by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Sunday, June 16, 1991:
I have not sought Dr.Chandra Mozaffar’s agreement on my proposal that he be nominated Senator as it is Dr.Koh Tsu Koon who should ask for his consent if the State Government accepts my proposal
The Penang Chief Minister, Dr.Koh Tsu Koon. And the Penang State Gerakan have not been able to give a single good reason why the State Government should not accept my proposal that the Penang State Assembly set a new tradition in the appointment of Senators-not only for Penang but for the whole of Malaysia.
I had proposed that the Penang State Assembly depart from the old bad habits of the ruling political parties regarding Senate appointments as part of their private property and appointing undistinguished party hacks to be Senator. Instead, the Penang Assembly should appoint distinguished Penangites like Aliran President, Dr.Chandra Muzaffar, or other such personalities and make the people of Penang proud of their Senator for the first time.
I have not sought Dr.Chandra Mozaffar’s agreement when I made the proposal, as it is up to the Penang Chief Minister, Dr.Koh Tsu Koo, to seek Dr.Chandra Muzaffar’s consent or that of any other personality if the State Government agrees with my proposal that Senate appointments should be treated seriously and based on what is best fir the people of Penang, rather than regarded as a ‘job for the boys’ in the Gerakan.
However, if the Penang State Government agrees with my proposal and needs my assistance to get the consent from Dr.Chandra Muzaffar to be nominated as Senator, I am prepared to put my services at the disposal of the State Government.
In the past few days, the Penang Gerakan had been coming out with irrational statements and outbursts,
because they could not give a single reason to discredit my proposal that the Senate appointment should be made on merit rather than political favouritism.
The Penang State Gerakan also could not disagree that the appointment of Dr.Chandra Muzaffar and other such-like distinguished Penang Penangite would make the people of Penang proud of heir Senator, which would not be the case if Datuk Tan Ghim Hwa is appointed Senator. (In fact, there would be substantial numbers in the Penang Gerakan who could regard such an appointment as disgraceful!)
The Penang State Gerakan is also unable to reply to the very strong reason given against Tan Ghim Hwa’s appointment as Senator, namely what qualifications has he to become Penang Senator when Tan Ghim Hwa as Penang Gerakan State Chairman has conceded that he was not suitable to be fielded as a Gerakan candidate in the recent general elections. Furthermore, there is also no answer to the charge that the recent action of Tan Ghim Hwa showed that he is a ‘political vulture’!
Koh Tsu Koon had deliberately fixed Penang State Assembly to meet tomorrow to clash with Parliamentary meeting
I have been asked by many why the Penang State Assembly sitting tomorrow clashes with the Parliament, which also begins tomorrow, and some have expressed surprise at such a coincidence of dates!
I am not at all surprised. I would be very surprised if there is no such ‘coincidence of dates’, for the Penang Chief Minister, Dr.Koh Tsu Koon, had deliberately fixed Penang State Assembly meetings to clash with Parliamentary meeting.
Dr. Koh waited for the dates for the Parliamentary meetings to be fixed by the Cabinet and announced to all MPs before fixing the dates for Penang State Assembly, to deliberately clash with Parliament.
I will leave it to the people of Penang to draw their conclusions as to the reasons why Dr.Koh Tsu Koon had deliberately fixed the Penang State Assembly dates to clash with Parliamentary meeting.
I feel sorry for him that Dr.Koh had to resort to such tactics as to deliberately fix the Penang State Assembly meeting to deliberately clash with Parliamentary meeting!