DAP Christmas Day Message By DAP Secretary-General And MP For Bagan Lim Guan Eng In Kuala Lumpur On 24.12.2016.
This year has been a challenging one with an economic downturn which is expected to continue next year. However, Malaysians should not give up on pursuing a democracy that promises them both freedom and economic prosperity, which must include economic opportunity, employment, education, social security, adequate health care and human security.
A democracy that promises both freedom and economic security must work for 30 million Malaysians, not just for the wealthy or the power elites and their cronies. The European Union once offered a vision of this democracy with their ‘four freedoms’, the freedom of movement of goods, people, services and capital over borders. However economic stagnation and social disruption, exacerbated by the refuges crisis has caused the four freedoms to unravel and perhaps even break down.
There is a need to look at freedom from the perspective of values that is universal and common to all. In this regard the four freedoms enunciated by US President Roosevelt is particularly pertinent – freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. These four freedoms underpin the establishment of the United Nations.
When we assess the state of Malaysia under these four freedoms, Malaysia is clearly a failed state. Fear is used to silence and intimidate those who dare to voice out or to use the politics of race, religion and extremism to distract attention from the economic suffering and failure, corruption and high cost of living.
Non-Muslims are concerned about their rights and the status of the Federal Constitution following the proposal of adopting Islamic laws that is more aligned with hudud-like laws. The recent passage of laws by the Perlis state government permitting unilateral conversion to Islam by one of the Muslim parent, ignoring completely the rights of the non-Muslim parent, has only reinforced such concerns.
Those who oppose the corrupt and abuses of basic human rights are punished. Malaysians are now suffering the consequences of rising cost of living due to the corruption crisis of the RM52 billion 1MDB scandal and RM4.2 billion donation scandal leading to the imposition of GST and sharp drop in the value of the ringgit, and fear is used as the weapon to distract attention from the BN government’s failures.
Even condemning the genocide of innocent civilians is selective and hypocritical. Both the Prime Minister and PAS President condemned the Myanmar government for their atrocities on the Muslim Rohingyas but why did they remain silent by not condemning Iran for the human tragedy unfolding in Aleppo. The PAS President, who is also the vice-president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), was condemned by the IUMS itself for attending an international conference in Teheran at a time when Iran is responsible for the killings in Aleppo and Syria.
Malaysians must continue to shine the light by standing up for the four freedoms of freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. These four freedoms will ensure not only a functional democracy but also its benefits of economic prosperity and security for all.
LIM GUAN ENG
民主行动党兼峇眼区国会议员林冠英于2016年12月24日在吉隆坡发表圣诞献辞：
民主行动党恭祝所有马来西亚同胞圣诞快乐。我们在这里也要献上最诚挚的慰问予麻坡恐怖车祸14名死者的家属，亦祝福伤者们尽快痊愈。
这一年，是深具挑战的一年，我们面对了经济走下坡的困境，而且这种劣况预计还会延续到明年。无论如何，我们马来西亚人在艰辛的环境下也不该放弃对民主的追求，民主带来自由与经济繁荣，而它也涵盖了经济机会、就业、教育、社会安全、健康医疗以及人道安全。
这个涵盖自由与经济安全的民主，必须为全马3千万人来服务，不能只是为了财富或精英及其朋党来服务。欧盟曾就民主带来的四种自由提出这样的看法：货物、人力、服务及资本的自由流通。不过，尔后因为经济停滞以及难民危机带来的社会破坏，导致这四种自由受到了影响，甚至瘫痪。
我们必须以普世价值的角度来看待自由。一如美国前总统罗斯福曾在国会演说时提出了四种自由，即言论自由、信仰自由、免于匮乏及恐惧的自由，正是这四种自由，奠定了今天的美国。
当我们用上述四种自由来审视马来西亚时，我们会发现，马来西亚明显是失败的国家。当权者擅于利用恐惧来制造寒蝉效应，让那些敢于说话的人噤声，或利用种族、宗教及极端政治来转移视线，让人们失焦于经济失败、贪污腐败及节节上升的生活成本之中。
非穆斯林非常关注自身的权限以及联邦宪法是否还能被维护，特别是在国会内提呈类似断肢法的伊斯兰法之后。最近在玻璃市通过的法案，允许改信伊斯兰的父/母单方面为孩童改教，忽略非穆斯林的父/母权益，更进一步加深民众的担忧。
那些反对贪污腐败、滥权，并维护人权者，一个接一个的被惩处。今天，因为1MDB达520亿令吉的贪污丑闻以及42亿令吉的捐款丑闻，再加上实施消费税和马币贬值带来冲击，马来西亚人被迫活在水深火热之中，但大家还要面对有人制造恐惧，以便转移视线，不让大家看到国阵政府的失败。
即便是维护人道及谴责种族灭绝也是选择性及虚伪的。我们的首相以及伊斯兰党主席就穆斯林族群罗兴亚事件谴责缅甸政府，但为何他们却对伊朗在阿勒颇造成的悲剧保持沉默，不予谴责？伊党主席同时也是穆斯林学者国际联盟的副主席，就曾被穆斯林学者国际联盟谴责，因为出席了德黑兰的一项国际会议，当时，伊朗已表示对阿勒颇及叙利亚的大屠杀负责。
马来西亚人应该持续力挺这四种自由，包括言论自由、信仰自由以及免于匮乏及恐惧的自由。这四种自由不仅可以巩固我们的民主，更能使我们的经济昌盛，保障我们每一人。
林冠英