By Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, 13th April 1991:
Rahim’s Bernama interview another dishonest and dishonest and dishonourable attempt to clear his own name at other people’s expense but which would have no higher credibility than his previous attempts.
The Malacca Chief Minister, Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Cik’s Bernama interview is another dishonest and dishonourable attempt to clear his own name in the Malacca water shortage crisis at other people’s expense, but which would have no higher credibility than his earlier attempts.
In the Bernama interview published in the press yesterday, Tan Sri Rahim was asked why as Chairman of Malacca Water Authority (LAM), he did not order any rationing although the water in the dam and the river was at a critical level.
The Bernama report on the interview stated that Tan Sri Rahim “repeatedly pleaded that he was kept in the dark by the LAM Management about the actual situation until it was too late to avert the crisis.”
When did Rahim first came to know of the Malacca water crisis – in March of August last year, or not until January this year?
Tan Sri Rahim’s ceaseless attempt to put the blame on LAM engineers and technicians, and in particular on LAM’s former acting manager, Thai Kian Tong and former acting production manager, Khalid Nasir, in nauseating and disgusting.
Rahim should state when he first came to know of the Malacca water shortage crisis. From the Bernama interview, one would think that Rahim did not know anything about the critically low levels of the Malacca River and the Durian Tunggal dam until January this year, when nothing could be done to avert the crisis.
Is this true? This is unbelievable. Form the very unprofessional, incompetent and unsatisfactory report of the Malacca Inquiry Committee into the Malacca water crisis, we know that the Malacca State Executive Council was presented with three options by the LAM acting general manager, Thai Kian Tong in August last year, namely to ration water supply immediately, or to ration water in two weeks’ time when the reserves in the Durian Tunggal Dam fall further, or not to ration water but to wait for rain.
Is Rahim suggesting in the Bernama interview that even in August last year, he did not know about the critical state of the Malacca water supply? Or was Rahim in the know about the critical water situation in Malacca even earlier?
Again, from the unprofessional and unsatisfactory Inquiry Committee report, we learn that the danger level in the Durian Tunggal dam was reached as early as March last year. By that time, 42 percent of the dam’s 20.4 billion litres had been drawn out. The LAM Board at its meeting of 28th March 1990 decided that water rationing would be imposed in two weeks’ if the dry spell continued.
Is Rahim suggesting that when the LAM Board made the decision in March last year to impose water rationing of the dry spell continued, he knew nothing about the critical condition of the Malacca River and Durian Tunggal dam?
This is most unbelievable and horrifying, for we get a picture of Tan Sri Rahim who is so incompetent, irresponsible and inept that he is not fit to hold any public office at all.
I call on Rahim to publicly state when was it that he first came to know about the critical situation of the Malacca River and the Durian Tunggal dam – was it in March or August last year, or only in January this year.
Is Rahim suggesting in the Bernama interview that even in August last year, he did not know about the critical state of the Malacca water supply? Or was Rahim in the know about the critical water situation in Malacca even earlier?
Again, from the unprofessional and unsatisfactory Inquiry Committee report, we learn that the ganger level in the Durian Tunggal dam was reached as early as March last year. By that time, 42 percent of the dam’s 20.4 billion litres had been drawn out. The LAM Board at its meeting of 28th March 1990 decided that water rationing would be imposed in two weeks if the dry spell continued.
Is Rahim suggesting that when the LAM Board made the decision in March last year to impose water rationing if the dry spell continued, he knew nothing about the critical condition of the Malacca River and Durian Tunggal dam?
This is most unbelievable and horrifying, for we get a picture of Tan Sri Rahim who is so incompetent, irresponsible and inept that he is not fit to hold any public office at all.
I call on Rahim to publicly state when was it that he first came to know about the critical situation of the Malacca River and the Durian Tunggal dam – was it in March or August last year, or only in January this year.
How many times did the LAM Board and the Exco meet last year over the Malacca water shortage crisis?
The people also want to know how many times the LAM Board and the Malacca State Exco meet over the Malacca State Exco meet over the Malacca water shortage crisis last year – and the substance and decisions of such meetings.
These are the basic information which a competent and responsible Inquiry Committee would have inquired into and reported on, but unfortunately, the Malacca Inquiry Committee was completely silent on them, suggesting that the Inquiry Committee’s real terms of reference was not to expose the real causes of the greatest man-wide water crisis in Malaysian history, but to hide the causes and to make public scapegoats of Thai Kian Tong and Khalid Nasir.
Call on all MPs, including Barisan National MPs, to support the demand of establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Malacca water crisis
The DAP will continue to press for a full public inquiry into the scandal of the Malacca water crisis. I call on all MPs, including the Barisan National MPs, to support the demand for the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Malacca water crisis. This demand will be a major issue in the forthcoming Parliamentary meeting in June, and will be a critical test as to whether the Prime Minister is serious about wanting an efficient and trustworthy government.