Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are on the eve of one the greatest electoral battles of our nation’s 61 year history.
I understand that some are weary of politics now and are even thinking of submitting to the rule of Najib Tun Razak but I urge all of you to hear me out.
Barisan Nasional is now embarking on a campaign that will destroy whatever freedom we have left in our nation. Instead of reforms that will create a new political landscape of open discussion and intellectual debate, they are now looking at more ways to suppress and oppress im order to force Malaysians to submit to their iron fist of absolute rule.
If the redelineation of constituencies to favour them and the passing of the fake news law is not bad enough, they now want to discourage you from practicing your democratic right as citizens of Malaysia through the announcement of the Election Commission that the polling day will be on the 9th of May which is a working day. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that their plan is to secure a victory through low voter turnout seeing that they can achieve a majority in parliament by not even winning the popular vote or even forty percent of it. Their aim is not to govern a willing people but to control the people using the government.
This nation is now in our darkest hour, not from external threats but an internal power. Whenever we are abroad, we always feel the pride of calling ourselves Malaysians, it is our heritage and our source of culture and it is one that does not need the BN to define it for us. Malaysia is our home and our motherland, and we, the citizens are the ones that can and will decide our destiny as a nation.
So when the BN throws the rulebook out the window and come at us with all of their might, do we then back down and hide? Do we leave the country and leave her in the hands of these rulers to destroy everything that we grew up with? Our childhoods, our homes, our friends and most importantly, our loved ones?
No! We must make it clear to them that no matter what they throw at us, we will stand firm and fight! We will no longer be bullied by the BN into submission! Malaysia belongs to her people and not the BN.
Malaysians, your country needs you, your fellow Malaysians need you. Come back to vote and let us rebuild this country together so that one day, there will be no reason that you have to leave to find a better life elsewhere anymore. This is a call to battle. It is an electoral battle where the enemy is using all their governmental powers to their advantage. But we must fight and we must fight as one team to win this time.
And we will win. This is a battle for the liberation of Malaysia from the oppressive clutches of a kleptocratic regime. Let us stand as one as if we all stand together, no oppressive regimes will be able to stop us. We will fight the BN in the cities, we will fight the BN in the villages, we will fight the BN in the plantations and even in the forests. It is now or never!
We will never SURRENDER!
Chris Lee Chun Kit is a City Councillor with the City Council of Penang Island (MBPP) representing the DAP