by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Friday, 17th January 1992:
Was Keng Yaik’s proposal for the removal of Kamaruzzaman Shariff as MPPP President vetoed by Dr.Ibrahim Saad?
It is significant that after the retention of Datuk Kamaruzzaman Shariff as MPPP President on January, the Gerakan President, Datuk Dr.Lim Keng Yaik, came to Penang to repeat his public call to the State Government that a politicial should replace Kamaruzzaman Shariff as MPPP President.
Keng Yaik had in fact publicly called for the removal of Kamaruzzaman Shariff as MPPP President in mid-December, accusing the MPPP as being ‘decadent and impotent’, and blaming the MPPP for causing the Gerakan to lose four State seats to the DAP in the last general elections.
I am sure that after the Gerakan President’s public call for the removal of Kamaruzzaman Shariff as MPPP President and his replacement by a Gerakan nominee, the Penang Chief Minister, Dr.Koh Tsu Koon, must have presented this proposal at the Penang State Exco meeting.
Why wasn’t Keng Yaik’s public proposal for the removal of Kamaruzzaman Shariff as MPPP President acted upon, especially as Keng Yaik publivly made the serious charge of ‘decadence and impotence’ against the MPPP, which is a million times more serious than charging the MPPP for being corrupt?
Is it because Keng Yaik’s proposal for the removal of Kamaruzzaman Shariff as MPPP President was vetoed by the Penang UMNO leaders in the State Government headed by Dr.Ibrahim Saad.
Secondly, how could Dr.Koh Tsu Koon explain for the reappointment of 20 of the 24 former MPPP
Councillors after Keng Yaik had hurled the serious charges of ‘decadence and impotence’ against them?
The people of Penang are entitled to know whether the Penang Chief Minister agree with the Gerakan President with regard to the ‘decadence and impotence’ of the MPPP, and if so, how could Tsu Koon allow it to continue without a total shake-up of the MPPP by completely removing all the former MPPP Councillors.