Tuan Yang di Pertua,
Dewan Rakyat,
Parlimen.
YB Tan Sri,
Motion of Definite Matter of Urgent Public Importance under S.O. 18(1)
This is to give notice under S.O. 18(2) that I will be asking leave to move the adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance, to wit, the formal detention of Sabah Foundation director, Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan under the Internal Security Act for alleged complicity in a plot to take Sabah out of Malaysia, and the motion is as follows:
“That this house under S.0. 18(1) grants leave to the Ketua Pembangkang, YB Lim Kit Siang, to move the adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance, namely the formal detention of Sabah foundation director, Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, under the Internal Security Act for alleged complicity in a plot to take Sabah out of Malaysia; as this is a definite matter of urgent public importance for the following reasons:
“Firstly, when Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan was detained on May 13, 1991 for the 60-day interrogation permitted under the Internal Security Act, the police said that his detention was in connection with police investigations into an alleged plot to take Sabah out of Malaysia although the police had not been able to produce any evidence to convince Sabahans and Malaysians that there was indeed such a plot despite numerous Police public statements about it for over a year;
“Secondly, the Police and the Home Ministry have also failed to produce any evidence of such a plot for the secession of Sabah from Malaysia although Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan had been formally detained under the ISA and sent to Kamunting Detention Centre;
“Thirdly, the detention of Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan and half a dozen others in connection with the same unsubstantiated allegation confirms the evaluation by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report 1991 about the low level of human rights in Malaysia and will only bring the international standing and repute of Malaysia to a new low level;
“Fourthly, the detention of Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan will be a grave setback to the effects at national integration, especially the territorial integration of Sabah and Sarawak with the Federation;
“Fifthly, the detention of Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan also raises the fundamental question as to whether the Malaysian Police had allowed itself to become a political pawn of the Barisan Nasional government in the political warfare it is conducting against the PBS State Government;
“Sixthly, for the above reasons, an urgent debate by Parliament is warned to uphold human rights and protect national integration to ensure:
(1) That Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan should be immediately and unconditionally released under the ISA or be charged in open court to give him a chance to defend serious charges made against him;
(2) That the Police issue a White Paper on the alleged plot to take Sabah out of Malaysia or it should bury the so-called Sabah secession plot altogether and convince Malaysians that the Police will never allow itself to become a tool in the Barisan Nasional government’s political warfare with the PBS Sabah State Government.”
Yours faithfully,
(Lim Kit Siang)
Ketua Pembangkang