by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, 11th May 1991:
Liong Sik may have lost the last change to build the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City when he failed to got the Cabinet to give it formal approval on Wednesday.
A week ago, I advised the MCA President, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik, that unless he presented the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal at the Cabinet this Wednesday to get its formal approval, the pressures from UMNO leaders opposing the proposal are likely to mount until the MCA leadership would buckle under and abandon the proposal altogether.
As Liong Sik had said that the top UMNO and Barisan Nasional leadership had ‘discussed, understood and accepted’ the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal, then he should have no difficulty in getting formal approval for the project from the Cabinet this week.
I had also warned Liong Sik that this Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting may be the last opportunity that he had to get Cabinet approval for the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal.
It now appears that my advice and warning had been proved right, and that in failing to ask for Cabinet approval for the project last Wednesday, Liong Sik may have lost the last chance to build the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City.
On the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal, MCA leaders have been competing with each other to make foolish statements.
MCA Deputy President and Health Minister, Datuk Lee Kim Sai, started off the MCA season of fully by declaring that the MCA had nothing to do with the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal.
MCA President, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik, next came out with the statement that the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal had been ‘discussed, understood and accepted’ by top UMNO leaders.
However, Liong Sik had not been able to name who are these ‘top UMNO leaders’ who had given their blessings to the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City, while one UMNO leader after another had declared their public opposition.
Apart from the UMNO Secretary-General and Information Minister, Datuk Mohamad Rahmat, other UMNO leaders who had expressed their opposition are UMNO Vice President and Foreign Minister, Datuk Abdullah Badawi, UMNO Youth Leader and Defence Minister, Datuk Najib Tun Razak and UMNO Minister for Culture, Arts and Tourism.
On Wednesday, after the Cabinet meeting, the UMNO Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister, Ghafar Baba, when asked by the press, said he had not been informed about the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal.
Who is telling the truth, Mohamad Rahmat or Liong Sik?
What is even more shameful for the MCA President, UMNO Secretary-General, Mohamed Rahmat, yesterday publicly repudiated his claim that the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal had been ‘discussed, understood and accepted’ by the top UMNO leaders!
Mohamed Rahmat said that Liong Sik’s claim that top UMNO leadership had accepted proposal is untrue and he expressed regret that the MCA President had linked the UMNO leadership with the project.
Is Liong Sik able to name names to substantiate his claim that ‘top UMNO leaders’ had accepted the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal – or does he accept Datuk Mohamed Rahmat’s clarification that what he had claimed earlier about getting the endorsement of top UMNO leaders was completely untrue?
The public has a right to know as to who is telling the truth – whether Mohamed Rahmat or Liong Sik.
Is Ah Lek telling another MCA untruth when he claims that there is a Cabinet ban on public discussion of Malaysian Chinese Cultural City?
I am shocked to read of another statement by MCA National Vice Chairman, Datuk Lim Ah Lek, today that the Cabinet had imposed a ban on a public discussion of the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City.
Ah Lek claimed that this decision was taken by the Cabinet and that the issue will be dealt with in the spirit of the Barisan Nasional.
I find Ah Lek’s statement surprising because if there is such a Cabinet decision to impose a ban on public discussion on the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City issue, it would have been announced by the Deputy Prime Minister, Ghafar Baba, himself after chairing the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Ghafar Baba not only did not given any such indication that there is such a Cabinet ban, but when asked by reporters, said he had not been informed about the proposal. This would mean that the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal was never raised in Cabinet on Wednesday by any MCA Minister at all.
Secondly, if there is such a Cabinet ban, does it apply only to MCA Ministers? This is because after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, UMNO Ministers continue to make statement and declare their stand on the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal.
Information Minister Mohamed Rahmat virtually said that the MCA President had lied when he was in Pekan yesterday when referring to Liong Sik’s claim that top UMNO leaders had accepted the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City.
Also in Kuala Terengganu, UMNO Culture, Arts and Tourism Minister, Sabarrudin Cik, again attacked MCA’s proposal for a Malaysian Chinese Cultural City and declared that it was against the National Cultural Policy which had been accepted by the MCA Ministers.
The question I want to ask is, is there such a Cabinet ban on public discussion on the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal as claimed by Datuk Lim Ah Lek, and if so, why had the UMNO Ministers violated the Cabinet decision against public discussion of the project?
Or had Datuk Lim Ah Lek told another MCA untruth, and his claim is as dubious as Liong Sik’s claim that top UMNO leaders had accepted the Malaysian Chinese Cultural City proposal?