Apology to people of Sabah for calling on  them to vote for PBS in March 1999 Sabah state general election now that PBS has rejoined the Barisan Nasional without mandate from the people


Opening Media Conference Statement
by Lim Kit Siang

(Kota Kinabalu,  Monday)Firstly, I wish to apologize to the people of Sabah for calling on them to vote for PBS in March 1999 Sabah state general election now that PBS has rejoined the Barisan Nasional without mandate from the people of Sabah.  

In March 1999, I had called on the Sabah voters to make a special effort to vote for PBS to support the nation-wide campaign for justice, freedom, democracy and good governance, and I even call on the voters of Tawau and Sandakan to vote for former Sabah DAP leaders, Samson Chin and Ang Lian Hai, although I was attacked by another former Sabah DAP leaders - but all this was for the larger interests of ensuringt the survival of democracy where the voice of the ordinary people could be heard and fully represented in Sabah and Malaysia. 

The defection of PBS to the Barisan Nasional is not in the interests of the people of Sabah but for the interests of the party and its leaders, and for this reason, it is a major setback for democracy in Sabah and Malaysia.  

Secondly, I wish to bring the message of the DAP's "No to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957" People's Awareness Campaign to Sabah, as the campaign to defend the 44-year 1957 Merdeka Constitution and "social contract" reached by our forefathers from the major communities and reaffirmed by the peoples of Sabah and Sarawak in 1963 on the formation of Malaysia that Malaysia is a democratic, secular, multi-religious, tolerant and progressive nation with Islam as the official religion but not an Islamic state require the support of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, territory or political beliefs.  

The people of Sabah, like the people of Peninsular Malaya and Sarawak, must  say a loud and clear  "No to 911, No to 929, Yes to 1957" in one voice, to declare (I) that Malaysians do not want any terrorism in the form of the Sept. 11 attacks in Malahysia; (ii) that Malaysia does not  accept the "929 Declaration" of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at the Gerakan national assembly on September 29 last year that Malaysia is an Islamic state and also reject the PAS model of an Islamic state; and (iii) that the people want to defend and preserve the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and social contract and 1963 Malaysia Agreement that Malaysia remain a democratic, secular, multi-religious, tolerant and progressive nation with Islam as the official religion but not as an Islamic state.  

As a result of the PBS' defection back to Barisan Nasional, there is a total political vacuum in Sabah where the voices and grievances of the ordinary people have been shut out from all political avenues - and there is no better example of this political vacuum than the silence of the Sabah political arena on the people's disagreement with the "929 Declaration" of the Prime Minister to transform Malaysia from a democratic, secular and multi-religious nation into an Islamic state.  

The PBS should have been the loudest voice in Sabah to oppose Mahathir's "929 Declaration" but it has become its strongest defender, in order to get accepted back into the Barisan Nasional.  

This political vacuum in Sabah will have to be filled by the DAP, as whether Malaysia succeeds in defending and preserving the 1957 Merdeka Constitution and "social contract" and the 1963 Malaysia Agreement depends on the unity of all Malaysians, in Peninsular Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak.  

(10/6/2002)


*Lim Kit Siang - DAP National Chairman