by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on April 25, 1986:
Shock at Ling Liong Sik’s readiness to accept Anwar Ibrahim’s explanation that the it was the Chinese press which distorted Anwar’s speech
I am shocked at the readiness of the MCA Deputy President and Transport Minister, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik, to accept the explanation of UMNO Youth Leader, Anwar Ibrahim, that is was the Chinese press which distorted and misinterpreted his Kepong speech on Sunday in connection with his seditious threat to raise the citizenship issue if youth leaders from with his seditious threat to raise the citizenship issue from national policies.
As the Berita Harian gave Anwar’s speech in Kepong front-page treatment, and the same story was carried in a Bernama report and appeared in English newspaper, how could Anwar sustain his excuse that the Chinese press had distorted and misinterpreted his Kepong speech?
Anwar was being most irresponsible in trying to make the Chinese press the scapegoat, when the Bernama, Malay and English newspapers had carried the same story as the Chinese newspapers. if Anwar maintains that he had been distorted, then he should blame all the newspapers and Bernama as well. Why did he confine his attack on the Chinese press, giving the impression that the Chinese press and journalists are the most irresponsible lot in the country?
What is really shocking is the readiness of Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik, on behalf of the MCA, to agree with Anwar in his explanation and putting the blame on the Chinese press.
What is really shocking is the readiness of Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik, on behalf of the MCA, to agree with Anwar in his explanation and putting the blame on the Chinese press.
The new MCA leadership claimed that it is now different from previous MCA leaderships, and dare to stand up for what is right and just. Surely, this is the occasion for them to stand up for the Chinese press and journalists from being wrongly maligned by Anwar. Instead, the opposite had taken place.
What Anwar has done is most unethical. If he now regrets what he said in Kepong, he should openly admit his mistake, and not find a scapegoat in the Chinese newspapers. I call on the journalists’ union and press clubs to take a serious view of this matter, and not avoid the principle involved in this issue because it concerned a very powerful person.
The DAP calls for a fully inquiry as to whether Anwar’s speech in Kepong threatening to raise the citizenship issue was distorted, or whether it correctly reported what he said, which could easily be done by producing the tape recording of Anwar’s speech. Let the truth be clearly established, or in future Anwar should stop talking about truth, justice and ethics.
The DAP’s deplores the MCA, and in particular Datuk Dr. Ling Liogn Sik’s spinelessness, in readily accepting Anwar’s excuse that he was distorted by the Chinese press, for it represented an insult and dishonor to the Chinese press and journalists.