Cabinet should declassify all relevant documents and  refer the integrity controversies surrounding the crooked half bridge, APs and Proton to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity for full investigation

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Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Parliament, Tuesday) The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has rightly rejected Tun Dr. Mahathir Mahathir’s proposal to build the RM1.1 billion crooked half bridge  in Johore as quid-pro-quo for his stop criticizing the government, as there can be no national, regional or international justification to revive an engineering monstrosity which was being passed off at one time as “one of the new wonders of the world”.

However, while I continue to maintain my stand which I first stated in mid-2003 opposing the building of the   RM1.1 billion crooked half-bridge, I am still baffled as to why the government has not been able to give a  satisfactory and final reply to all the questions which Mahathir had raised on the issue.

For more than  two months, the government’s responses had been weak and half-hearted which had not been able to stand up to new questioning by Mahathir.

The latest example is the response by the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday commenting on Mahathir’s statement that he was prepared to swear by the Quran to prove that Malaysia offered to sell sand to Singapore.

Najib said Mahathir should furnish such proof if he had any and that if Mahathir is afraid to provide such proof out of fear of the Official Secrets Act, he could submit to the Government.

Why couldn’t Najib and the government declassify all documents relating to the crooked half-bridge controversy, which would have been the most powerful government reply to any  allegation, insinuation or innuendo about any hanky-panky or   lack of integrity in the government decision to scrap the crooked half-bridge?

The Cabinet meeting tomorrow should  declassify all the relevant documents relating to the crooked half-bridge and challenge Mahathir to produce whatever documents or evidence  available to substantiate his allegation of hanky-panky or lack of integrity, without the fear of any reprisal under the Official Secrets Act.

The Cabinet should in fact go one step further by referring  the integrity controversies surrounding the crooked half bridge, APs and Proton, as well as other issues which had been raised by Mahathir,  to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity for full investigation and report.

Mahathir should have the opportunity  to appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity to lay out his integrity concerns about the various decisions taken by the Abdullah administration, while the Cabinet should give an undertaking to give full co-operation with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity on all the issues raised by Mahathir and that it would not invoke the OSA to escape accountability or avoid responsibility.

Furthermore, Mahathir should also fully co-operate with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity  to deal with  other integrity issues and controversies including those which happened during his premiership.

(15/08/2006)