by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Friday, May 20, 1994:
MBf Holdings Berhad Chairman Tunku Abdullah should not try to gloss over the great impropriety of Loy Hean Heong meeting Lord President, Tun Hamid Omar on 24th March 1994 by denying that Loy is a litigant in the MBf contempt proceedings against Wee Choo Keong
The MBf Holdings Berhad chairman, Tunku Abdullah Tuanku Abdul Rahman should not try to gloss over the great impropriety of Tan Sri Loy Hean Heong meeting Lord President, Tun Hamid Omar on 24th March 1994 by denying that Loy Hean Heong is a litigant in the MBf contempt proceedings against DAP MP for Bukit Bintang, Wee Choo Keong.
Tunku Abdullah’s denial that Tan Sri Loy Hean Heong is a litigant in the MBf contempt proceedings against Wee Choo Keong is very weak and untenable, for three reasons:
Firstly, why has Tunku Abdullah waited after more than five weeks to deny that Tan Sri Loy is a litigant in.the MBf proceedings against Wee Choo Keong, as I first spoke on the subject in Parliament during the debate on the Royal Address on April 13, 1994, and in the past five weeks, this had been repeatedly in the press?
Secondly, Tuanku Abdullah may be the chairman of MBf Holdings, but he cannot deny that it is Tan Sri Loy Hean Heong as the President and Chief Executive officer of the MBf Group of companies, who had the greatest say and the greatest interest in the contempt proceedings against Wee Choo Keong.
Thirdly, if Tan Sri Loy Hean Heong is not a ‘litigant’ in the contempt proceedings against Wee Choo Keong, why did the Lord President, Tun Hamid Omar withdraw from the Supreme Court panel which was to hear Choo Keong’s appeal in Penang on May 9 against the two-year jail sentence imposed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court?
From his action, it is clear that Tun Hamid Omar fully agreed and accepted that Tan Sri Loy Hean Heong was a ‘litigant’ in the MBf contempt proceedings against Wee Choo Keong.
Why then is Tunku Abdullah, at this late hour, trying to deny the undeniable by claiming that Tan Sri Loy Hean Heong is not a ‘litigant’ in the MBf contempt proceedings against Wee Choo Keong?
In fact, it was precisely because of the most injudicious conduct by the Lord President in meeting Tan Sri Loy, who is a litigant in the MBf contempt proceedings against Wee Choo Keong, that there had been two motions in Parliament to ask the Prime Minister to advise the Yang di Pertuan Agong to establish a judicial tribunal to remove Tun Hamid Omar as Lord President and why I had urged, in Parliament on May 12 that, Tun Hamid Omar should resign as Lord President for his improper and injudicious conduct.
The Law Minister, Datuk Syed Hamid Albar and the Bar Council have also publicly criticised Tun Hamid Omar for improper and injudicious conduct in meeting Tan Sri Loy in the Lord President’s private chambers on March 24.
Tunku Abdullah’s press conference statement yesterday has raised more questions about the private meeting between Tun Hamid and Tan Sri Lay, as to what actually transpired at their meeting on March 24, as Tan Sri Loy’s version as related by Tunku Abdullah contradicted the version given by Tun Hamid.
For instance, according to Tunku Abdullah, Loy had telephoned Tun Hamid on March 24 to convey his congratulations on the extension of his tenure as Lord President and his greetings on his birthday, and “when Hamid asked him to stop over for tea, Loy complied”.
This is different from the version given by Tun Hamid to the press on April 23, 1994, where he said:
“Tan Sri Loy called and said, ‘Tun, can I come and see you to say hello to you, to congratulate you? I said sure.”
Who actually suggested the meeting between the two on March 14 – Tun Hamid or Tan Sri Loy?
This is an important question which goes to the root of the issue of public confidence in the independence of the judiciary and respect for the high office of Lord President.
Can the Malaysian public get a clear and final answer to this question?
Tunku Abdullah said yesterday that the MBf Group was not staging any sort of confrontation with any particular person, group or political party but is seeking only to protect its business interests. Such a statement would have more credibility if it had come from Tan Sri Loy himself.