by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Friday, 9th March 1990:
If DAP wants Dr. Mahathir to appear in the worst possible light, we would get him to accuse Karpal Singh of planning the burglary of the Vijandran pornographic videotapes and photographs
If the DAP wants to plan for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, to appear in the worst possible light when he answered questions in Parliament yesterday on the Vijandra/Attorney-General scandal over the Vijandran pornographic videotapes issue, we would get him to accuse DAP MP for Jelutong, Karpal Singh, of plotting and planning the burglary of the Vijandran pornographic videotapes and photographs.
We would also make Dr. Mahathir say, when asked how Karpal Singh could have planned such a thing when at the operative time in question in August 1989, Karpal Singh was detained by him in Kamunting detention centre under the Internal Security Act, that Karpal Singh had masterminded the whole burglary from detention using others to carry out his plans.
I do not know whether Dr. Mahathir would tomorrow accuse the DAP of plotting to make him say these stupid things in Parliament yesterday, but there is no doubt that such baseless and wild allegations by Dr. Mahathir has seriously undermined his credibility, standing and integrity as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Whatever stature and luster he had gained from his trip to Lusaka to meet with the great South African freedom-fighter, Nelson Mandela, has now been destroyed by his shocking parliamentary performance yesterday, when he tried to wriggle out of serious and pertinent questions about the role of the Attorney-General, the Deputy Home Minister, the Director of CID, the Solicitor-General and the entire Cabinet in the Vijandran pornographic videotaped scandal.
I have no doubt that if a national opinion poll is conducted today as to the people’s reactions to the accusations of the Prime Minister that Karpal Singh had masterminded the whole burglary of the Vijandran pornographic videotapes from detention in Kamunting detention centre in August 1988, one hundred per cent of the people asked would say that the Prime Minister was talking rubbish.
It is a very sad and shameful day for the country when the Prime Minster’s standing has fallen to such a level. I just cannot understand what power D.P. Vijandran wields that he could make one after another of important Government leaders do and say very foolish things which do the Government and country no good at all.
The Prime Minister had evaded questions on the Viji/AG scandal by indulging in irrelevancies
After the question time yesterday, Dr. Mahathir made the equally ridiculous claim that the DAP had prevented him answering all the questions raised on the destruction of the Vijandran pornographic videotapes.
In actual fact, the Prime Minister had deliberately refused to answer all the questions raised on the Viji/AG scandal, by indulging in irrelevancies, trying to spend the bulk of the question hour on matters completely unrelated to the issue, such as embarking on a wild and the most far-fetched attack on the DAP, about his trip to Lusaka to meet Mandela.
In actual fact, Dr. Mahathir not only left many questions in Parliament unanswered, he has succeeded in creating even more questions after his chocking parliamentary performance yesterday.
I can only say that in his hour-long attempt to justify the government’s stand on the Viji/AG pornographic videotapes scandal, Dr. Mahathir has only succeeded in proving the government critics right, and confounding the doubting Thomases. Those who were prepared to give the Government the benefit of the doubt have now no basis or justification to claim that the Government may be right.
Call on Mahathir to agree to a full-scale debate in Parliament on my motion for the removal of Tan Sri Abu Talib as Attorney-General for destruction of videotapes
However, as the Prime Minisster claims that he did not have the opportunity to say all that he wanted to say on the Viji/AG pornographic videotapes scandal, then he should agree to allot time for a full-scale debate on my motion for the removal of Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman as Attorney-General for the his improper and unlawful destruction of the eleven Vijandran pornographic videotapes, 2,000 photographs and negatives.
If the Prime Minister is so confident about the correctness and propriety of the actions of the Attorney-General, then he must be prepared to submit the issue to Parliament. Of course, if Dr. Mahathir himself believes that the government has a very weak case, and the action of the Attorney-General cannot stand up to intense parliamentary scrutiny and debate, it will be understandable if he does not want my motion to have time to come up for debate.
Dr. Mahathir’s tacit, sub-conscious and unconscious admission that the videotapes were pornographic and involved Vijandran
Dr. Mahathir’s parliamentary performance, which I had described in Parliament as the ‘worst by any Prime Minister in the history of Malaysian Parliament’, is most remarkable for many reasons.
One of the reasons is his tacit, sub-conscious and even unconscious admission that the Vijandran videotapes, photographs and negatives were pornographic and involved Vijandran.
That is why he could talk about “some people are perverts” and asked what was wrong if such people wanted to take naked photographs of themselves. This is what Dr. Mahathir said: “Sometimes there are people who are perverts who like to stand naked in front of mirrors. Now with the latest technology available, there might be some who want to videotape themselves in the nude.”
When I asked whether in all the eleven Vijandran videotapes destroyed on the instruction of the Attorney-General, only one person appeared in them, Dr. Mahathir said there were others. However, he evaded my question when I asked whether the other persons who appeared in the eleven Vijandran videotapes were filmed with their knowledge and consent, and what criminal action the police had institutes if the other persons were filmed in the videotapes without their knowledge and consent.
Dr. Mahathir has virtually called Vijandran a ‘pervert’ in his reply, and in these circumstances, could he continue as MP for Kapar?
In his reply, Dr. Mahthir has virtually called Vijandran a ‘pervert’. In these circumstances, can Vijandran continue as MP for Kapar? In these circumstances, can the Barisan Nasional Government justify its action in giving full support to Vijandran as Deputy Speaker, until his resignation?
There is no doubt that Dr. Mahathir’s parliamentary performance during the question time on the Viji/AG pornographic videotapes scandal has re-opened the whole issue once again, for there are now more questions crying for answer by the Government.