Keng Yaik is the Malaysian Minister most famous for his four-letter words

by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, 19th May, 1990 on remarks by Gerakan President, Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, in Kota Bahru yesterday:

Keng Yaik is the Malaysian Minister most famous for his four-letter words

Gerakan President and minister for Primary Industries, Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, called me a ‘political samseng’ in Kota Bahru yesterday, repeating what he said last week at the federal Territory Gerakan Assembly.

Keng Yaik has to resort to abuses and invective when he has run out of reason, arguments and proof for his lies about the DAP-PAS secret meeting in Jakarta.

Keng Yaik is famous as the Malaysian Cabinet Minister with the richest vocabulary of unprintable four-letter words. Reporters will be surprised if there is a speech or press conference where Keng Yaik does not use a four-letter word.

I will not go down to Keng Yaik’s level to use abuses as substitutes for political argument, reason and proof of false allegations.

I had called Keng Yaik an ‘inveterate, compulsive and incorrigible’ liar because I was forced to do so, as there is no other way to expose Keng Yaik’s lies about the secret DAP-PAS Jakarta meeting.

Keng Yaik is a member of the six-man Cabinet Committee on the new 1990 Education Act which is to formulate the new education policy for the next generation of Malaysians and which is to place great emphasis on religious and moral education.

Is a Minister who is so free with four-letter words suitable and qualified to be a member of the Cabinet Committee on the new education policy of the country aimed at raising the religious and moral quality of our people? Keng Yaik should voluntarily resign from the Cabinet Committee on the 1990 Education Bill to set a good moral example in Malaysia!

Keng Yaik said in Kota Bahru yesterday that he would fight my libel suit in court. The fact is, Keng Yaik has no other choice. Keng Yaik warned that he would counter-sue me if I “exceed the limit” in my speeches or actions against him.

Reminder to Keng Yaik that ‘those who stay in glass houses should not throw stones’!

This is what I have been trying to get Keng Yaik to do for the last two weeks when I publicly called him ‘an inveterate, compulsive and incorrigible liar’ and gave him advance notice of the posters with the words ‘Keng Yaik – You Are A Liar’ so that he could apply for an injunction from the courts to restrain the DAP from printing and putting up the posters in Gerakan constituencies.

Keng Yaik is still welcome to take legal action for an injunction against the ‘Keng Yaik – You Are A Liar’ posters. I will never deny in court that I am responsible for these posters. In fact, I am prepared to send him some copies of these posters. So what is Keng Yaik waiting for?

Finally, if Keng Yaik wants to continue with his abuses and invectives against the DAP leaders, I must remind him that ‘those who stay in glass houses should not throw stones’!