DAP讲座会-改国运，你决定！DAP Dinner 26/2

The DAP dinner was held on 26th Feb at Thian Court. A crowd of 1500 people attended the dinner and thus making it a success! Tickets are sold out like hot cakes, and there are many people who wants to buy, couldn't get it anymore.

YB Voon spoke on many issues. He explained the issue of St. Martin. It is a non-issue, after all, as a lawyer and people's representative he must and should protect the rights of the people, when the old lady's land was taken without any compensation.

YB Voon went on to meet guests/supporters/voters and shook their hands. He listened to their grouses and problems, and even received praise from them!

He thanked the supporters for making the dinner a success, and supporting DAP!

THE FIGHT AGAINST BN/SUPP IN STAMPIN

THE FIGHT AGAINST BN/SUPP IN STAMPIN

Kuching City has been flooded with banners and posters of other candidates, but, mine in Stampin was yet to be seen. Friends and supporters were worried and kept on ringing my phones as late as 11.00 p.m. The only thing I could do at this moment was to tell them to keep calm and help in the campaign by urging their friends and families to vote for me or to help in this campaign in one way or other. It is the most difficult campaign I had ever faced and everything seems not right for me.

Sdr. Chieng Jen in Bandar Kuching has already put up his posters and banners and his good looking face had already attracted much attention of motorists. Alan Sim and Datuk Yong’s posters were splashed in all corners of the constituencies. With their huge bill boards, Sdr. Chieng Jen’s posters looked very small and would seems ineffective to combat BN’s might in this Election. As for See How, the PKR candidate, money seems kept flowing to his side and his billboards and PKR flags also had attracted much attention of city folks.

This Election is a battle between David and Goliath, but, I just hope voters will vote both Sdr. Chieng Jen and me in. Sdr. Chieng Jen would set to retain Bandar Kuching, but, please not to let me out on the Rocket to Parliament.

DAP has very little fund and public donation this time seems not forthcoming for us to fight this Election. My Campaign Director, had to chip in RM10,000-00 to the Party Fund and like wise our Sdr. Chong Siew Chiang.

The lack of fund and manpower will make things more difficult to me, but, I am just hoping for the best.

The few comrades and supporters with me had worked very hard and they had not given up hope to see the first poster of mine to appear in the constituency very soon. Some had already volunteered to help after their work. What a great sacrifice and I admire them and their spirit to fight this Election!

Although we were weak in logistics, but, we just hope the voters will in this election reward us handsomely for our hard work.

In this Election, I am worried the stand of PKR in Stampin. It seems from the statement of See How, the PKR candidate in Stampin, that PRK and him were working closely with BN to let DAP lose in Stampin while in Kuching PKR supporters were told to support Sdr. Chieng Jen. I am also confused by PKR’s stand and what I had guessed was correct.

They were a bunch of confused politicians, without proper directions and not able to identity their real political foes.

Cheer up! Don’t lose up hope as in life anything could happen. BN/SUPP must go down and buried by the people!

火箭 P. 196 STAMPIN 候选人温利山提名现场的记录

图1：大家准备好了没？我们要出发咯！（设计对白）

图2：支持者及党员们耐心的等待公布提名结果。


图3：成绩即将公布，大家把手上的棋举起，
迎接我们的候选人温利山！



图4：恭喜恭喜，我们的候选人温利山提名过关啦！
我们永远支持你！努力，努力，再努力！

图5： 成绩公布后我们的侯选人接受记者们的采访。

图6：反对国阵关闭圣马丁小学

我们民主行动党坚决地反对！！！

支持火箭！火箭万岁！请投火箭一票！
谢谢！

LETTER OF AUTHORITY FOR STAMPIN

I have received too many phone calls in the last few days about my candidacy in contesting the Stampin Parliamentary seat. Some even suggest that if the Party will not let me go down, then a decision must be made to have me or other persons working in the Stampin Parliamentary Constituency to contest by using the “Tiger Heads” in certain constituencies including Stampin. This should be avoided at all cost.

In this matter I hereby urge my supporters to stay cool concerning the recent development about the Stampin Parliamentary Seat. Last Sunday, it was again agreed by both the State and Select Committees sitting in Sibu that I had been directed to contest the said Stampin Parliamentary seat. Please do no speculate on the seat as the decision was final. Our State Chairman had in a hand phone short message to me said that there will be no more SC meetings in respect of this Election.

I had contacted a senior member of the CEC and was informed that it was decided that state matters be tackled by state and he believed that the Party Secretary General at HQ should have already sent the authority letter out to our state leaders. I suggest this could be in blank forms signed by the Secretary General. The Secretary General also said that the matter could have already been received by the leaders of the State. This was confirmed by the Party Secretary General to Sdr. Lim Guan Eng just now. Therefore, it is just a matter of time that I receive the Letter of Authority to contest the Stampin Parliamentary seat.

