Press Conference Statement (2)by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, in Ipoh on Friday, 13.12.1985 at 11.30a.m.
DAP calls on Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, to table the BMF Final Report at next Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting and to publicly release the report
Malaysians are asking whether the ‘personal opinion’ of the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abu Talib Otham, that the BMF Inquiry Committee’s final report should not be made public is a prelude to the government’s suppression of the final report.
Tan Sri Abu Talib said the public release of the BMF final report could prejudice the prosecution of Lorraine Osman and Hashim Shamsuddin, although the Hong Kong Attorney-General has no objection to the public release of the BMF final and Tan Sri Ahmad Nordin had clarified that information and exhibits prejudicial to those involved in the BMF loans scandal had been compiled and submitted separately in confidential briefs.
Following the statement by Tan Sri Abu Talib, former Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn, asked the government to give an assurance that it would make public the final report after the BMF trial in Hong Kong.
This is not acceptable or satisfactory at all. What Malaysians want, and have the basic right to demand, is the full disclosure of the entire BMF scandal which cost the Malaysians $2.5 billion – and the particular, whether or who are the top political leaders involved in the BMF scandal.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, has been keeping very quiet about the public release of the BMF Inquiry Committee final report, especially as it as the Prime Minister himself who publicly promised to make the Inquiry Committee’s Report public when announcing the establishment of the three-man Ahmad Nordin Inquiry Committee in January 1984.
I call on the Prime Minister to table the BMF Inqiury Committee final report at next Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, and the public release after the Cabinet meeting.
The $2.5 billion BMF scandal had dragged out for three long years, and right from the beginning, the government and Bank Bumiputra had sought to ‘cover up’ the scandal and deny the right of the people to know about the facts of the scandal. I hope that the government is not mounting a final cover up operation to suppress the BMF final report.
All Cabinet Minister are responsible to the Malaysian people for the 2.5 billion BMF scandal under the principle of collective responsibility. If next Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, there is no fundication of the government’s intention to publicly release the BMF final report, then the DAP will form a special committee to mobilise public support to demand the report’s release. The programme of activities that would include the launching of nation-wide mass signature campaign and the holding of public meetings to organize and mobilize public demand for the public release of the BMF final report.
Full backing for the people in Serdang in their actions for self-defence against the oriminal activities of illegal Indonesian immigrants
The threat to public, order and security posed by illegal Indonesian immigrants who committed crimes like armed robbery, rape and murder, had reached a new flashpoint with the developments in Serdang in Selangor where the villagers took retaliatory action in self-defence.
The police must bear full responsibility for the rising wave of crimes by illegal Indonesian immigrants, and the DAP gives full backing and support to the people of Serdang and other areas who are forced to take drastic actions in self-defence, and to highlight the gravity of the law-and-order problem posed by the illegal Indonesian immigrants= criminals.
The DAP will give full assistance, including legal help, to Malaysians who are forced to take drastic action in the defence of their loved ones, their own safety and their own property.
The government should realize that if it continues to disregard the wave of criminal activities of illegal Indonesian immigrants, it will be forcing the people to take drastic action as had happened in Serdang.
The DAP does not encourage any person to break the laws of the country, but if the guardians of law and order repeatedly to protect the people from illegal Indonesian immigrant crimes then it is completely understandable when people organizes themselves not only to protect themselves, but to attack the problem at source.
The Barisan Nasional Government had been paying lispservice to the problem of illegal Indonesian immigrants for too long. In Kuala Lumpur yesterday, an illegal Indonesian immigrant was jailed for 18 months for having two identity cards one blue and one red.
This is not an isolated case. Almost every illegal Indonesian immigrant in the country would have either a blue or red identity card in the country.
The police and the authorities should concentrate on resolving the problem created by illegal Indonesian immigrants instead of coming down hard on the Serdang youths who were provokes to attack illegal Indonesian immigrants. I will call on the Police to release all the 10 Serdang youths still under arrest with reprimand, as it is the police’s own failure which had resulted in the Serdang incident.