By Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary – General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, 9.10.1984:
DAP calls for release of Ahmad Nordin Committee Interim Report on BMF before the Parliamentary debate on the establishment of Royal Commission of Inquiry into BMF loans on Oct. 18
The failure by the Deputy Finance Minister, Datuk Sabaruddin Chik, to give a satisfactory explanation during question time in Parliament yesterday as to why the Government is sitting on the BMF inquiry committee report and not releasing it to the public is itself a form of ‘cover up’ by the Government in the BMF loans scandal.
As I said in my supplementary question to the Deputy Finance Minister, even the Chairman of the BMF inquiry committee, the Auditor general Tan Sri Ahmad Nordin, has publicly expressed surprise that the interim report had not been made public.
I have been informed by Parliament that the government has agreed to allocate one day on Oct. 18 – the day before the 1985 Budget presentation on Oct. 19 – to debate my motion calling for the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the BMF loans scandal.
I call on the Government to release the Ahmad Nordin Committee Interim Report before the Parliamentary debate on the BMF scandal on Oct. 18, so that MPs could debate the Ahmad Nordin interim report as well.
Dr. Nawawi’s plea of innocence can only be judged in the light of full disclosure about the BMF loans scandal
The plea of innocence by the Bank Bumiputra Chairman, Dr. Nawawi Mat Awin, that he did not approve or authorise any loan to the collapsed Carrian group or any Hong Kong group can only be judged when there is full disclosure about the BMF loans scandal.
It is now public knowledge that the bulk of the BMF bad debts to Carrian were made during the tenure of Dr. Nawawi Mat Awin as Chairman of the Bank Bumiputra. If it was not Dr. Nawawi who approved or authorised the disastrous bailing out operation of Carrian ‘throwing good money after bad money’ which represent some 60 per cent of the total Carrian bad debts to BMF, who then authotised or approved it?
Can Dr. Nawawi deny that the bailing out operation took place during his tenure as Bank Bumiputra Chairman? If as Chairman of Bank Bumiputra, he did not authorise or approve the bailing out operation, then was he just a figurehead with no independent powers, responsibility and judgement on his own?
The Malaysian public are not interested in Dr. Nawawi’s plea of innocence. What Malaysians want is a full disclosure of the BMF loans scandal, starting with the immediate release of the BMF inquiry committee interim report.
As legally, the BMF inquiry committee was set up by the Bank Bumiputra, Dr. Nawawi has the power to make public the BMF inquiry committee report in the public interest. Can Dr. Nawawi explain why Bank Bumiputra is not prepared to publicly release the BMF interim inquiry report?
If for reasons best known to Dr. Nawawi, Bank Bumiputra is not prepared to release the BMF inquiry interim report to the public at this stage, is he prepared to allow me, as Parliamentary Opposition Leader, to have a copy of the interim report in the public and national interest?
DAP take serious view of the Malacca State Government gazzete notice of probable acquisition of Bukit China
The DAP take serious view of the Malacca State Government’s gazette notification of probably acquisition of Bukit China purportedly for ‘Jalan Bukit China’.
In the first place, the State Government itself has done away with ‘Jalan Puteri Hang Li – po’. In the second place, the gazette notification is an escalation of the State Government’s war of nerves against the protectors of Bukit China.
The State Government’s gazette notification should strengthen the will and determination of the people to stand firm against the Malacca Stage Government’s defiance of public opinion and in particular, the religious, cultural and political sensitivities of the Chinese community over the 500 – year – old ancient cemetry hill.
Is the gazette notification of probable Bukit China acquisition the meaning of the statement recently by the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction, through its Malacca leader Chan Teck Chan, that the Bukit China issue would be ‘sorted out’ in two months’ time? This means that the gazette notification must have been made at the advice and instigation of the Tan Koon Swan MCA faction, which has committed itself to give full support to the Malacca state Chief Minister’s plan to level and develop Bukit China.
The DAP National Save Bukit China Committee will meet to discuss the latest Bukit China development, and a major policy pronouncement would be issued after the meeting.
DAP proposes to refer the MP for Jerantut to Privileges Committee
Yesterday in the Dewan Rakyat, I failed to get the postponement of the debate on the Exclusive Economic Zone Bill 1984, because MPs have been denied Standing Order rights as the Order of Business was available to most MPs only on Sunday or Monday itself.
According to press report, the MP for Jerantut, Wan Abu Bakar Wan Muhamed, subsequently in the parliamentary debate claimed that he received the Order of Business a week earlier.
This is impossible, for Parliament itself received the Parliamentary Order paper from the Government Printers on Saturday, Oct. 6. DAP MPs will be studying the full text of speech of the MP for Jerantut from the Hansard with a view to refer him to the Committee of Privileges, if he had deliberately misled the House.