Press Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Monday, 9th July 1990:
Keng Yaik should explain how he could have confidence in Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed and UMNO Baru when he is predicting that PAS could win 25 Parliamentary seats in the next general elections
Gerakan President Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik is now having ‘cold feel’ and afraid that Gerakan would be in the bad books of UMNO Baru and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed.
This is why after the Gerakan Gentral Committee meeting, Dr. Lim loudly proclaimed that the Gerakan was fully confident that the Barisan Nasional and Dr. Mahathir would achieve an overwhelming win in the next general elections. Keng Yaik accused the DAP, and in particular myself, of spreading rumours about him and Gerakan and twisting his words.
The Malaysian public should know by now who is a liar, who concocted the lies about the DAP-PAS secret talks in Jakarta and who could not produce any shred of evidence when challenged to do so.
DAP has more important things to do than to spread rumours about Keng Yaik and Gerakan, or to twist his words.
It is for Keng Yaik to clearly explain why he could predict that PAS could win 25 Parliamentary seats in the next general elections if he was so confident about the ‘overwhelming win’ of Barisan Nasional and Dr. Mahathir in the next general elections.
Keng Yaik should know that if PAS could win 25 Parliamentary seats in the next general elections, then Semangat 46 which would contest in more Parliamentary seats than PAS, would win even more seats – say 40 to 45 Parliamentary seats. This means that Dr. Mahathir’s UMNO Baru, which would contest the same number of 82 Parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia, would be left with less than 20 Parliamentary seats. This is a scenario of Dr. Mahathir and UMNO Baru losing power.
I invite Keng Yaik to prove me wrong on this calculation. I did not twist his words, but only spelt out clearly the full meaning of his claim that PAS could win 25 Parliamentary seats in the next general elections.
If Keng Yaik could envisage PAS winning 25 Parliamentary seats, then the Gerakan Central Committee must have discussed the possibility of UMNO Baru and Dr. Mahathir losing power, and the options open to Gerakan in such an eventuality.
Of course, Keng Yaik and the Gerakan Central Committee would not want UMNO Baru leaders to know that they are actively and seriously considering a political scenario in the next general elections where UMNO Baru has lost power. In such a case, Keng Yaik should not shoot his ‘big mouth’ and predicted that PAS could win 25 Parliamentary seats in the next general elections.
I want to put the record straight on another lie and distortion by Keng Yaik. The Gerakan President claimed yesterday that I had said that Gerakan had earlier asked me to arrange a meeting between the Gerakan leaders with Semangat 46.
Keng Yaik not only tell lies about other people, but invent lies about himself so that he could go round denying them
Keng Yaik said this was not true, that he knew Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah since 1956 and that even if he had wanted to meet Tengku Razaleigh, he would not need my help.
This is not the first time that Keng Yaik is making such a denial. But the fact is I had never made any such claim. I had never said that Keng Yaik or the Gerakan leaders had ever asked me to arrange for a meeting between them and Tengku Razaleigh, and I really marvel at the capacity of Keng Yaik to go round the country denying things which I had never said in the first place!
What is even more preposterous is that Keng Yaik claims that I had said that I was asked to be the middleman between Tengku Razaleigh and him, at a time when I was in detention in Kamunting. How could I have done that, when I myself had not met Tengku Razaleigh on the question of co-operation between the DAP and the UMNO 46 forces (as at that time Semangat 46 had not been registered) until I was released from detention after April 1989?
Keng Yaik is indeed a politician without equal in Malaysia. He could not only concoct lies about other people like the secret DAP-PAS Jakarta talks, he could also invent lies about himself and attribute them to the Opposition so that he could go round the country to deny them!
If Keng Yaik challenges me to produce proof of my version of the secret Kamunting talks, I am prepared to oblige
Keng Yaik was again caught telling a lie when he gave his untrue version of the secret Kamunting talks, where he sent the Penang Assembly Speaker, Datuk Ooi Ean Kwong to visit me in Kamunting in December 1988 when I was in detention under the Internal Security Act as part of Operation Lalang.
Keng Yaik said he sent Fan Kwong to visit me in Kamunting to find out whether I needed Gerakan help to secure my release, and to advise me not to waste my time in the Opposition and to join the Barisan Nasional.
I had revealed more than a week ago in Penang on June 29 the true nature of the secret Kamunting talks, that Ean Kwong was sent by Keng Yaik to see me to initiate discussions about some form of co-operation between the DAP and Gerakan in Penang, as well as to convey the Gerakan’s preparedness to work out some form of understanding with DAP and UMNO 46 (as there was then no Semangat 46) to present an alternative to the Barisan Nasional.
That was the period when the Gerakan had absolutely no confidence in Dr. Mahathir and UMNO Baru surviving the general elections, which Ean Kwong said the Gerakan leadership expected to be held by April 1989.
It is significant that there was no instant rebuttal by Keng Yaik to my disclosure of the true nature of the secret Kamunting talks, until a week later! If Keng Yaik challenges me to produce evidence to substantiate my disclosure about the true nature of the secret Kamunting talks, I am prepared to oblige!