Speech by parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the DAP Tanjong 3 Publicity Seminar held at Tanjong Country Club, Penang on Sunday, 17th April 1994 at 10 a.m.
The greatest challenge of the DAP in next general elections is to reverse the unfavourable national political trend and achieve new political breakthrough as capturing the Penang State Government
At the DAP National Leadership Conference in Kuala Lumpur last Sunday, I warned that the next general elections will be the DAP’s most difficult and challenging one where the DAP will not have any safe seat.
Recentlly, Barisan Naional leaders have been claiming that they are heading for landslide victories in the next general elections and even leaders from the MCA, which was completely wiped out in Penang in the last general elections, are claiming that they would recapture seats from the DAP in the next general elections.
Political commentators and newspaper pundits have also been predicting that the next general elections would be a good one for the Barisan Nasioal and an unfavourable one for the DAP.
The DAP’s greatest challenge in the next general elections is to reverse the unfavourable national political trend and to achieve new political breakthroughs as in the capture of the Penang State Government.
If the DAP is to succeed in reversing the unfavourable national political trend and to achieve new political breakthroughs in the next general elections, we must must able to counter the false impressions disseminated by the Barisan National that there are no problems or issues in the country.
With RM30 billion, there could be 30 Penang Bridges, five North-South Highways, 45 new Universities or 1.2 million low-cost houses
The Barisan Nasional, for instance, has been quite successful in distracting public attention from the colossal Bank Negara foreign exchange losses, which make it the biggest financial scandal in Malaysia, and even to make some Malaysians believe that the Problem has been resolved with the resignation of the Bank Negara Governor, Tan Sri Jaffar Hussein.
Malaysians should ponder why the RM2.5 billion Bumiputera Malaysia Finance scandal ten years stirred such a grear national controversy while there seems to be little interest in the Bank Negara forex losses, which could be 12 times bigger than the BMF scandal!
Is is really true that Malaysians are not bothered about the magnitude and course of Bank Negara’s colossal forex losses?
Even from the Bank Negara forex losses which had been admitted by the Government, there can be no justification for the Barisan Nasional in trying to downplay the Magnitude and seriousness of the Bank Negara forex losses.
Bank Negaara had admitted RM9.7 billion losses for 1992 (although it had claimed that these were mere ‘paper losses’) and RM5.7 billion losses in 1993, making a total of RM15.7 billion.
In actual fact, the Bank Negara’s forex losses are much higher. As I had explained during my speech in Parliament on Tuesday on my motion on the Bank Negara’s forex losses, Bank Negara’s forex losses in 1992 could be as high as RM13 billion while the forex losses in 1993 could be as high as RM17 billion making a total of some RM30 billion forex losses since 1992.
With RM30 billion, there could be 30 Penang bridges, five North-South Highways, four new Kuala Lumpur International Airports being built in Sepang, 45 new Universities or 1.2 million low-cost houses at RM25,000 each which will resolve the long-standing problem of low-cost housing in Malaysia.
RM30 billion is also equivalent to 120 times the annual total government budget for Penang – both operating and development!
If the Barisan Nasiaonal can succeed I making Malaysians believe that the colossal Bank Negara forex losses is not a problem at all, then it would be emboldened into thinking that it could also make people believe that all other problems, whether in the Penang state or country, have disappeared.
The DAP must redouble our efforts to let the people see the true situation in the country so as to counter this great political deception in Malaysian history.
Penang DAP Assemblymen will move two motions in the next Penang State Assembly – firstly, to censure Tsun Koon for failing to fulfill Prai by-election promises and secondly, to direct Tsu Koon to make annual financial allocations to Penang Chinese Independent Secondary Schools
In the next Penang State Assembly, DAP Penang Assemblymen will move two months.
One motion will be to censure the Penang Chief Minister, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, for his failure to fulfill the Barisan Nasional promises during the Prai by- election in 1991.
The second motion will be For the State Assembly Dr. Koh Tsu Koon to make annual financial allocations to Penang Chinese Independent Secondary Schools as had been done by the previous PBS State Government in Sabah.