Press Conference Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang at the end of his three-day visit to Sabah held at Kota Kinabalu Hyatt Hotel on Monday, September 26, 1994 at 9.45 am.
DAP calls on Anwar Ibrahim to establish a Commission of Good, Honest and Clean Government for Sabah to investigate into all complaints of irregularities, improprieties, abuses of power and corruption committed by the Barisan Nasional Sabah State Government.
Today is the 194th day of the Barisan Nasional Sabah State Government.
I had come to Sabah expecting significant developmental changes as the Barisan Nasional had promised that it would begin to deliver its election promises to create a New Sabah in the first hundred days of a Barisan Nasional Sabah State Government.
What I have seen of the Barisan Nasional’s ‘Sabah Baru’ in my short visit is even worse than the old Sabah.
The Barisan Nasional State Government had not only failed to deliver its election promise of creating a New Sabah in its first 100 days in office, it had even brought Sabah backwards instead of forwards, particularly with regard to basic infrastructure facilities like power and water supply.
The power supply in Sabah has reached the most scan¬dalous stage and is a daily reminder of the failure of the Bari¬san Nasional State Government’s promise of its first one hundred days.
What is the use of the SAPP President, Yong Teck Lee switching on all the lights in Kota Kinabalu when the Barisan Nasional undemocratically and unethically toppled the PBS State Government on March 17, when the people of Sabah are now suffering even worse with, more frequent and prolonged power cuts.
In the recent Sabah state general elections, the Barisan Nasional made the corruption charges against Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan as the primary issue, calling on the Sabah voters to reject corrupt leaders.
However, when the Barisan Nasional wanted to topple the PBS State Government and had to engineer defections of PBS Assemblymen over to Barisan Nasional, Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan’s corruption charges were also dropped!
Is this another example of the double standards of the Barisan Nasional on the issue of corruption, where a person is corrupt or not depends on whether he is in the Barisan Nasional or outside?
Is this why the Anti-Corruption Agency had so far failed to take action against the MIC President, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu for the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal or against the Malacca Chief Minister, Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Cik, for his extraordinary and unusual wealth, completely disproportionate to his known sources of income?
Although the Barisan State Government had failed to deliver its ‘First Hundred Days’ election promise, there are already disturbing talk and allegations of irregularities, improprieties, abuses of power and even corruption of the new Barisan Nasional State Government in its first one hundred days.
I call on the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who has special charge of the Barisan Nasional State Government, to establish a Commission of Good, Honest and Clean Government for Sabah to investigate into all allegations of irregularities, improprieties, abuses of power and corruption committed by the Barisan Nasional State Government.
This Commission of Good, Honest and Clean Government in Sabah should start off by inquiring into allegations that in its first hundred days, the Barisan Nasional State Government had already improperly alienated logging rights to non-Sabahan companies and interests.
The Commission should also investigate into the pro¬posed reverse takeover of Sabah Softwoods Sdn. Bhd. by North Borneo Timber Bhd, ascertain as to whether this will only benefit certain quarters who are eying Yayasan Sabah’s vast timber land, why there has been no public accountability and transparency in this transaction involving the sale of the state’s assets in such a secretive manner.
It has been reported that under this deal, Yayasan Sabah, which holds over 860,000 hectares in timber reserves, will have to give North Borneo Timber Bhd. management, logging right’s over 160,000 hectares.
DAP leadership to finalise DAP general elections manifesto.
Following the ‘full alert’ issued to all DAP State Committees and branches to fully mobilise for the possibility of general elections being held between October 22 and November 13, the DAP leadership will be finalising its general elections manifesto.
For the next general, elections, the DAP will be having its own general elections manifesto unlike, in the 1990 general elections, when the Gagasan Rakyat had a common manifesto for all the component parties, like DAP, Semangat 46, Parti Rakyat Malaysia, IPF, etc.
I must clarify that the DAP had never co-operated with PAS in the 1990 general elections, or any other previous general elections, as PAS had never been a member of Gagasan Rakyat. This clarification is important as I have read some Sabah newspapers mentioning that the DAP had co-operated with PAS in the 1990 general elections.
The DAP will also be fielding candidates against the Barisan Nasional on its own unlike in the 1990 general elections, there is a common slate of Gagasan Rakyat candidates.
This means that there would not be a repetition of the 1990 situation where throughout the country there was a virtual ‘one-to-one’ contest against the Barisan Nasional, and that in the next, general elections, there would be multi-cornered con¬tests.