Press Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Wednesday, June 5, 1985:
DAP calls on Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir to pay official visit to Sabah to stabilise the political situation and calm political tension
in Sabah.
With the third bomb explosion in Kota Kinabalu yesterday, killing one person and injuring three others, it is now clear that the bomb explosions were deliberately planted as part of an overall plot to create tension, fear, and instability to de-stahilise the PBS government of Datuk Joseph Pairin in Sabah.
On the first day of my visit to Sabah, the first bomb explosion took place just
outside my hotel in Kota Kinabalu on May 25, 1985, after I returned to the
hotel after lunch. There was some doubt then whether the bomb explosion was
accidental or part of a evil political plot to achieve political ends.
There could be no doubt now with three bomb explosions, and from
indications, there would probably be more planned in the coming days and weeks
unless this irresponsible plot by irresponsible people are nibbed in the bud
by the authorities.
I have no doubt that the bomb plot is calculated to create tension, fear and
instability to exploit the political crisis in Sabah with the aim
of toppling the constitutionally elected government of Datuk Joseph Pairin
in the Sabah state general elections on April 21.
If there is political stability, where all political parties and
forces inside and outside Sabah accept the verdict of the people in the general
elections and are prepared to give the PBS government an opportunity to
prove its worth; then there would be no ground for the bomb plotters to
exploit.
The best answer to the bomb plotters, apart from severe action by
the security authorities to find and apprehend the culprits is for the
creation of stable political situation where attempts by undemocratic and
unconstitutional means to destabilise the PBS state government would
not succeed.
At presently the biggest question uppermost in the minds of
everyone concerned about the Sabah political situation, is how long the
PBS Sabah State Government could last. The USNO and Berjaya political
and legal maneuvers are clearly motivated by the aim to destabilise and
topple the PBS government. But the key question to the political stability
of the PBS state government and the political situation is Sabah is the
role, attitude and stand of the Federal government.
A major element of the political instability, tension and even
crisis is because of the belief in some quarters, which is actively fanned by
interested political parties and groups that the USNO and Berjaya political
and legal maneuvers to destabilize the PBS Sabah State Government had the
tacit support of the Federal Government, UMNO or even the Prime Minister
himself.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, has a
duty to the people of Malaysia and Sabah to help stabilise the political
situation in Sabah and make it very clear to all concerned that the USNO and
Berjaya political and legal maneuvers to destabilise the PBS
Sabah State Governweat had no support whatsoever from Kuala Lumpur – that
on the contrary; are disapproved by the Federal Government.
Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir cannot disclaim responsibility for the
political situation in Sabah; as the Federal leaders involving almost the entire
Cabinet had partly contributed to the Sabah political crisis by their full
involvement in the Sabah general elections campaign against the PBS in April.
During my recent week-long visit to Sabah, I was convinced that the
Prime Minister should publicly make his stand to help stabilise the political
situation in Sabah. It was for this reason that on the last day of my visit
on May 30, I telexed to the Prime Minister from Tawau the following message:
“YAB Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed,
Prime Minister
Malaysia.
Urge your public disapproval of USNO-Berjaya legal-political
maneuvers to destabilise PBS Sabah State Government.
Although no one could stop USNO from initiating legal actions, your
public stand would help to calm political tension and dispel
impression that USNO-Berjaya attempt to destabilise PBS government
had Federal Government, UMNO or your tacit support. Also urge visit
by Federal Ministers to Sabah to foster Federal-State relations as
not a Single Federal Minister visited Sabah after over a month of
PBS government, although almost the entire Cabinet was in Sabah
during the recent elections campaign.
Lim Kit Siang
Par1iamentary Opposition Leader”
With the growing seriousness of the political crisis in Sabah,
engineered by people who have no respect for democratic principles or the
electoral verdict of the people, there is an even greater urgency for the
Federal Government to help stabilise the Sabah political situation.
I would seriously suggest that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir
Mohamed, should make an official visit in the nearest future, preferably
within a month, to give a loud and clear signal that the Federal Government
would not be a party to any attempts by any quarter to destabilise the PBS
government.
The Sabah ‘bomb plotters’ must be dealt with from two aspects:
Firstly, by the security authorities to arrest and punish the
criminals who are prepared to sacrifice human lives, property
and stability and security of Sabah and Malaysia for their
political ends; and
Secondly, which is more important, to remgve the political conditions
which gave birth to the ‘bomb plotters’ of Sabah.
A public and clear-cut disapproval of any attempts by any group to
destabilise the PBS government as in an official visit to Sabah by the
Prime Minister would remove the political wind from the sail of the ‘bomb
Plotters’, and would probably bring the spate of bombings to an end by itself!
DAP commends the Yang Di-Pertuan Agung‘s award to Jalil Ibrahim
The DAP commends the confermemt of the highest award for bravery
the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa (SP) – to the late Jalil Ibrahim on the occasion
of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agung birthday as a posthumous recognition
of his services and sacrifices in the investigations into the $2.5 billion
Bumiputra Malaysia Finance scandal.
This is a most deserving posthumous award. The DAP calls on the
Government to fully honour the spirit of this award, which is to keep faith
with the services of Jalil Ibrahim to unearth and expose the full story
of the $2.5 billion BMF loans scandal in Hong Kong, so that all those
responsible for such colossal losses of public funds would be punished.
The DAP calls on the Government to fully honour the spirit Of
Jalil‘s services and sacrifices, as well as the Yang di Pertuan Agung‘s
birthday award to Jalil Ibrahim, by immediately making public the latest
brief submitted to the authorities by the Ahmad Nordin Committee of
Inquiry. The memory of Jalil Ibrahim’s services and sacrifices, as well the
posthumous award of the highest award of bravery, would be dishonoured if there
is a massive cover-up of the $2.5 billion BMF loans scandal!