{"id":19499,"date":"2021-02-22T17:21:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T09:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=19499"},"modified":"2021-02-22T17:52:32","modified_gmt":"2021-02-22T09:52:32","slug":"we-must-create-a-new-future-for-all-malaysians-and-not-be-the-captives-of-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/we-must-create-a-new-future-for-all-malaysians-and-not-be-the-captives-of-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"We must create a new future for all Malaysians and not be the captives of the past."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I want to thank my family, party comrades and colleagues,  friends and relatives for this unprecedented and wonderful  virtual birthday celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
DAP veterans paid a very special tribute to Lim Kit Siang on his 80th birthday<\/em><\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I am glad to see the founding Chairman Dr. Chen Man Hin and Mrs. Chen with us, Johore pioneer State Assemblyman Lee Kaw, DAP veterans Tan Chui Sui (Mrs. Chiang Heng Kai),  Wong Kang Li and wife, Chong Siew Chiang and wife,  Ngoi Thiam Woh, my long-time friend K. Siladass, my classmates going back to seven decades ago, Pek Teck Soon, Tan Tik Seng and Allah Goh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I have spent more than 55 years in DAP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The party has come a long way since its early days in the sixties, when we contested in the first general election in 1969 with some 2,000 members, sandwiched between a formidable  ruling coalition, the Alliance, and until then,  the main voice of dissent –  but which had  just launched an election boycott before the 1969 polls on the ground that  the democratic constitutional struggle was just  a farce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DAP fought for a non-communist, social  democratic and just multi-racial Malaysia for all Malaysians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
DAP has been a victim of fake news for decades. Some of the lies spread can even be quite comical at times. Here Kit Siang debunks a lie saying he and Lee Kuan Yew are related and are part of a communist family.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All these were deliberately forgotten when in subsequent years, I was accused of being a communist, apart from being anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Royalty and on top of them, a quadruple  agent of CIA, KGB, MI6 and the Australian Secret Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I was in Kota Kinabalu, I  was accused of being the cause of the May 13, 1969 riots in Kuala Lumpur, leading illegal processions in the streets of KL to provoke the rage  of the Malays.  In actual fact, I was never in KL during the May 13 riots. I first set foot in KL on May 18, 1969 after I was arrested by the Special Branch on returning home at the Subang International Airport earlier that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we must  never allow the past to  bury the future. If necessary, the future must bury the past to build better lives for future generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The year-long Covid-19 pandemic which has wrought such disaster not only to the lives of Malaysians but the whole wide world reminds me of two truisms: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. No one is safe until everybody is safe. <\/p>

2. No country is safe until all countries are safe.<\/p>Lim Kit Siang<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of race, religion, region or class, we are all from the same race \u2013 the human race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a lot of dejection, depression even a sense of hopelessness in the land. But we must never yield to these negative sentiments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although we do not want \u201cpositive\u201d results in Covid-19 tests, we must always be positive and never give up hope and dare to dream big dreams for ourselves and the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote a poem  \u201cMy  Dream\u201d for my class magazine, The Light, when I was in Form III in Batu Pahat High School, and it remains as relevant today  some 64 years later:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne for all and all for one
\u201cWe care not what colour, creed or religion you belong
\u201cFor aren\u2019t each of us Malaya\u2019s son
\u201cThen why let silly racial quarrels prolong?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us renew our dream that while Malaysians will have multiple identities \u2013 ethnic, religious, linguistic, cultural \u2013 they have one common overriding identity as Malaysians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody is asking any Malaysian to forget that he or she is a Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan, Iban or Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Sikkh, Taoist, but everyone is first and foremost a Malaysian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That is my dream. That is your dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must have the  stamina, fortitude and conviction to see this Dream come true!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must create a new future for all Malaysians and not be the  captives of the past!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We want Malaysia to be a world-class great nation. We do not want Malaysia to be a failed state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, I want to thank the IT pioneers of  Malaysia DAP and Penang DAP for a most creative and path-breaking virtual birthday celebration, as well as everyone who had participated in the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lim Kit Siang,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MP for Iskandar Puteri<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I want to thank my family, party comrades and colleagues,  friends and relatives for this unprecedented and wonderful  virtual birthday celebration. I am glad to see the founding Chairman Dr. Chen Man Hin and Mrs. Chen with us, Johore pioneer State Assemblyman Lee Kaw, DAP veterans Tan Chui Sui (Mrs. Chiang Heng Kai),  Wong Kang Li and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[344],"tags":[1469,25,369,143],"class_list":["post-19499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-highlights","tag-happy-birthday","tag-lim-kit-siang","tag-malaysia","tag-malaysian-first"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19499"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19510,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19499\/revisions\/19510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}