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.
It is up to the party and not up to me to decide where I will contest in the next general elections
The Penang Gerakan has turned the recent Penang State Assembly into a forum to express their fears about the next general elections and the DAP’s Tanjong 3 Project.
Gerakan Executive Councillors claimed that I would be contesting in the Tanjong Bungah sate assembly seat in the next general elections, and the Penag State Assembly that DAPSY National Chairman and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Guan Eng, will be contesting in the Bukit Bendera parliamentary seat in Penang next round.
For instance, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon has to learn form the DAP that the Penang Port Commission is going to become a laughing stock in the world because when the RM300 million North Butterworth Container Terminal is completed next year, it would not be able to be operational for one year as it does not have the required three gantry cranes.
Again, Tsu Koon did not know that the Penang State Constitution must be amended by the Penang Sate Assembly before the two year ban on state assembly by-election in the final two years before the completion of the five-year term of the Penang State Assembly could come into force.
In the recent meeting of Parliament, the Barisan National Government amended the Malaysian Constitution to ban Parliamentary and State Assembly by-election in the final two years before the completion of the five-year full term, i.e. after October 22, 1993 as the last general elections was held on October 21, 1990.
I had warned in Parliament that such a ban would be of no legal effect for State Assembly seats unless there is an attempt first to amend the respective State Constitutions.
Dr. Koh Tsu Koon is so mortally frightened of holding Penang State Assembly meetings and facing DAP Assemblymen that he would not hold the next State Assembly until he had fully stretched to the limit the six-month rule which required the State Assembly to meet at least once in six months.
Recently, Tsu Koon even violated the six-month rule by breaking up the effective meeting of the Penang State Assembly on June 23 from the official opening by the Yang di Pertua Negeri by 11 days.
This time, however, Tsu Koon cannot push the next Penang State Assembly meeting to the full limits of the six-month interval, which would be in mid-January next year, as the Penang State Assembly must meet by December or there would be no budget and no money for the Penang State Government to operate after the 1994 New Year’s Day.
However, unless Tsu Koon summons an emergency Penang State Assembly sitting to amend the Penang State Constitution before October 21, 1993 and secure the approval of the Assembly, the ban on by-elections in the last two years of the completion of the full term of the State Assembly would not apply as far as Penang is concerned should a casual vacancy arise, whether by death or resignation of an Assemblyman.
I had pointed out in the recent Penang State Assembly meeting that Tsu Koon should undergo a special course in simple legal and constitutional issues, as he seems to be quite ‘lost’ on this subject in the Penang State Assembly.
In fact, I had offered Tsu Koon ‘Ten Golden Rules’ as to how to earn respect as a Chief Minister with credibility and authority in the last State Assembly as he had not grown in stature as Penang Chief Minister after 32 months in office – as he is always in the shadows of the Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Saad.
These Ten Golden Rules include Tsu Koon exercising full authority in the Penang State Government, having the highest respect for the State Assembly, showing greater confidence in himself, be original, be serious about his undertakings and commitments and not to be obsessed with press manipulation to present a good press image.
I had declared in the recent Penang State Assembly that I had not thought about the ‘No. One’ issue in the minds of Tsu Koon and the Gerakan leaders, namely my contesting in Tanjong Bungah State Assembly seat in the next general elections – which had been the creation of the Gerakan mass media ‘manipulators’.
It is up to the party and not me to decide where I am to contest in the next general elections.
Why is Tan Ghim Hwa looking for a safe seat to contest in the next general elections instead of returning to Bukit Lanchang where he was defeated by Tan Loo Jit in 1986 general elections
The Penang Gerakan Chairman, Datuk Tan Ghim Hwa, has a lot to say about the DAP and the next general elections.
It is open secret that Tan Ghim Hwa is selecting a ‘safe’ State Assembly seat to contest in the next general elections.
Ghim Hwa wants to give the impression that he is a Gerakan leader who is not afraid to stand in the fromt-line fire of the DAP. If this is the case, why is he not returning to the Bukit Lanchang state assembly seat where he was defeated by Tan Loot Jit in the 1986 general elections instead of shopping for a ‘safe seat’ to contest?
Ghim Hwa’s intentions for looking for a ‘safe seat’ to contest in the next general elections are very obvious. He wants to position himself to be able to become the next Gerakan Chief Minister in Penang, regardless of whether Tsu Koon is re-elected to the State Assembly or not!