(Setiawan, Sunday): DAP National Legal Bureau has lodged a police report at the Sitiawan police station against UMNO Youth and its Leaders with regard to a photograph found on UMNO Youth’s website. In the said photograph, pictures of Ronnie Lieu Tian Khiew, YB Lim Kit Siang, YB Karpal Singh, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, YB Hadi Awang and YAB Nik Aziz were superimposed on the book cover titled ‘Chin Peng’ with the words ‘komunis selamanya (communist forever) ……’ implying that the said persons are communists or pro-communists.

The report was also made against UMNO Youth President Dato’ Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussen and his deputy Encik Khairy Jamaluddin for their media statements implying that the DAP International Secretary, Mr Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew and the DAP are pro-communists.

The UMNO youth’s website and the UMNO Youth leaders’ protrayal of DAP leaders, PAS leaders and the DAP as communists or pro-communists are lies.

The DAP legal team are of the view that UMNO Youth and its leaders have published false news and committed criminal defamation punishable under the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984 and the Penal Code respectively. The actions of UMNO Youth and its leaders are also seditious in nature and they should be investigated under the Sedition Act 1948.

The social democracy which the DAP expound is a far cry from the communist ideology. In a socialist democratic government, the government encourage and assist the poor, the disabled, orphans, widows, the unemployed the under privilege and the weak by creating equal opportunity for them to compete with the rest. A socialist democratic government does not grab from the rich to enrich the poor. On the other had, the Communist ideology emphasizes on common and equal sharing of wealth.

The significant difference between a socialist democratic government and a communist one can be appreciated if we look at the developed nations of the UK, Australia and most of European countries which are now ruled by socialist democrats. They are totally different from the communist states like China, Vietnam and Cuba.

The UMNO Youth and their leaders are not above the law and actions must be taken against them for breaching the law.