Media Statement
by Lim Guan Eng  

(Petaling Jaya, Thursday): Attending a conference on democracy in Taiwan, I have been informed by my staff that UMNO Youth President Datuk Hishamuddin Tun Hussein Onn has issued a statement withdrawing the offensive and untruthful cartoon equating Opposition leaders as communists together with Chin Peng. In that cartoon posted on UMNO Youth online website, the faces of Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chair Karpal Singh, International Affairs Secretary Ronnie Liu, Anwar Ibrahim, PAS President Hadi Awang and Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz were superimposed on to a book by Communist Party Malaya(CPM) leader Chin  Peng and described as “communists forever”.

DAP leaders had lodged a police report against the offensive cartoon which plunged political deceit to new depths by turning lies into an art form. In withdrawing the cartoon, Hishamuddin said  “They are upset? It’s just a cartoon...If they are offended by the cartoon, we will take it out. That’s not a problem.”

DAP welcomes the move by Hishamuddin to withdraw the offensive and false cartoon as an admission on his part that the leaders of opposition parties are not communists nor share the communist struggle of Chin Peng. Despite DAP’s record of honouring Tunku Abdul Rahman as Bapa Merdeka personally 20 years ago in 1985, UMNO Ministers and UMNO Youth have continued to target the DAP with lies for glorifying Chin Peng and rejecting Tunku as Bapa Merdeka in the Malay and English papers.

Let me restate the party’s position consistently pronounced throughout the 39 years history of the DAP which have been ignored by the English and Malay papers: 

o       First, Tunku Abdul Rahman’s role in helping to achieve Independence for Malaysia and as Bapa Merdeka is not only unquestioned but fully supported by Malaysians.

o       Second, Merdeka was not achieved by the singular efforts of UMNO alone but by the collective efforts of the Chinese, Indians and Malays, including UMNO members and Malays not in UMNO.

o       Third, DAP had never glorified Chin Peng or supported the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) as we abhor the use of violence and unconstitutional means, and DAP is committed to work within the constitutional process to achieve greater political freedoms and improve the economic well-being of the people.

UMNO Youth leaders led by Hishamuddin and Khairy Jamaluddin had gone on a media rampage against the DAP through their control of the mass media, culminating in the offensive cartoon against Opposition leaders, in reckless disregard of  the  official position of the DAP, also subscribed by  Ronnie Liu who had issued several statements clarifying that his article did not  reject Tunku as Bapa Merdeka or glorify Chin Peng and  the communist struggle.

In withdrawing the cartoon from UMNO Youth’s website, Hishamuddin had said that he was offended by Ronnie Liu’s article which implied that his father was a mere commandant in the police force under the British administration. I believe this was never the intent of Ronnie Liu. Ronnie Liu had said that he had not harboured any ill-will against our first three Prime Ministers in writing the article, but he had said that his delivery was perhaps not as polished or subject to misinterpretation that could be exploited by irresponsible parties.

DAP holds his father, former Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn, in high regard for his integrity which was untainted by personal scandal. As Hishamuddin felt offended that Ronnie Liu’s article had slighted his father and in response to his  willingness to take the offensive cartoon out of the UMNO Youth online website, I shall be instructing that Ronnie Liu’s article be taken down from the DAP website.

Malaysian should not allow irresponsible parties to distract attention from national problems such as corruption as exemplified by the AP scandal and the economic problems of the people suffering from the government’s failure to address the multiple problems of unending oil price increases, high inflation and low economic growth. Let us focus on more pressing national issues that require our full attention, namely improving the democratic freedom and economic well-being of the people.