)

I have made three police reports on behalf of the party over the past three months in an effort to stop the rot in this country.

The first one was made against the attempt of local universities pushing for ethnic relations courses on a wrong presumption and twisted historical facts. The deeply flawed textbooks or guidelines were withdrawn soon after our protest.

The second police report was made against all delegates of the UMNO/Umno Youth assemblies who made seditious, racial, inflammatory and provocative remarks in their speeches. We want the authority to take actions against these irresponsible Umno politicians to preserve racial harmony and national unity in this country. Even the top UM NO leadership has since admitted that three of these delegates have gone overboard but they were only served with a stern warning internally without further actions.

The third one was made against the entire Umno leadership under Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi. We wanted the police to investigate the allocation of Government fund as much as RM600 million which allegedly channeled to 191 Umno divisions in Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia ( Sarawak was excluded because there is no single Umno division there). The allocation was announced by both the PM and deputy PM immediately after their briefing to Umno delegates in an internal meeting on 13 Nov 2006. A letter signed by the Deputy Works Minister Datuk Mohd Zin on the same day confirmed the hanky-panky. I have forwarded the letter and other relevant documents to the police for investigation.

We will also write in to the Public Accounts Committee headed by Datuk Sharir Samad to seek the PAC for actions against Umno for misappropriating public fund.

We will also write in to the Attorney General chamber for a legal point of view on the matter.

On the case of Bandar Mahkota Cheras blockade, we have met the Director General of Malaysia Highway Authority (LLM) on last Thursday. We were disappointed with him as he has failed to organize the four-party meeting (between LLM, Developer Narajaya and Toll Concessionaire Grand Saga and the BMC action committee). Nevertheless, we have taken the opportunity to voice our disappointment and grievances to him for a better understanding of the episode. We even give him a VCD detailing the struggle of the action committee so far.

The action committee has met on Friday night and resolved that another two weeks will be given to LLM to fix a meeting of all relevant parties. Failing which, the residents will remove the blockade as we believed the barrier set up by the Grand Saga company was illegal. The residents will also demand the developer to pay compensation to the effected residents as the promise of a toll-free access road was stated clearly in their sales brochures and advertisements.

Before I end my speech, I once again urge the people of Balakong and Serdang to vote in the DAP candidates in the coming general elections. A stronger DAP is certainly good for Malaysians and democracy.

(2/12/2006)