By DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Petaling, Lim Kit Siang, on July 19, 1978:
Challenge to Berjaya State Government on corruption in Sabah
I reply to my call to Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Harris Salleh, to Review various aspects of government policies following the general elections results last Saturday, the Berjaya Secretary-General and State Finance Minister, has commented on one of the issues I raised, namely on corruption in Sabah.
Haji Mohammad Noor Haji Mansoor, the Sabah Finance Minister, said Sabah Ministers were prepared to declare their assets if it was the usual practice in Malaysia and other countries of the world.
This is not saying or committing the Parti Berjaya to anything. In 1976 general elections, Berjaya leaders challenged Tun Mustapha and USNO leaders to declare their assets. Why is it they are prepared to challenge Tun Mutapha to do something, which they on their own are not prepared to do? Do the Berjaya leaders have double standards?
On my allegations about corruption being rampant in Sabah, Haji Mohamed Noor said that if I have any evidence I should immediately submit it to the NBI. Let me state from the outset, that my party and I, backed by the people, do not have absolute confidence in the ability and power of the NBI to combat high-level political corruption.
I challenge Haji Mohamed Noor and Datuk Harris Salleh to prove that there is no corruption in Sabah. I challenge them to open up all the government files for me for one month, and at the end of the month-long investigations, with full and free access to all government departments and files, I will let the people of Sabah and Malaysia know about the state of corruption in Sabah.