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Press Statement

by Lim Guan Eng

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(Petaling Jaya, Saturday): Prime Miniser Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should sack Deputy Education Minister Datuk Noh Omar if he refuses to apologise to DAP Selangor Chair Au Yong Hian Wah and all Malaysians for repeating his rude and gangsterish behaviour. Au Yong Hianwah had led a DAP delegation to present a memo to him on Thursday on the case of a 13-year-old female student who had been punched in the face by a male teacher. 

Noh Omar threw away a letter presented to him by the delegation and questioned the right of the DAP to take up the case of Lim Nien Nie of SM Raja Lumu, Pandamaran. Noh Omar publicly lost control of himself by abusing Au Yong and crumbling and throwing away the memorandum. Noh kept pointing his finger rudely at Au Yong and said that the complaint won’t be accepted if the DAP was involved. The fact that such behaviour by Noh was wrong was clearly shown when the memo thrown away by Noh Omar was quickly picked up by his officer.  

Clearly such misconduct is unbecoming of a Deputy Minister. Even Lim’s parents have demanded that Noh Omar apologise to Au Yong. Noh Omar should understand why the parents complained to the DAP. Lim’s mother, Ng Lee Yong, said she went to DAP only after trying in vain to get help from the Pandamaran MCA. "I went to the MCA service centre but a man there told me it was closed and left without even asking me what the problem was", she said. 

Such misconduct by Noh is not new but reminds us that he is a serial offender of bad behaviour. In November 2005, he said that foreigners who do not like the way his officers behave should leave the country. Coming at a time when Malaysia was trying to attract foreign tourists, such comments attracted world-wide condemnation. 

Subsequently the Prime Minister was compelled to step in by publicly reprimanding Noh Omar and directing him to apologise. Even though Noh Omar apologized, he is clearly neither contrite nor repentant by repeating such loutish behaviour as Deputy Education Minister. Noh is the worst example possible as a role model for good discipline in school. As the head of a committee of discipline in school, such efforts are doomed to failure unless Noh himself repents and mends his ways. 

DAP condemns Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein for supporting such misconduct by Noh Omar and even hurled baseless racist allegations against DAP leaders for taking up cases involving one community but not of Malays. Hishammuddin asked why the DAP was never bothered about the death a few years back of Mohd Farid Ibrahim, the fourth-former at Sekolah Menengah Agama Dato Kelana Petra Maamor, Ampangan, Seremban who died after being assaulted by a group of Malay seniors at the school hostel. 

Hishammuddin was Education Minister when the killing of Mohd Farid took place at the religious school hostel and he should know that he was telling a lie when he said DAP leaders were unconcerned about the case. As Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang said yesterday, Lim Kit Siang had personally visited the Mohd Farid’s parents in their Seremban home over their son’s murder and was present in court during the murder trial. Where was Hishamuddin? If he has any dignity, Hishammuddin should apologise for making such a baseless and unwarranted allegation against DAP leaders.

The Attorney-General should advise Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to sue for defamation or lodge a report with the police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) instead of abusing the Official Secrets Act (OSA) by arresting Nathaniel Tan

The Attorney-General should advise Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to sue for defamation or lodge a report with the police and the MCMC instead of abusing the OSA by arresting Nathanial Tan, an aide of PKR de-facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. There are many other proper legal avenues for Najib to seek redress if he feels he has been wronged by a fake photograph doctored by PKR Information chief Tian Chua showing him having dinner with his close political aide, Abdul Razak Baginda and murdered Mongolian beauty Altatunya Shaariibuu. This followed speculation in The Star and other news reports that Nathaniel Tan was involved in the fake photograph.  

A good lawyer or the Attorney-General can advise him what are the legal avenues available to him against any injustice or loss suffered as a result of Tian Chua doctoring a fake photograph. However to victimize a 26 year old secretary of Anwar by arresting under the OSA is a gross abuse of power and a naked display of unrestrained power that smacks of intimidation. DAP unreserved condemns the police for misusing the OSA for political purposes against political opponents of BN and the Deputy Prime Minister. 

The police should stop allowing itself to be used as a political tool as was clearly done in the sensational Altatunya murder trial when police personnel were involved in a sordid extra-marital affair. Just because Abdul Razak Baginda is a close political aide of Najib is no reason for police personnel to be involved in murdering a person.  

Instead the police should have referred the matter to the moral guardians in the  Islamic Religious Council for action, which normally acts with rapid speed against moral misconduct. The public wonders why no enforcement action was taken by the Islamic authorities against Abdul Razak Baginda for this doomed extra-marital affair. Such inaction only lends weight to suspicion of official interference.  

Taking action against Nathanial Tan is a classic display of the government “killing the chicken to scare the monkey” to frighten off opposition supporters. Opposition supporters would not back down and submit so easily so long as the truth is shielded from the public. DAP calls for Nathanial’s Tan immediate release and abolition of the OSA which is now used not to protect national security and integrity but to curb human rights and democracy.