After having blitzed us with vulgar and vicious scenes of rioting and violence for three days through the BN-owned and controlled mass media, the BN is now threatening the voters, in particular the non-Muslim voters, that their religions and cultures will be lost if they support the Barisan Alternatif.

Aliran does not wish to list down the promises of the BA concerning the legitimate questions of culture and religion of the non-Malay communities. It will suffice to clarify that non-Malay rights to teach and use their mother tongues in schools through improved implementation of the POL programme and the building of additional national-type schools are addressed adequately and guaranteed firmly in the BA Manifesto. So too non-Muslim rights to practise and promote their cultures and religions.

The earlier campaign to terrorise the voters obviously backfired. The foreign media began to report that the BN government expected rioting which in turn caused anxiety among foreign and local investors. Is this why the advertisements were recalled?

Like the first campaign, this second attempt to intimidate the voters through the politics of fear will also backfire.

The rakyat are no longer so easily fooled by BN propaganda.

Remember, the rakyat have awakened and they are watching. They know the issues and will know how to vote.

Executive Committee
27 November 1999