It’s Best Your Get Your Paws Off Masai, Kit Siang

Raggie Jessy

A long range manoeuvre that was instituted by Lee Kwan Yew in 1964 could possibly be edging towards consummation following DAP supremo Kit Siang’s visit to Taman Megah in Masai yesterday.

A communally inclined fundamentalist who garbs himself in sheep clothing, Kit Siang’s active political career was spawned off the general elections of 1964 when Devan Nair won the Bangsar seat on PAP’s (People’s Action Party) ticket.

Devan later invited Kit Siang to be his political secretary, recognizing his Malaysian heritage and inclination to hold his own. Devan stayed on to form the Democratic Action Party (DAP) following Singapore’s exit from Malaysia in 1965.

It was on Lee Kwan Yew’s persistence that Devan returned to Singapore. In 1981, Lee Kwan Yew was quoted to have said, “the Cabinet decided that Singapore-Malaysia relations would always be bedevilled if Devan Nair remained a DAP leader. I persuaded him to come back.”

But Kwan Yew may have been double dealing Devan back then. Many believed that the latter had intended for Kit Siang to take over the reins of the party from Devan.

DAP was formally registered on the 18th of March, 1966. Lim Kit Siang served as its National Organizing Secretary from 1966 to 1969, before taking over the reins as Secretary General in 1969, following a turbulent period in Malaysia’s history.

Ever since, the party championed a free market and equity of treatment for all Malaysians. Ironically, Kit Siang embroiled himself in controversies that further estranged the Malays from themselves and the Chinese. He drove fissures into the glue that barely held Malay moderates and leftists together by repeatedly harping on Malay special privileges and the status of bahasa Melayu.

Trending on communal overtones, Malay-based parties were always the target of his relentless attacks. As a matter of fact, he has been up in arms with every Prime Minister Malaysia has seen since the late Tun Abdul Razak assumed office.

DAP rose to prominence following the 12th general elections, when the Chinese anted up and delivered the party a thumping pat on the back. The sudden turn in tides was credited to former Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who many believe had hitched his charisma and charm to the party.

Kit Siang inched towards the Iskandar Development Region (IDR or Iskandar) in Johor and bagged the trophy from incumbent Abdul Ghani Othman during the 13th general elections. Kit Siang won the Gelang Patah seat with a majority of 14,762 votes, defeating Abdul Ghani who captured 39,522 votes.

Kit Siang’s victory followed a show of hands by Singaporean-based companies within the region. Following the inception of Iskandar in 2006, tides began to turn as billions of ringgit in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) spilled over into proximal territories. Gains multiplied exponentially following the completion of Lebuh Kota Iskandar, a major highway that connects Gelang Patah and Kota Iskandar, Johor’s new administrative centre.

Both Gelang Patah and Masai progressed on fast-track to become business hubs for Singaporean enterprises. Businesses in Singapore relocated a bulk of their labour force to stations in Iskandar and surrounding territories, leaving only administrative centres active on the island. The move helped Singapore transform its business climate without the need to reclaim vast terrains of land.

Kit Siang’s fascination for Gelang Patah and Masai is by no means innocent. Today, Gelang Patah and the entire Iskandar region is a virtual Singapore, domiciled by thousands of Singaporean employees and their families who are inclined towards a DAP-PAP alliance. Singaporean based companies have recruited tens of thousands of locals who appear to have a bent for a DAP-led government in Johor.

Back when Singapore stood side by side with the Peninsula in the Federation of Malaysia, Kwan Yew was feared to have gnawed into the Malay fixed deposit both in the Peninsula and Singapore following the 1963 Singapore general elections.

And back then, Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman had a hunch that Kuan Yew would call for elections as soon as the island colony was granted entry into the Federation of Malaysia. It was then that the Tunku legitimized a Singapore Alliance (SA), the Singaporean chapter to the ruling Alliance of Malaya.

Almost immediately after Singapore gained entry into the federation, Kwan Yew called for general elections in Singapore. This infuriated the Tunku, who went on to breach a verbal contract both he and Kwan Yew had entered into.

