by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Slang, in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, June 14, 1994:
The Highland Towers residents should be consulted first before any decision is taken to demolish the remaining two blocks of Highland Towers which Ampang Jaya Municipal Council Inquiry had declared unfit for occupancy
The nation in general, and the Highland Towers survivors and residents in particular, are all waiting for the outcome of tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting on the recommendation of the Special Cabinet Committee that the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council inquiry report into the Highland Towers tragedy which killed 48 people when it collapsed on December 11 last year be made public.
The Cabinet should not only make public the full report of the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council inquiry committee tomorrow itself, but release in full without any condition all reports, studies, documents, photographs and all raw data collected or received by the technical sub-committee into the Highland Towers Collapse Tragedy.
The Minister for Housing and Local Government, Datuk Dr. Ting Chew Pen should have attended the six-month memorial service of the Highland Towers survivors and residents at the site of the tragedy last Sunday, and meet the residents and survivors for first-hand information of their sufferings and problems, as well as what they hope the Cabinet and Government could do and help.
When I attended the six-month memorial service of the Highland Towers survivors and residents last Sunday, I was told of eye-witness accounts of how, just before the tragedy, Block A of Highland Towers was lifted upwards by a few metres, trembled and then collapsed.
This will foe in keeping with the explanation that Highland Towers collapsed, not because of weak foundation, but because of an massive landslip impact of some 40,000 cubic metres of earth a few minutes before it collapsed.
Examination of the piling of the condominium block which collapsed showed that they are still very strong and uncorroded, and the only point of fracture was where the buidling was sheared forward as a result of the impact from the massive landslip.
The Cabinet should make public all the findings and raw data of the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council inquiry so as to and speculation about the cause of the collapse of the Highland Towers last December.
According to Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is Chairman of the Special Cabinet Committee, the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council had declared the remaining two Highland Towers blocks B and C as unfit for occupancy.
The Highland Towers residents should be consulted first before any decision is taken to demolish the other two condominium blocks.