Press Conference Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the Kota Kinabalu Airport on Thursday, 12th July 1990 at 12.30 p.m. on arrival in Sabah for his second visit for the Sabah state general elections
DAP wants more concrete evidence about the so-called Sabah secession plot as it is not convinced by the Police accounts to justify detention of four Sabahans under Internal Security Act
DAP wants more concrete evidence about the so-called Sabah secession plot as it is not convinced by the Police accounts to justify detention of four Sabahans under Internal Security Act.
The Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Mohamed Noor, told a press conference on Monday that the police had arrested a fourth suspect involved in a plot to take Sabah out of Malaysia through the use of secret military force and foreign mercenaries.
The fourth person was ASP Abdul Rahman Ahmad, 51, of the Sabah police headquarters in Kepayan, Kota Kinabalu, who was detained on June 7, after three other Sabahans, namely Benedict Tapin, executive secretary of Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association and chairman of Sabah Air, Damit Undikai, 54, an ex-police detective and Albinus Yuhad, 41, an ex-constable.
Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Mohamed Noor said that the police have seized documents which revealed strategies of a take-over of the Sabah government by another military force, identified as the Sabah “chartered armed forces”.
Unless the police can produce more concrete evidence, if will be difficult for Malaysians, and in particular the people of Sabah, to believe that four persons could plan and execute the military take-over of Sabah!
If the Police have incriminating evidence to establish the guilt of the four detained for having committed the capital offences of treason, then the four should be charged in an open court of law and be given a fair trial.
The use of the Internal Security Act which allows detention without trial is a prima facie case that the Police do not have strong evidence which could stand up in a court of law to corroborate and establish the serious allegations of a Sabah secession plot made by the Police.
Why did Police make the revelations in the midst of Sabah State general elections, and not after?
The people of Sabah and Malaysia wonder why the Police made the revelations about the so-called Sabah secession plot in the midst of the Sabah state general elections.
Since the Police was not prepared to reveal the detention of the fourth person for over a month since the arrest on June 7, why couldn’t the police announcement be made after the Sabah state general elections on July 17?
Can the public be blamed for thinking that the timing of the Police announcement about the fourth arrest and the Sabah secession plot is not unrelated to the Sabah state general elections?
Commonwealth Observer Mission’s brief is to ensure that there is fair and honest play in next general elections, which could only be jeopardised by the Barisan Nasional and not the Opposition
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, said in Malacca on Tuesday that the Government had decided to invite Commonwealth observers for the coming general elections to foil a possible plot to create trouble if the Opposition lost.
The Prime Minister should stop making wild statements, for the Opposition in the national general elections had always accepted the verdict of the people. The only threat to a fair, free, clean and honest general elections come from the Barisan Nasional parties, especially if they do not want to accept the verdict of the people should the electorate decide for a change of government.
Since the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kuala Lumpur last October, I had made at least six public calls for the sending of a Commonwealth Observer Mission to Malaysia for the next general elections. Dr. Mahathir could not possibly refuse to invite a Commonwealth Observer Mission since the Kuala Lumpur CHOGM Communique of Heads of Government specifically called for the sending of Commonwealth observer missions to member countries to strengthen their democratic ethics and institutions.
Dr. Mahathir is the Chairman of the 10-nation Commonwealth Study Group to recommend that Commonwealth Observer Missions be the standard practice for general elections for all Commonwealth countries. If Dr. Mahathir refuses to invite a Commonwealth Observer Mission, he would lose the moral authority to continue as Chairman of this 10-nation Commonwealth Study Group to recommend future policy directions for the Commonwealth in the 1990s.
I find Dr. Mahathir’s reference to the Philippines general elections most unfortunate, for it not only is a distortion of Philippines history, but called into doubt the legitimacy of the Presidency of Cory Aquino.
Dr. Mahathir said that the Government had reason to believe that certain people were trying to duplicate the methods that were used in the Philippines to bring down Ferdinand Marcos.
He said an election watch group was formed in the Philippines and after the results were announced, the group branded the elections a fraud, resulting in riots and chaos.
Dr. Mahathir was wrong in history. During the last Philippines general elections conducted by Marcos, there was not only a local election watch, but there were also international observer missions – especially one by the United States Senators and Congressmen.
Dr. Mahathir has still to come out with a good and satisfactory reason why the Government refuses to recognise the six-man Election Watch headed by Tun Mohamed Suffian, if the Barisan Nasional Government has nothing to hide about the honesty and integrity of the next general elections.
Dr. Mahathir said he agreed with me that the next general elections should meet the four principles of being ‘free, fair, clean and honest’ and claims that the general elections in Malaysia had always fulfilled these four principles.
Challenges to Dr. Mahathir to a TV debate on whether there is press freedom in Malaysia
Only the biased can claim that Malaysia’s general elections had been ‘free, fair, clean and honest’, and all that is needed to show how these four principles had been flouted is to look at the press, radio and televisions coverage, as well as the politics of money and corruption, during the general elections.
In his Malacca speech, Dr. Mahathir even challenged the Opposition to prove that there was no press freedom in the country. Everybody in Malaysia knows that there is no press freedom in the country, except for Dr. Mahathir. Is Dr. Mahathir prepared to have a television debate on whether is press freedom in Malaysia?