By Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Monday, February 12, 1990:
Kit Siang to meet Dr. Mahathir on the parliamentary motions to remove Vijandran as Deputy Speaker and Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman as Attorney-General
I will seek a meeting with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, on the two motions in Parliament on the Vijandran pornographic videotapes scandal.
The main purpose of the meeting is to ascertain whether Dr. Mahathir is prepared to move a motion, as Leader of the House, for the removal of D.P. Vijandran as Deputy Speaker and to refer him to the Committee of Privileges for a full-scale investigation into the Vijandran pornographic videotapes scandal, and also for the removal of Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman as Attorney-General for the destruction of the eleven Vijandran videotapes and four envelopes of 2,000 photographs.
In the event that Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed is not prepared to move these two motions, I will seek to ascertain whether the Government is prepared to give priority to these two motions which I had already given notice to the Speaker of Dewan Rakyat, Tan Sri Zahir Ismail, so that they could be debated and decided upon before the disposal of all government business.
Vijandran should be removed because he has become a liability to the reputation and good name of the country
Gerakan National Vice President, Datuk Alex Lee, said D.P. Vijandran has become a political liability to the Barisan Nasional, and the Gerakan wanted Vijandran to resign as Deputy Speaker, or the Barisan Nasional should table a motion for his removal in the coming Parliamentary meeting.
I cannot agree with the reasons by Alex Lee for the removal of v. Vijandran should be removed as Deputy Speaker, not because he has become a political liability to Barisan Nasional, but because he has become a liability to the reputation and good name of the country.
By saying that Vijandran should go solely because he has become a political liability to Barisan Nasional, the Gerakan is acting solely out of political expediency, regardless of the moral, ethical and political rights or wrongs in the matter, and the damage he has done to the standing of Parliament or the international image of Malaysia.
Gerakan, as part of the Barisan Nasional government, knows what are on the eleven Vijandran videotapes and four envelopes of 2,000 photographs ordered to be destroyed by the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman. This is because the Police and the Attorney-General know the nature of the contents of these Vijandran videotapes and photographs – and the knowledge of the Police and the Attorney-General are not personal knowledge, but government knowledge.
Gerakan should therefore be fully aware that the Attorney-General’s destruction of the eleven Vijandran videotapes and photographs unethical and illegal and that by his
By the same reasoning of Alex Lee, is Gerakan also pressing for the removal of Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman as Attorney-General on the same ground that he has become a political liability of Barisan Nasional as well?
The Gerakan must take a stand on the larger interests of the integrity and image of government, the standing and dignity of Parliament, and the reputation and good name of the country, and not just on the question of liability or asset to Barisan Nasional.
The Gerakan must prove that it is a party which is genuinely nationalistic, in the sense of being guided by national interest, and not by petty party considerations of Gerakan or even Barisan Nasional.
2. Challenge to Mohamed Rahmat to deny that he had instructed UMNO Divisions and Branches last month to prepare for a snap voters’ registration campaign
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UMNO Secretary-General, Datuk Mohamed Rahmat, said that I do not understand the UMNO’s membership system, and that the 300,000 UMNO members not registered as voters was because they were below 21 years of age.
I challenge Datuk Mohamed Rahmat to deny that he instructed UMNO Divisions and branches last month to prepare for a snap voters’ registration campaign, and since then, the entire UMNO national machinery has been geared for this snap voters’ registration exercise which is to begin on March 1.
Can Datuk Mohamed Rahmat explain how he knew that Election Commission to conduct such a snap voters’ registration exercise primarily to register 300,000 to 500,000 UMNO Baru members who are not yet registered as voters.
Furthermore, UMNO Baru has also instructed the Election Commission to depart from the previous arrangements for voters’ registration so that the snap voters’ registration exercise will concentrate on targeting on the 300,000 to 500,000 UMNO Baru members who have not been registered.
DAP is still waiting for the formal announcement by the Election Commission on the snap 21-day voters’ registration exercise beginning on March 1. DAP’s lawyers are meanwhile finalizing their study into the possibility of challenging in court the constitutionality of the snap 21-day voters’ registration exercise beginning on March 1, as it violates the Constitutional provision that the Election Commission should be free and independent from interferences or directives from political parties or even the government of the day, and should enjoy public confidence.