by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and Mp for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, in Malacca on Friday January 13,1984.
DAP calls on Government to give the Malaysian public a full account of the background of Ramli Ibrahim and Chooi Mun Sou to establish public confidence in them
I said yesterday that I have no personal knowledge about the credentials of two members of the three-man committee of inquiry into the BMF scandal, namely chartered accountant Ramli Ibrahim and lawyer Chooi Mun Sou.
However, it must be a matter of great concern that the initial reports that I have received about one of these two members are not only unimpressive, but unfavourable, and would greatly detract from public confidence in the three-man committee of inquiry – which is already a great let-down from the national consensus demanding a Royal Commission of Inquiry into BMF scandal.
The Government must now allow the various reports about the members of the three-man committee of inquiry to circulate, and the only way to overcome this problem as well as ensure that there is public confidence in the three members appointed, is for the Government to make public fullest background of the two members concerned, viz. ,the public activities of Ramli Ibrahim and Chooi Mun Sou, the companies and various interests they represent in their various capacities; and the various companies and boards of directors they sit in or advise professionally.
If the Government is not prepared to release the full background of Ramli Ibrahim and Chooi Mun Sou, to demonstrate that the public should have no reason to doubt their credentials to inquire into the BMF scandal, then the Dap may be compelled to raise in the March meeting of Parliament the credential of any member if not circumstances warrant.
The DAP has the fullest confident in the personal integrity of the Auditor-General, Tan Sri Ahmad Nordin, but his hands would be tied if his term of reference are restrictive, or his other members cannot be expected to be interested in a fullest and thorough inquiry into the
BMF scandal because of their own professional backgrounds and vested interests.
It is regrettable that the Prime Minister had not consulted or sought the opinion of the Opposition and other interested group before deciding on the form of the inquiry or the composition, as such a decision after the fullest consultation would have been more acceptable to them Malaysian public as a whole.
DAP calls for the resignation of the Attorney General as head of the legal and judicial services and the splitting up under two separate heads.
The Attorney-General should resign as head of both judicial and legal services to end the crisis of confidence in the courts by both lawyers, their clients and members of the public.
The placing of the magistrates and sections courts presidents as well as the judicial staff under the Attorney-General creates a most invidious and undesirable situation where the principle of ‘Justice must not only be done, but seen to be done’ has been gravely violated.
No magistrate or Sessions Court president should be placed in a position to feel or wonder whether his decision which may be unfavourable to the Attorney-General’s chambers would affect his future promotional prospects. The independence of the judiciary, even at lower levels, must be jealously guarded, and this could only be done by the Attorney-General resigning as joint head of the judicial and legal services, and the appointment of two separate heads for them, where there is no cause for any belief that the magistrates and sessions courts president are under the overall scrutiny of the ‘Big Brother’ in the Attorney-General’s office.
To-holds-barred public inquiry which will demonstrate the sincerity of the government that it has nothing to hide in the matter and its will to give meaning to the 2M’s slogan of a clean and trustworthy government.