We shall see Sdr. Chong Siew Chiang tonight to be briefed about the latest development in the Party.

I was told the Secretary-General is too busy in Penang to be contactable.

Therefore, again to I plead to you all not to panic and to aggravate the situation to the advantage of our opponents.

I love you and God Bless you all.

Thanks.

KOREA'S INCIDENT - Great South Gate

The recent incident in Korea where an old man burnt down a 600-year-old gate, known as Namdaemun or “Great South Gate” which was constructed in 1398 and designated as Korea’s number one treasure because the old man was angry about inadequate government compensation for redevelopment of his residential area.

If such an incident could happen in Korea, then, there is no reason that this may not happen in Malaysia. We should not forget the ugly incident some years ago in Ulu Niah that cost the lives of some people who protected their property when the BN government was helpless. We also don’t want longhouses such as the longhouse of Rh. Nyawin in Bintulu, being forcefully pulled down by the government without going to court and without providing them alternative shelter.

ISLAMIC STATE SCHOOL ON MILLAH'S LAND?

FIGURE 1:

FIGURE 2:

When taking oath of office, all YBs irrespective which political party he represents had to take oath to uphold both the State and Federal Constitutions and it is in the Federal Constitution that no person should be deprived of his property without compensation unless in accordance with the law.

To ensure people’s confidence in this BN government, Ministers had time and again told the people that this BN government would never take or illegally occupy land belonging to its’ people without any compensation. However, this seems not the case, as we could see how a landed property in the Samarahan Division, Sarawak, which legally belonged to a poor 73-year old spinster, Millah Anak Kitat, been illegally occupied for many years by the government. This piece of land was alienated to the late father of Millah sometime in 1967 and a proper title was issued. The said land was at one time used by the Anglican mission to spread Christianity as this was allowed by Millah’s late father and for this purpose a hut, named, “ALL SAINTS” was built on the said land for the purpose of prayers and the studying of the Bible. Since most natives who attended the place were illiterate, classes were held to teach them to read and write so that they could be able to study the Bible.

When Millah’s father died, the property was transmitted to Millah and to Millah’s annoyance, the government had occupied the said property without the consent of Millah with a school officially named, SK ST. MARTIN KPG. MERDANG GAYAM. Millah also discovered that “ALL SAINTS” gone and there was also no more Christian activity there. On the said land, now is an Islamic state government school, but, with poor facilities for the school children there. (Remember, Dr. Mahathir had declared Malaysia as an Islamic State and this was also recently repeated by DPM Najib Tun Razak).

Since the property was occupied by the government, Millah thought that BN government concept of negotiations over the table always worked, but, Millah’s humble approach by way of negotiations with the government to protect her rights to over the years failed. Millah had spent not less than 20 years seeking help to settle this matter, but, all avenues closed to her. Instead of reaching an amicable settlement over the matter, Millah was persuaded to surrender the land to the government on the reason that the land had been used for a public facility as a school has been built there. Millah had in the course of negotiations with the authorities, sought the services of many YBs including Ministers in the BN government, but, all did not hold true to their oath of office to protect Millah’s rights as provided in the Federal Constitution as to her dismay, they all could not or refused to help her. There should not be any reason at all for the government to fail to settle the matter amicably and much time had been given to the government to settle, but, chose to unreasonably sit on it.

Millah had no income and no other property to survive on and had to live on the generosity of her nephew.

Unlike the present BN government which preferred, without Court’s intervention, the use of machine guns, policemen, parangs and axes against those who occupied government land, Millah who respects the law, instead, chose the matter to be settled by the Court by seeking the Court to determine her constitutional rights to property as protected under Article 13 of the Federal Constitution. It was after seeking the Court’s intervention, the government then removed the school children of the school on Millah’s land to a nearby school and of course with better facilities, such as computers. To avoid such an unpleasant action, the government could easily have offered Millah some compensation or bought Millah’s land if the government had wanted to without having the matter brought to court. Under both the State and Federal Constitutions, the government of the day is responsible for the education of people but, preferred to spend millions of ringgits on unnecessary projects, such as sending a medical doctor with no academic degrees in space science into outer space. Such a responsibility should not be forced to the country’s citizen as there is no provision for this.

Our Federal Constitution does not provide for such kind of spending of sending a Malaysian to outer space and when it was known that such a project was taken by the BN government, DAP and many individuals were against it, because DAP and these individuals knew things must be done in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and everyone should uphold the Constitution.

