By Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Monday, August 23, 1993:
Abu Talib will be remembered for his five biggest failures in his 13 years as Attorney-General Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, who will retire from government service on October 31, will be remembered for his five biggest failures in his 13 years as Attorney-General.
They are:
• His directive to destroy material evidence in the Vijandran pornographic videotape scandal, namely the eleven Vijandran pornographic videotape and 3,000 pornographis photographs;
• His failure to initate any prosecution or extradition proceedings to bring to justice those responsible for the RM2.5 billion Bumiputra Finance Malaysia scandal;
• His failure to prosecute former MCA President, Tan Koon Swan, for criminal breach of trust until the then MCA President was arrested, convicted and jailed in Singapore;
• His failure to initiate any prosecution against top government leaders who have amassed extraordinary wealth which they have not been able to publicly account for as they are completely disproportionate to their own sources of income, as in the case of the Malacca Chief Minister, Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Cik, and
• His reluctant to approve any arrest or prosecution in the MAIKA Telekon shares hijacking scandal, as evidenced from his various recent statements which were clearly designed to prepare the public for the announcement that there was no cause for action to be taken against anyone after 16 months of investigation by the Anti-Corruption Agency.
Abu Talib should not drag his feet on the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal until he has arrested as Attorney-General, so that he does not have to take any decision on the matter.
If Abu Talib is not prepared to approve against and prosecution in the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal, then he should get the Government to release a White Paper to justify his decision.