Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader and DAP Secretary-General, Lim Kit Siang, when officially opening the DAP Rural Affairs Sub-Committee Political Seminar for branch representatives held in Ipoh on Saturday, 1st Oct. 1977 at 2 p.m.
Challenge to the new Perak Mentri Besar, Wan Mohamed Wan Teh to take immediate actions to prove the sincerity, integrity and incorruptibility of his Administration
The State of Perak has got a new Mentri Besar today, in the person of Wan Mohamed Wan Teh, Assemblymen for Temenggor. But what else has the people got? Will they get a Government of able, dedicated, self-sacrificing government leaders who are honest, incorruptible and man of undoubted integrity? Or will the people of Perak, whether in the kampongs or estates or towns continue to be neglected and ignored while the small group of top political leaders in UMNO and Barisan Nasional exploit the State’s rich natural resources for their own personal advancement?
Twenty years after Merdeka, the people of Perak can bear in mind the warning of Dato Panglima Bukit Gantang before Merdeka that Independence may just change colonial masters leaving the rakyat as oppressed and exploited as before.
Merdeka in Malaysia for the last 20 years has meant Merdeka for the UMNO and Barisan political and economic elite to exploit the country’s wealth and the people’s energies for their self-enrichment.
Change of Mentri Besars have meant nothing to the exploited who remain exploited.
This is the day of talking office of Wan Mohamed Wan Teh as Mentri Besar of Perak. I challenge him to take immediate actions to prove that his Administration’s sincerity, integrity and incorruptibility by doing the following:
* INTRODUCTION of a law in the Perak State Assembly requiring the Mentri Besar and every Exco member and even State Assemblymen to publicly declare his assents and that of his next of kin, once a year;
* ENACTMENT of a rule that neither he nor any EXCO member, or State Assembly member, or their wives and immediate relatives, would be alienated State land during their tenure of office, to end once and for all the corruption of the politics of land.
These are two very simple measures, but the willingness or otherwise of Wan Mohamed Wan Teh to declare his preparedness to summon as Emergency State Assembly meeting to enact these two proposals to ensure a honest and incorrupt State Administration will be the immediate yardstick by which the people of Perak and throughout Malaysia judge not only his qualities of leadership, but caliber and the type of Administration he is going to head.
I hope Wan Mohamed Wan Teh will have the courage to reply to these two challenges, one way or another; and not start his term as Mentri Besar running away from issues and challenges.