by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Wednesday ,May 30, 1990:
Myanmar election results a great and historic victory in the human march towards democracy and freedom
The results of the first multi-party elections in Myanmar in three decades is a great and historic victory in the human march towards democracy and freedom.
The victory of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party was particularly monumental because of the savage massacre of 3,000 pro-democracy demonstrators in September 1988, the stifling of political freedom, the jailing of some 5,000 to 8,000 dissident leaders and supporters including Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, and the relocation of some 200,000 people to break opposi¬tion support in urban areas.
This is another illustration of the unconquerable human spirit for democracy and freedom that can never be suppressed forever, however brutal and bloody the methods used by a repressive regime.
DAP calls on the Malaysian Government to urge the ruling military State Law and Order Restoration Council to hand over power to the Opposition and immediately release Opposition leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo as well as all the 5,000 – 8,000 dissident detainees.
Bank Negara most irresponsible in its directive on closure of CCB operations
Bank Negara had been mist irresponsible in directing the closure of the Co-operative Central Bank (CC8) operations at its headquarters and 21 branches throughout the country, causing great inconvenience to account holders, particularly government employees whose salaries are credited into the bank.
Bank Negara should have given full backing to the CCB while ¬the problem arising from the Supreme Court decision on May 25 ordering that depositors and other creditors of the bank be paid pari pasu (on equal footing or basis) is resolved.
After all, Bank Negara was aware right from the beginning about the financial problems of CCB, and I had spoken about it in Parliament in 1986, but Bank Negara did hot take any action to protect the interests and rights of depositors and creditors until very much later.
The closure for business, however temporary, of the CCB, after it had been taken over by the Bank Negara, will undermine public confidence in the Bank Negara. It is the duty and responsibility of the Bank Negara to ensure that the account holders, and in. particular the public employees, are not penalised and made to face hardships because of the negligence of Bank Negara.