Press Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Friday, 12/7/1985:
DAP to table a motion for an urgent debate on the Attorney-General’s stand on the BMF ‘culprits’ on Monday’s Parliament
I have written to the Speaker of Dewan Rakyat, Tan Sri Zahir Ismail, giving notice that I would be tabling a motion on Monday’s Parliament to have an urgent debate on the decision and announcement by the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abu Talib, that the Malaysian authorities have no jurisdiction to try former Bumiputra Malaysia Finance officials for offences in connection with the $2.5 billion BMF loans scandal in Hong Kong.
I would be invoking Standing Order l8(l) which allowed the House to be adjourned
to debate a definite matter of urgent public importance. In order to succeed in having
such a debate, the Speaker must firstly be satisfied that the matter is definite, urgent
and of public importance. With the Speaker’s satisfaction, and if there are objections
of even one MP, then it would need the support of at least l5 MPs to secure such a debate.
We in the DAP do not have the l5 MPs for this purpose, but I hope on a matter involving
the $2.5 billion BMF loans scandal, all MPs including those from the Barisan Nasional
parties would stop playing party politics and support my motion for an urgent debate
on Monday itself.
The BMF loans scandal, its full public accounting and bringing the BMF culprits to book,
will be a test case as to whether Malaysia is serious in the war against corruption,
abuse of power and breach of public trust.
It is for this reason that all MPs, including Barisan MPs, must rise above party or personal
considerations to support an urgent debate on the Attorney-General’s decision
and announcement that the BMF culprits could not be tried in
Malaysia, on the following grounds:
Firstly, the Attorney-General’s decision and announcement had shattered the hope and
belief of Malaysians that the government would honour its repeated promises
to bring the ‘BMF culprits’ to book, undermining the entire credibility and integrity
of the government;
Secondly, the Attorney-General‘s decision and announcement had thrown into question
the relevance and purpose of the Ahmad Nordin BMF Inquiry Committee when the
Committee’s reports and briefs, like the ‘Brief A on Prima Facie Cases of Corruption’
which recommended criminal proceedings with regard to various loans and financial
transactions are rejected as ‘irrelevant’ to the Attorney-General’s Chambers;
Thirdly, it is the duty of Parliament to take immediate cognizance of an intolerable and
unjust situation where the BMF culprits in the country‘s biggest financial and
banking scandal could go scotfree in Malaysia by (i) reviewing the Attorney-General’s decision;
(ii) exploring existing avenues to uphold justice by bringing BMF culprits to
book; and (iii) considering necessary legislation to rectify lacuna in the law to bring the BMP culprits to book.