Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, at the MTUC forum on “The Abuse of the New Economic Policy, its implementation and the BMF Scandal” at Bangunan Buruh, Petaling Jaya on Friday, 14th March 1986 at 5 p.m.
An Opposition-headed Public Account Committee would have investigated into the BMF Scandal, and this is why the Government convention of having Opposition to head PAC
The $2.5 billion Bumiputra Malaysia Finance Scandal is the biggest theft and fraud of the funds of the Bank and the people of Malaysia, to the extent that if the Bank Bumiputra had been a private company, it would have to be declared a bankrupt bank. In the event, the multi-billion dollar reserves of Petronas’ petro-dollars had to be used to bail out Bank Bumiputra.
The BMF scandal in fact encompasses within it ten separate scandals.
1. Scandal of BMF in Hong Kong which took part in a massive conspiracy with George Tan to defraud and steal $2.5 billion of Malaysian funds.
2. Scandal of Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Bhd. Not only for its responsibility allowing the BMF scandal, to the extent that the ‘loans’ and ‘advances’ of one finance company could wipe out the reserves and shareholders’ capital in the parent bank.
3. Scandal of Bank Negara in failing its statutory duties and functions to monitor and supervise banks resulting in the $2.5 billion losses suffered by the Malaysian people because of the BMF and BBMB conspiracy.
4. Scandal of Political Involvement and Intervention in the BMF and BBMB conspiracy.
5. Scandal of the Professional Negligence of the Auditorx who must bear responsibility for the loss of $2.5billion by the Malaysian people.
6. Scandal of the Murder of Jalil Ibrahim in Hong Kong on 18th July 1986.
7. Scandal of the Government Cover-up of the BMF scandal right from the beginning, telling lies and falsehoods to mislead the people and MPs both inside and outside Parliament, until the arrest of George Tan and the collapse of Carrian made it impossible for the government to sweep the BMF scandal under the carpet any longer. But this cover-up plot continued even up till today.
8. Scandal of the Attorney-General’s attitude on the BMF scandal who had been singing the same tune of ‘No Evidence, No Prosecution’ when he is constitutionally entrusted with the responsibility of presenting Public Interest against such ‘heinous crime’ and ‘gross betrayal of trust’ like the $2.5 billion scandal.
9. Scandal of Parliamentary abdication of responsibility in exposing the BMF scandal. In March 1983, DAP MP Sim Kwang Yang sought to move the adjournment of the House to discuss the BMF scandal as a matter of urgent, definite public importance.
If this application, which was rejected, had been allowed, and Parliament had demanded a full accounting of the BMF scandal, Bank Bumiputra would not have to suffer such a great loss and Jalil Ibrahim would probably not been murdered.
This parliamentary abdication is still going on. The Public Accounts Committee, for instance, should have investigated into the BMF scandal, anf if it had been headed by an Opposition Member as is the parliamentary tradition elsewhere, the PAC would no doubt had started on its investigations. But the PAC is headed by a Barisan Nasional MP and it had stayed clear of the BMF Scandal. Although the DAP has a member on the PAC, he is only one against the rest and would not be able to get his views accepted by the others.
10. The Scandal of the refusal of BBMB and the Government to implement the recommendations and findings of the BMF Inquiry Committee, and the follow-up actions.
On Wednesday, March 12, 1986, UMNO MPs were given a special briefing on the BMF scandal in Parliament House by the Bank Bumiputra Chairman, Tan Sri Basir Ismail, secretary Syed Hamid Albar and other officials. This two-hour special briefing was attended by about 30 MPs including UMNO Vice President Ghaffar Baba and Supreme Council Member Datuk Haji Suhaimi Kmaruddin.
I want to ask Tan Sri Basir whether Bank Bumiputra is Bank UMNO or a bank National. If the Bank Bumiputra Chairman can give a special two-hour briefing to UMNO MPs, then DAP MPs are also entitled to a similar briefing,
I will write to Tan Sri Basir to ask for a special briefing on the BMF scandal to be given to DAP MPs, and I hope Tan Sri Basir would be equally available to all MPs, regardless of their party affiliation.
Although the Bank Bumiputra officials had given a two-hour special briefing to UMNO MPs, it is clear that this had not helped much in enabling the UMNO MPs to understand the BMF scandal. Ghaffar Baba, who spoke yesterday even rumoured to be likely Deputy Prime Minister if Datuk Musa Hitam refuses to withdraw his resignation, is still very uninformed about the BMF scandal. Either the Bank Bumiputra officials had not given Ghaffar Baba was unable to understand the briefing given to him.