By Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang on Friday , January 21th, 1994:
Why Tsu koon and Gim Hwa afraid to accept DAP challenge to public debate on Hotel Metropole and Taman Midlands scandals if they claim that DAP is only telling lies?
MPPP president , Datuk Tan Gim Hwa gave an interview to an English newspaper yesterday where he repeated that the DAP was only telling lies about the Hotel Metropole and Taman Midlands “one-stop-centre” scandals.
If the DAP is only telling lies about the Hotel Metropole and Taman Midlands scandals , why are Gim Hwa and the Penang Chief Minister , Dr Koh Tsu Koon , afraid to accept the DAP challenge to a public debate before the Chinese New Year?
Everybody knows that it is those who tell lies , who have things to hide , who dare not accept any challenge to a public debate .
It is Gim Hwa and the penang Gerakan Leaders who should telling lies about the DAP.
For instance, Tan Gim Hwa claimed that I had told ‘two lies’ about him in connection with the Hotel Metropole scandal , namely :
That I had accused him of ordering the demolition of Hotel Metropole and
That I had accused him of surreptitiously removing Hotel Metropole from the 1989 MPPP list of 20 heritage buildings for Jalan Sultan Admad Shah
I challenge Gim Hwa to produce proof as to where I had accused him of personally ordering the demolition of Hotel Metropole . This is a pure connection of Gim Hwa and the Penang Gerakan leaders.
This must be the first time in Penang political history where a political leader invents a lie about himself and then accused somebody else of the lie. Gim Hwa and the Penang Gerakan leaders must be very desperate and bankrupt politically as to resort to such unscrupulous and dishonest tactics.
However, I did and continue to hold Gim Hwa responsible for the hotel Metropole demolition scandal , as he cannot shirk his political , moral and official responsibility for the destruction of the hundred – year –old heritage building.
As for the second lie ,I stand by my accusation that Gim Hwa had suureptitiously removed Hotel Metropole from the 1989 MPPP list of 20 heritage buildings for Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah , without public consultation or notice.
This is not a lie but a fact – for no one should now dispute the fact that on October 28 last year , the MPPP removed Hotel Metropole from the 1989 MPPP list of 20 heritage buildings which disallowed any demolition , alternation or extension ,and surreptitiously placed it in a new catergory 2 list which allowed it to be demolished , provided the façade of the building is preserved.
Gim Hwa should not repeat his threat but just take legal action to sue me if he believes I had defamed him on the hotel Metropole scandal
It is precisely because what the DAP had said about the Hotel Metropole scandal is the truth that Gim Hwa and Tsu Koon had not dared to accept the DAP challenge to a public debate.
We will give Gim Hwa and Tsu Koon a full week to decide whether to accept the DAP challenge to a public debate , and we are prepared to extend this period if they cannot make up their minds yet.
In this interview , Gim Hwa again repeated his threat that he was contemplating legal action against me . Gim Hwa should stop issuing threats about contemplating legal action against me , and should just proceed to sue me if be believes that I had defamed him on the Hotel Metropole scandal.