The agreement forbade either one’s party to contest in each other’s territories until such a time that Malaysia was upright on its democratic scruples. But the Tunku breached the verbal contract and began massive campaigns in favour of the SA. A speech that he delivered two days before polls was said to have been ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’.

Following the speech, Singaporeans took pity on Kwan Yew and delivered PAP a thumping victory in Malay areas. They perceived the Tunku’s campaign for SA to be an act of betrayal towards Kwan Yew and Singaporeans, who had broken their backs to return Singapore to the Federation of Malaya and by extension, the state of Johor.

But Kwan Yew had really played the Malays out. The Federation of Malaysia was Kwan Yew’s pass towards an independent Republic of Singapore. He used the Malays and the Tunku as a slingshot to dislodge the island colony from British rule and to retain his leadership of Singapore. Back before its entry into Malaysia, Kwan Yew’s government was at the brink of a collapse that would have ushered in a leftist government the Tunku was afraid of.

In other words, Kwan Yew played the sympathy card and outwitted the Tunku, who was by then a bundle of nerves. PAP’s victory triggered fears of a Chinese-led dominion at a time when the Chinese outnumbered the Malays in West Malaysia. The fact that Malays had turned out en masse to rally behind Kwan Yew vexed both UMNO and the Tunku.

The Tunku gradually was on to Kwan Yew, who was turning the Malays against themselves and the Chinese. But it was too late.

When PAP contested several seats within the peninsula during the 1964 general elections, Kwan Yew became an instant threat to UMNO and the Tunku. Sometime mid 1964, Tan Sri Syed Jaafar Albar initiated a hate campaign against Singaporean Chinese and accused Kwan Yew of harbouring imperious contempt for Singaporean Malays.

Jaafar went on to stoke passions through mainstream media by charging the Chinese with discrimination against the Malays. When Kuan Yew heard of this, he resorted to remedial measures by calling for a convention to ‘allay Malay fears’. Ironically, talks of ‘alternative arrangements’ for several states within the west coast had also surfaced within Kwan Yew’s circles around then.

Be that as it may, Jaafar pre-empted the convention by orchestrating a hate parade on the 30th of June 1964. The demonstration was attended by a clamorous crowd of hecklers, who were heard chanting “kill him … kill Lee (Kuan Yew)…” Tensions mounted to summit on the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, with riots that killed dozens of Singaporeans and injured hundreds others.

And that was back in 1964.

During the 13th general elections, DAP gnawed into the Malay fixed deposit and put its tack on the Chinese ballot, much like Kwan Yew’s PAP did back in 1963 and 1964. Back then, Kwan Yew was believed to have discussed on ‘alternative solutions’ for several states within the west coast, Johor and Singapore included. It bothered the Johor Palace back in 1965 when the Tunku had motioned in favour of Singapore’s exit from Malaysia in Parliament.

In what appeared to be a ruckus of emotions, a group of hecklers that numbered 100 turned rowdy yesterday when they advanced towards Kit Siang and Johor DAP director Liew Chin Tong at a coffee shop in Masai, demanding that the former pack his act and shove off.

Police dissipated the scene some minutes later and advised Kit Siang to abort a ‘walkabout’ that had been scheduled at a marketplace proximal to the coffee shop in Taman Megah, where a speech by Chin Tong was delivered to several other DAP leaders and supporters.

Chin Tong was said to have spoken ill of UMNO and the Prime Minister in his delivery, the way PAP did back in 1964 when it undermined the Tunku in campaign speeches. This infuriated several UMNO members who appeared to be at the scene prancing around like demented apes on steroids.

That’s right; those guys from UMNO had no business behaving in the manner they did and owe both Kit Siang and Chin Tong an apology.

Having said that, both the Johor Palace and UMNO aren’t the least bit pleased with the idea of a DAP-led infiltration into the Malay fixed deposit down south.

And neither was it business as usual when DAP sought the patronage and membership of several public figures who ‘just so happened’ to be Malays.

No. Masai and territories proximate to Iskandar are likely campaign posts for a DAP-led incursion down south come the 14th general elections (GE-14). And all UMNO and PKR would have left towards GE-15 would be ashes in their vaults …