Press conference Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang in Kota Kinabalu on Wednesday, 6th April 1994 at 11 am
DAP has taken a policy decision to co-operate with PBS in Sabah in the forthcoming parliamentary general elections
DAP has taken a policy decision to co-operate with PBS in Sabah in the forthcoming parliamentary general elections.
The Sabah DAP State Committee took this policy decision at its meeting in Kota Kinabalu last night.
Although the DAP has taken the policy decision to co-operate with PBS in the next general elections, whether such a co-operation would eventuate would depend on the outcome of discussions between DAP and PBS leaders.
No meetings or discussions had been held yet between DAP and PBS leaders, but with the DAP policy decision, the stage should be set for such discussions in the near future, whether in Sabah or in Kuala Lumpur during the forthcoming parliamentary meeting.
I believe that with goodwill and sincerity, it should be possible for the DAP and PBS to reach an understanding to co-operate in the next general elections. I will be very disappointed if such an co-operation could not materialize.
In the 1990 general elections, Sabah DAP had fielded nine parliamentary candidates and the DAP had expected to win up to seven Parliamentary seats.
I have told the Sabah DAP state leaders to be prepared for general elections to be held any time after the forthcoming Parliamentary meeting, when the Election Commission’s proposal for redelineation of electoral constituencies would be adopted.
The Sabah DAP proposes to field more candidates than the 1990 general elections, and plans for Sabah DAP’s general elections campaign are being finalized.
The formation of a DAP branch in Penampang would be part of the Sabah DAP’s general elections preparations.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, had announced that there would be an audit of the PBS State Government into corruption, abuses of power and malpractices as part of the Barisan Nasional’s proposal to establish a ‘clean, effective and trustworthy’ government.
However, the question must be asked as to whether the Barisan Nasional could establish a ‘clean, effective and trustworthy’ government in Sabah when it was founded on unclean, dishonest, dishonourable and untrustworthy practices, like the buying and selling of Assemblymen, the betrayal of the mandate of the voters, as well as the buying and selling of votes.
When the means to archive the ends of establish a Barisan Nasional government in Sabah are immoral, dishonest and dishonourable, how could the ends be ‘clean, effective and trustworthy’.
It is open secret, for instance, that there are several Sabah Assemblymen who had defected from PBS and betrayed the trust of their voters, including those who have become Assistant Minister, who are ‘hiding’ in Kota Kinabalu because they dare not go back to their constituencies for fear of the wrath and outrage of the voters – and one of them is Assistant Finance Minister, Michael Lim of Sri Tanjong.
I fully agree with voters who have been betrayed by Assemblymen whom they elected on February 19 and want to show their anger and outrage, for this would be one way to ensure a ‘clean, effective and trustworthy’ State Assembly.
Nobody is going to believe that a State Government created by such immoral, dishonourable circumstances is going to be ‘clean, effective and trustworthy’.
If the Prime Minister is serious in wanting to have a ‘clean, efficient and trustworthy’ government in Sabah, then there should first be a full and independent audit into money politics in Sabah, in particular into the buying and selling of Assemblymen leading to the collapse of the PBS Government in less than a month from the Sabah state general elections and the buying of voters in the Sabah state general elections in February.
In Peninsular Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir used the ‘clean, efficient and trustworthy’ slogan in 1982, but in the past two elections, that ‘ ABC’ slogan – ‘beramanah, cekap dan boleh di percayai’ – has become a bad joke, and the Barisan Nasional is too embarrassed to use it. But in Sabah, Barisan Nasional could still use what has become discredited in Peninsular Malaysia.
Will the Sabah University be just a change of name for the UKM campus in Sabah
Sabahan and Malaysians must be confused as to the Barisan Nasional plans for a Sabah University. A few days after saying that it would take a few years before the proposed Sabah University could take off, the Education Minister, Datuk Dr. Sulaiman Daud changed his mind and said that it is proposed to start the Sabah University by June.
As an university can only be said to have been started when it begins to recruit Students, this would mean there is now a proposal to accept the first batch of students for the proposed Sabah University in tow months’ time in June.
Malaysia must be setting a new world record in trying to establish a university in two months!
DAP must ask whether the proposed Sabah University would be just a change of name for JKM campus in Sabah, and all students of UKM campus this year would be regarded as the first batch of intake for the new Sabah University.
If this is the case, then the Barisan Nasional Government is not serious about its general election promises, and the people of Sabah should not have too high an expectation about the fulfillment of the numerous and even impossible Barisan Nasional general elections promises.
In Parliament next week, the Education Minister, Datuk Dr. Sulaiman Daud should make a Ministerial statement as to the full details of the proposed Sabah University, and whether the new Sabah University is nothing but a change of name of the UKM campus in Sabah.