When students had been removed from attending SK ST. MARTIN KPG. MERDANG GAYAM in Millah’s land, Millah was helplessly and falsely accused of closing the school. This was not only defamatory, but, what power Millah had in closing the school when only the government and the court had such power.

Being the protector of people’s rights, the BN government has much to explain how “ALL SAINTS”, a hut where religious activities took place, gone! With that, the right of the Christian people in the area to practise their religion had been affected. Since freedom of religious practices is enshrined in the Federal Constitution, YBs approached by Millah should have held true their oath of office to protect the religious practice of the Christian people in the area, but, they never did honour their Oath.

In the past years, we also have witnessed that the BN government had systematically turned Christian schools into Sekolah Kebangsaan and had diluted the concept of Christian schools and ways of teachings as pioneered by early Christian missionaries when setting the schools. See what had happened to premier schools such as St. Thomas and St. Joseph in Kuching. Are they still Christian mission’s schools?

I still remember when I got my education in a Christian school, we had prayers everyday before classes and it seems that, this is no more practised. A few days ago, my teacher who is now retired, came to my house for the Chinese New year told me that she was very sad that the authorities had turned many mission schools into Sekolah Kebangsaan and according to her, religion was always important to build a student’s character to always do the right thing.

Now, as a politician, I have to ponder what will happen to our society when students who left school would not always do the right thing. The answer could be that, there could be more crimes, drugs, disrespect to elders, laziness, unfriendly attitude towards others and lack of sense of justice and equality. There will also be lack of conscience in dealing with people and life and there will also be sheer greed for property, which, in the end will destroy this society.

Let us as civic minded society not forget what would happen if the rights enshrined in the Constitution are not protected. It will one day bring the country in chaos. We need to remind ourselves the recent incident in Korea where an old man burnt down a 600-year-old gate, known as Namdaemun or “Great South Gate” which was constructed in 1398 and designated as Korea’s number one treasure because the old man was angry about inadequate government compensation for redevelopment of his residential area.

If such an incident could happen in Korea, then, there is no reason that this may not happen in Malaysia. We should not forget the ugly incident some years ago in Ulu Niah that cost the lives of some people who protected their property when the BN government was helpless. We also don’t want longhouses such as the longhouse of Rh. Nyawin in Bintulu, being forcefully pulled down by the government without going to court and without providing them alternative shelter.

STAMPIN TO PKR?

When I joined DAP, Stampin was a constituency that no one had wanted to work on. The obvious reason was that it was a difficult constituency with about 30% bumiputera to work with. Many places were quite difficult to reach. The Chinese in the area were diehard SUPP supporters and the bumis like in many other places only recognized the Dacing symbol. It became more difficult to convince the bumis to support DAP or the Opposition when one could not speak their language or could not understand their culture well. Due to these problems, very few comrades in the DAP wanted to accept my challenge to work with me in Stampin. However, I admired those few who followed me over the years and who despite their age had worked very hard to realize our dream of a DAP flag in the constituency.

Before I mount a challenge to set foot in Stampin and Batu Lintang in 1999, I personally persuaded Dominique to work in Stampin or Batu Lintang and to let Sdr. Chong Chieng Jen to tackle BN/SUPP in Bandar Kuching and Padungan, but, Dominique disagreed on the reason that his political journey started in Bandar Kuching and Padungan and that most of his political activities were confined to these areas and therefore, according to him, he should work in Bandar Kuching and Padungan to realize his dream of re-capturing the seat from BN/SUPP. At that time, Dominique had already left the DAP and I could understand how he felt and think, but, at times in politics, there were many things that we need to consider if we want to effectively tackle the might of the BN/SUPP. We both knew we were fighting against the giant, BN/SUPP and should not turn our gun at each other, but to BN/SUPP.

Although Dominique had left the DAP, I always considered him as a comrade in the same struggle and my hope was also to see Dominique one day be victorious over BN/SUPP. I was very pleased when I noticed that we moved in the same direction in tackling the many issues against BN/SUPP and I was very convinced that my dream of seeing some co-operation with Dominique and his team in PKR could be the hope of the people of Sarawak, especially, the people of Kuching, of a united front to fight BN/SUPP. However, a very close relationship with his Party was always very difficult because PKR was and still is in the Barisan Alternatif (BA). DAP left BA because we knew BN was able to exploit the issue of PAS having the ambition to make Malaysia an Islamic State.

