Speech by Parliament Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the Penang DAP ‘Be A Voter For Tanjong 3’ Ceramah held at Penang Chinese Town Hall on Sunday, 7th August 1993 at 8 p.m.
If Liong Sik’s claim that 86 per cent of the people support the Barisan Nasional while only 14 per cent oppose, then the MCA President should dare to return to Penang and contest in Tanjong parliamentary constituency in the next general elections
MCA President, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik, said in Perak yesterday that according to a survey, 86 per cent of the people support the Barisan Nasional leadership with only 14 per cent of the people opposing.
If Liong Sik’s claim is right, it should give him courage to return to Penang and contest in the Tanjong parliamentary constituency in the next general elections.
Liong Sik should know that his boast to ‘regain lost MCA seats’ in Penang has no credibility whatsoever as he was the first MCA national leader to flee Penang when he heard that I wan coming to contest in Penang in the 1986 general elections.
It is open knowledge that for the 1990 general elections, Liong Sik sent a special task force with the mission to survey whether there was any parliamentary seat in Penang which he could return to contest, but after a three-months intensive study, Liong Sik reached the conclusion that there was no seat in Penang which was safe for him.
As a result, he stayed behind in Labis, where his parliamentary majority was slashed by half, from some 10,000 to 5,225 votes.
Labis has become an ‘unsafe’ seat for Liong Sik, particularly as a result of the constitution controversy over the Rulers’ immunity and he could no more rely on UMNO’s Malay votes, and the MCA President is looking for another constituency to contest in the next general elections.
I will give Liong Sik a good excuse to come out of Labis and in view of his claim in Perak yesterday that 86 per cent of the people support Barisan Nasional leaders, challenge him to contest in the Tanjong parliamentary seat!
Of course, if Liong Sik is right with his claim that 86 per cent of the people support the Barisan Nasional, the MCA would not have fared so miserably in the last general elections, where it secured less than 20 per cent of Chinese electoral support!
MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal will be a critical test as to whether the Barisan Government is serious about war against corruption and malpractices
It is reported teday that yesterday, the Anti-Corruption Agency Director-Genaral ,Tan Sri Zulkifli Mahmood submitted its report to the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abu Talib, after a 16-month investigation into the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal and the MIC President and Minister for Enercy, Telecommunications and Posts, Datuk Seri Samy Vellu.
Abu Talib said that yesterday was his first discussion with Tan Sri Zulkifli Mahmood on the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal. If this was the case, why then did he say in Brunei last Sunday that he and the ACA was in the “process of discussion” to establish whether there was a case for action to be taken in the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal.
Something is very unusual in these discrepancies and contradictions in the remarks which had been made by Tan Sri Abu Talib on the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal in the past few months, which raises the question as to whether the Attorney-General would authorise arrest and prosecution.
Certainly, if there is no case for auction in the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal, there is no need for the ACA Director-General to submit any report to Tan Sri Abu Talib in the first instance, as the natural thing for Tan Sri Zulkifli Mahmood to do in the circumstances where there is no case action is just to close the file and disband the ACA investigating teams!
In fact, if this should be the outcome, Tan Sri Zulkifli should present a report to Parliament to explain why the ACA took 16 months to investigate, including directing a Cabinet Minister and Deputy Minister to declare all their family assets inside and outside the country, in order to end up with ‘no case for auction’!
The MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal is a critical test as to whether the Barisan Nasional Government is serious about war against corruption and malpractices, or whether the ACA is only good against ‘ikan bilis’ but a ‘toothless tiger’ as far as corruption in high political places are concerned.
Yesterday, the managing editor of Thootan Weekly, Peru A. Tamilmani, has started a fast to demand immediate action to be taken by the ACA and the Attorney-General against Samy Vellu in connection with the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal and for the removal of Samy Vellu from the Cabinet.
If nothing comes out of the 16-month investigation into the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal, public confidence in the ACA will crashed to its lowest point.