Press Conference Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the DAP PJ Headquarters on Friday, February 4, 1994 at 11.30 a.m.
Australia clears Malaysian opposition politicians and MPs and pin-points government politicians as having received bribes from Australian spies.
Australia has cleared Malaysian opposition politicians and MPs of having received bribes from Australian spies, and has pin-pointed government politicians instead.
Canberra Times in a report yesterday clarified the Sydney Sunday Telegraph report of 16th January 1994 that “Australian spies have paid senior opposition politicians in Malaysia and Singapore tens of thousands of dollars”, and pointed out that the receipients were not opposition politicians but government politicians and UMNO leaders.
The Canberra Times report, under the secondary heading “Government Target of Largesse” and the main headline “ASIS Cash Was Not For Opposition”, states:
Malaysia and Singapore have been looking in the wrong places for recipients of financial largesse from the Australian secret service, ASIS.
A newspaper report last month said Opposition politicians from both countries had been paid by ASIS – but the receipients were in fact government politicians, according to highly-placed diplomatic and intelligence sources.
“What would be the point of cultivating people out of power with little hope of winning power? It doesn’t make sense”, a source told The Canberra Times.
The object of the exercise, long since abandoned, had been to acquire a degree of leverage within the ruling elites by ‘sponsoring’ politicians who were seen as potential contenders for power.
In Malaysia, the focus of the operation, in which tens of thousands of dollars was spent, was on politicians from the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) – seen as less than enthusiastic about the leadership of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, whose distinctly anti-Australian views are well-known.
“If you like, they were opposition politicians in the loose sense – oppositionists within the ruling parties, not the formal capital-O opposition,” said a source.
The revelations last month in the Sunday Telegraph brought an angry reaction from the Malaysian Government as well as denials from both the opposition Democratic Action Party in Malaysia and the opposition Singapore Democratic Party…..
According to sources, ASIS abandoned its payments four years ago after they had continued for many years, unknown to the Australian Government.
The payments had been halted when it was decided that little of value was being achieved through their continuation.
But ASIS-controlled funds continued to be channelled until quite recently to sections of the resistance in Cambodia.
I had right from the beginning described the Sydney Sunday Telegraph allegation as most preposterous, as I do not believe that Malaysian Opposition politicians, although they disagree with the ruling parties, would embark on any treasonous activities to become agents of spies of foreign powers.
DAP insists that Australian Government must reveal names of Malaysian political leaders who have been receiving bribes from Australian spies although it is now clarified that the receipients were not opposition politicians but government politicians.
Although I have been proved right and Opposition politicians and MPs had been cleared of the allegation of being ‘traitors’ of Malaysia, DAP insists that the Australian Government must reveal the names of Malaysian government politicians who had been receiving bribes from Australian spies.
The DAP had been consistent right from the beginning, maintaining that regardless of whether the politician is from the government or the opposition, it is an act of treason to accept bribes to become agents of foreign spies and foreign powers, and the full rigours of the law must be applied.
Furthermore, that such action constitute an unwarranted interference in the domestic affairs of Malaysia by a foreign government.
The DAP stand on the principle of this issue remains unchanged, although Opposition politicians and MPs have been cleared of this allegation, and it is the government politicians and UMNO leaders who have been accused.
The Malaysian government politicians who received bribes from Australian spies narrowed down to government politicians and UMNO leaders who were MPs before 1990 general elections – probably not excluding those who have become Parliamentary Secretary, Deputy Minister or full Minister.
The latest Canberra Times report, which provided considerably more details than the Sydney Sunday Telegraph report, lends greater credence and credibility to the allegation.
If the Canberra Times report is true, that the “bribe payments” had been stopped four years ago after they had “continued for many years”, this would narrow down government politicians and UMNO leaders who received bribes from Australian spies to those who were already MPs before the 1990 general elections – probably not excluding those who have become Parliamentary Secretary, Deputy Minister or full Minister.
Mahathir must order a full Public Inquiry to investigate how the Asia-Pacific Zionist movement had succeeded in bribing government politicians and UMNO leaders.
UMNO Youth yesterday alleged that the Australian secret service agency bribery was connected to the Asia-Pacific Zionist movement which has its headquarters in Australia.
If this is the case, then it is all the more imperative that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir must order a full Public Inquiry to investigate how the Asia-Pacific Zionist movement had succeeded in bribing government politicians and UMNO leaders.
The latest development in the allegation pinpointing government politicians and UMNO leaders as the ‘traitors’ who had been bribed by Australian spies will be a great test for UMNO Youth – as to whether they would dare to demand a full purge of UMNO to expose the ‘traitors’ inside UMNO who had committed treason!
What is the Government stand on Canberra Times report that the ‘traitors’ are government politicians and UMNO leaders?
Dr. Mahathir and Cabinet Ministers should clarify whether they are still insisting that the Australian Government should reveal the truth or otherwise of the allegation that its intelligence agency had bribed Malaysian politicians, now that it is the government politicians and UMNO leaders who are being accused and not Opposition politicians.
I am sure the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Ministers, who have never publicly expressed doubts about the Sydney Sunday Telegraph report of January 16, will not now raise doubts about the Canberra Times report of February 3, which clarified that bribes from Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) were paid not to Opposition politicians in Malaysia, but “oppositionists within the ruling parties” and that ASIS payments had stopped four years ago.
The information Minister, Datuk Mohamed Rahmat, had been one of the most vocal UMNO Ministers throwing allegations of ‘traitors’ all over the place.
Two days ago, he said the Australian Government has an obligation to say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the allegation which, if true, was a form of foreign interference in Malaysia’s internal affairs and must be viewed seriously.
He also demanded that if the allegation is true, the Australian Government must provide the names of the opposition politicians involved, declaring: “We demand to know the names of those involved so that our people can judge and punish them.”
Now that Opposition politicians have been cleared from the allegation and the Canberra Times has narrowed down the Malaysian politicians who had been bribed by ASIS spies as UMNO politicians who were MPs until four years ago, is Mohamad Rahmat equally vehement in his demands against the Australian Government and in wanting to punish the ‘traitors’ to be found in UMNO?
RTM and TV3 news black-out – is it because it is only news when opposition politicians are alleged to be bribed by Australian spies, but it is not news when government politicians are pin-pointed as the ‘traitors’.
RTM and TV3 completely blacked out the news that the Canberra Times had cleared opposition politicians of having been bribed by Australian secret service agency, and pinpointed government politicians and UMNO leaders instead as the ‘traitors’ of the country.
This is in complete contrast to their full coverage of the Sydney Sunday Telegraph report on 26th January alleging that opposition politicians had been bribed by ASIS.
What is the reason for the RTM and TV3 blackout? Is it because it is only news when opposition politicians are alleged to be bribed by Australian spies, but it is not news when government politicians are pinpointed as the ‘traitors’?
This is a most dishonourable double standards in news presentation by RTM and TV3, and they should be condemned by all fair-minded Malaysians as a national disgrace!