DAP’s SERIOUSNESS IN SETTING FOOT IN BATU LINTANG

To realize our goal, my team and I in these past years, went round almost house to house in the Batu Lintang State Constituency for at least five times, but, despite our hard work and in the name of “Opposition Unity” our Party leaders changed their minds in the last minute, gave up Batu Lintang in 2000 State Election to KeAdilan and move me to contest in Pending. Despite the ground work done by us, KeAdilan, in that election lost very badly to BN/SUPP. To my personal analysis, very few politicians could win an election without hard work and without going rounds visiting the constituency they wanted to contest. The Opposition paid dearly for the last minute change of strategy and we all lost.

However, before the last State Election of 20 May 2006, I was then instructed to reactivate our DAP’s work in Batu Lintang and we also covered Kota Sentosa, a seat in which, DAP also intended to contest. We had to cover Kota Sentosa as we knew very well that Sdr. Chong Chieng Jen, who at that time tipped to contest the seat, was too occupied with his parliamentary work and we need to cover for him. This time, it worked. We changed many shoes, torn and worn-out during our visits to the constituents! My team had the feeling that Kota Sentosa had a winning chance and that Batu Lintang could fall to the DAP during the last State Election and it was a feeling that we kept to ourselves until the results were out.

Sdr. GOH LING SIH TO HELP DOMINIQUE

When the State Election was near, upon the request of Dominique’s team, I agreed to allow our most experienced and hard working comrade, Sdr. Goh Ling Sih, to join Dominique’s team to campaign for him against BN/SUPP. I allowed this despite the fact that I lacked manpower and also the loss of an experienced and faithful comrade to help me during the height of the campaign period.

For the part that we play, Goh Ling Sih and I nearly paid a heavy price, with Sdr. Goh Ling Sih, but, what we did was out of sincerity to follow our national leaders, that is, to see DAP and Opposition parties triumph over BN. It was a sweet victory for the people of Kuching and the first time in the history of Sarawak, Padungan, Pending, Kota Sentosa and Batu Lintang fell for the first time fell to the Opposition during the last State Election. However, our strategy to see Batu Kawa fell to the Opposition did not work as PKR did not take their chances well.

DOMINIQUE BEGGING FOR STAMPIN

After the recent State Election, my team and I only took three weeks rest, before we packed our shoes again and went round to Stampin in preparation of this coming Parliamentary Election. We started our work in Batu Kawa and now we have moved down to Kota Sentosa and part of Batu Lintang.

We could now see some progress in our years of hard work. Everything had went on smoothly, but, I could not understand why since last year, Dominique was making a lot of suggestions in the press that he wanted PKR to contest in Stampin or to persuade DAP to give up Stampin to PKR. Dominique since then had made suggestions that if DAP will not give way to PKR in Stampin, then, PKR would contest in all seats that will be contested by DAP in this coming Parliamentary Election. It seems that Dominique was using Stampin as a card to force DAP to give way to his wishes. Why should Dominique do this? Now, he began to attack DAP and me and not BN/SUPP. Why Dominique is doing this?

I and my comrades had helped him won Padungan and now he turned the gun at us, not BN/SUPP? Because of wanting to see him won Padungan, we helped him and we nearly landed ourselves in trouble with our own Party. Which direction Dominique is heading now? Had Dominique forgot his original political goal in fighting against BN/SUPP? If Dominique wants to fight DAP, then, leave PKR and join BN and fight us from that territory. Dominique, a nice man, should not be a confused person and I hope he would not be.

To the voters, please be patient with us and we have track record that are serious politicians, not taking politics as a game. We don’t play money politics either! I pray to the people of Stampin to give me and DAP your support as it would be politically wrong to support a party or a politician who did not work much in the constituency to offer themselves to be our representative to Parliament. In the event there would be multi-cornered fight involving PKR, Dominique should understand that the voters are the best judges to determine who should win in the election and definitely not PKR or Dominique to say that they have better chance than DAP in capturing Stampin. I humbly hope the voters could also understand that DAP had given PKR the chance to capture Batu Kawa, but, they failed miserably. When we went back again to reactivate our activities in Batu Kawa, we were told that the voters rejected PKR due to their association with PAS and that the people in Batu Kawa is not yet ready for that “ marriage”.

The people in Stampin are assured that my team and I will not give up our challenge in Stampin easily as we have a dream to make a better Stampin for all! There is no room for negotiation now as the matter would not stop here. What Dominique or PKR have in their hands to offer in negotiating with DAP? Dominique and PKR should understand that no one now will negotiate with you when you come with empty hands. If we allow this, come the next State Election, Dominique and PKR will also come with the same modus operandi to force DAP to give up some seats that DAP had already captured to PKR. If Dominique insists on this, we are afraid that we don’t know how to work things out with him again for the good of the people of Sarawak. I hope Dominique and PKR will not stand on our way to do the battle with BN/SUPP. In whatever situation, we will not give up Stampin and will let the people’s court to decide.