Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the Kuala Lumpur DAP Ceramah on ‘The Two Coalition System’ held at Federal Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 20th September 1990 at 8pm.
Is Liong Sik confirming that he has got secret links with Semangat 46 leader, Tengku Razaleigh, as suspected by the UMNO leaders?
During the 13-day abortive Ling-Lee power struggle for the post of MCA President, the Lee Kim Sai faction revealed that Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik had lost the confidence of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed and this was why MCA should have a new President.
They said that Liong Sik could not get a personal appointment with Dr. Mahathir, and every time, all the other three MCA Ministers had to accompany Liong Sik to seek a group meeting with the Prime Minister.
No wonder Liong Sik openly admitted in a public speech in Terengganu last month that he was very afraid of talking to the Prime Minister.
The Lee Kim Sai faction gave two reasons why Dr. Mahathir had lost confidence in Liong Sik to the extent that the MCA President was unable to get a personal appointment to see the Prime Minister. Firstly, Liong Sik’s going overseas for six weeks at the end of 1988 without leave, allegedly in protest against the many unfulfilled pledges of the Barisan Nasional Government and the numerous unresolved problems of the Malaysian Chinese.
Liong Sik’s greatest achievement as MCA President was that Dr. Mahathir was no more angry with him.
However, Liong Sik returned meekly to his Ministry when these pledges remain unfulfilled and problems unresolved. He spent the next 15 months not to get the Barisan Nasional Government to fulfill its election pledges and resolve the many outstanding issued of the Malaysian Chinese and the people, but to mollify and placate the anger of Dr. Mahathir.
This was why a most revealing statement, where the greatest achievement by the MCA President is not what he had done for the Malaysian Chinese or the country, but in getting the Prime Minister not be angry with him any more!
The second reason given by the Lee Kim Sai faction for Dr. Mahathir’s loss of confidence in Liong Sik was the Prime Minister’s doubts about Liong Sik’s loyalty, as Liong Sik had held secret talks with the Semangat 46 President, Tengku Razaleigh Hamazah, to discuss the possibility of an understanding between Semangat 46 and MCA should UMNO and Dr. Mahathir do badly in the next general elections.
The Lee Kim Sai faction even went about talking about the date and place off such meetings, which they said were monitored by Dr. Mahathir.
I do not know whether there is any truth in the allegation by the Lee Kim Sai faction about the secret talks between Liong Sik and Tengku Razaleigh. I never asked Tengku Razaleigh.
However, from Liong Sik’s recent speeches, there appears to be some basis to the allegation that Liong Sik had held secret talks with Tengku Razaleigh and for Dr. Mahathir to be so angry with Liong Sik.
In the past few days, Liong Sik been going round the country saying that if the the Barisan Nasional loses power in the next general elections and is replaced by an Opposition coalition, Datuk Suhaimi Kamaruddin would become the Education Minister, Datuk Harun Idris would become the Finance Minister, and Hadi Awang of PAS would become the Culture Minister. Even yesterday, at a function in Kuala Lumpur where he announced the MCA candidate for Seputeh, he repeated this and challenged me why I dare not reply to his revelations.
I had not bothered to respond to Liong Sik for the simple reason that he was telling ‘grandmother stories’. It is most pitiable that a leader of a political party which claims to be the third biggest Chinese party in the world, should be going round telling ‘grand-mother stories’ and feel very insulted when no one pays any notice or attention.
However, from his seriousness, it would appear that Liong Sik himself believes in his own ‘grandmother stories’. If this is the case, I would like to ask Liong Sik what is the source of his ‘revelation’ that if the Opposition coalition wins the next government, Suhaimi will be the Education Minister, Harun Idris the Finance Minister and Awang Hadi the Culture Minister?
Liong Sik could only take his own ‘grandmother story’ seriously if it had come from Tengku Razaleigh himself, who would be the Prime Minister if the Opposition succeeds in toppling the Barisan Nasional.
Is Liong Sik confessing, after all, that he has secret links with Tengku Razaleigh, and that the allegation by the Lee Kim Sai faction that the UMNO leadership had found that Liong Sik held secret talks with Tengku Razaligh was true after all, and that it was at these secret talks that Liong Sik found from Tengku Razaleigh that if the Opposition topples the Barisan Nasional, Suhaimi would become the Education Minister, Harun Idris the Finance Minister and Awang Hadi the Culture Minister?
Liong Sik hould come clean and explain whether he is trying to compete with the Gerakan President, Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, who concocted the lie about the so-called DAP-PAS secret talks in Jakarta, by concocting his own lies, or whether he had derived his information from his secret talks with Tengku Razaleigh.
I will invite Lee Kim Sai to a dinner at Shangrila Hotel next Wednesday to show him all the proof to back up my statement about Liong Sik being the best MCA President for DAP
Last week, MCA Deputy President, Datuk Lee Kim Sai, asked me to produce proof to substantiate my statement that of all the MCA Presidents, Liong Sik has brought the most advantages to the DAP.
Liong Sik’s attempt to compete with Keng Yaik to concoct lies to misleads the voters about the DAP and the Opposition is one good example.
However, I am taking Kim Sai’s request seriously, and I am inviting Lee Kim Sai to a dinner at Shangrila Hotel next Wednesday where I will show him all the proof to back up my statement about Liong Sik being the best MCA President for the DAP.