by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit. Siang, in Petaling Java on 14ednesdav, 19th October 1994:
During question time in Parliament on Monday, I had not called for Liong Sik’s resignation as Transport Minister for having the most Kuala Lumpur International Airport fires and disasters
I want to clarify that during question time in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday, I had not called for Liong Sik’s resignation as Transport Minister for having the most Kuala Lumpur International Airport fires and disasters.
This clarification is. necessary as certain newspapers had not only carried misleading reports in yesterday’s editions about my supplementary questions directed to Liong Sik in Parliament on. Monday, but there had also been press commentaries based oil such.misleading reports passing judgement about Liong Sik and me calling ‘on each other to resign’.
The press should be careful not to publish false and misleading reports, and even more careful not to use these false and misleading reports to write press commentaries.
It was Liong Sik who, forced to turn up in Dewan Rakyat to answer during question time for the first time as Transport Minister, had repeatedly talked about the matter or resignation’.
It is clear that Liong Sik had been prepared by his ‘political mentors’ because of his first appearance in Parliament for question time as Transport Minister, that would be cailing for his resignation because of his atrocious record as Transport Minister and taught him how to react by also calling for my resignation.
But when I did not call on Liong Sik to resign, the MCA President could not readjust and had to continue with the script.’ prepared by his ‘political mentors’ and just harped on the issue of resignation.
He also briefed the press after question time in the same vein, on the basis of his retaliation’ to my call for his resignation, when I had never called for his resignation in my supplementary question.
If Liong Sik claims that I had called on him to resign’ during question time on Monday, let him produce the Hansard to prove his claim.
Any check with the Hansard of Monday’s question time will show that I had never called on Liong Sik to ‘resign’ as he had developed too thick a ‘skin’ to feel any moral responsibility for the catalogue of disasters and fires at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
I posed two very specific questions to Liong Sik during question time, why he did not visit the Subang radar station until 60 hours after the fire at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on August 13 which knocked out the airport radar system and whether it was part of a ‘cover-up plot’ to mislead the nation and the Prime Minister himself who did not know about the airport fire until it was exposed in a local newspaper.
When a Minister could not answer specific questions like the two which I posed to him on Monday, it only highlighted his incompetence and confirmed my judgement that he is the Cabinet Minister with the worst parliamentary record and performance.
Liong Sik was being very irresponsible in trying to answer 26 oral questions which MPs from all political parties had tabled on the Kuala Lumpur International Airport fires and disasters with one answer last Monday – hoping to escape with one supplementary question.
Normally, with 26 oral questions, there would be over 50 supplementary questions on the basis of two supplementary questions for an oral question. If Liong Sik had to answer over 50 supplementary questions about the Kuala Lumpur International Airport fires and disasters, he might get a ‘heart attack’ from the ensuing pressure and tension.
In any event, Liong Sik had not been able to give any satisfactory answer to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport fires and disasters, and in fact, had raised more questions than given answers last Monday. The question is when Liong Sik would pluck up the courage to return to the Dewan Rakyat for a second time to answer satisfactorily about the Kuala Lumpur International Airport fires and disasters.