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Press Statement (2)

by Lim Guan Eng

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(Petaling Jaya, Friday): DAP questions the sincerity of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak warning BN leaders to learn a lesson from the Chua Soi Lek affair when these leaders are rewarded rather than punished for their transgressions unless they are caught naked with their pants down on tape. Chua had no choice but to resign after he was clearly set up and victimized by the internal political struggle within MCA.

Unless there is evidence similar to Chua, would there be any action taken against misbehaving BN leaders who would always deny and disclaim responsibility for their actions just to cling on to power? No one should make any moral judgments of personal indiscretions which should be a private matter as it involves betrayal of trust amongst family members.

DAP is interested, not in moral standards of private behavior, but in ethical standards of public behavior especially when betrayal of public trust is involved. In this respect why was no action taken against UMNO MPs who openly admitted abusing their position for private benefit such as the “close one-eyed” Jasin MP Mohd Said Yusof or making inexcusable derogatory comments of “bocor” against women?

Worse UMNO has rewarded criminals convicted of criminal breach of trust with high public positions and Datukships such as Datuk Hasnoor Sidang Husin who is a director of the Melaka Bumiputra Entreprenuers division under the Melaka Chief Minister and was awarded his Datukship by the Melaka state government two months ago. There are even photographs of misbehaving wakil rakyat but yet no action is taken.

In the same vein, why is no action taken against Transport Minister Datuk Chan Kong Choy over the RM 4.6 billion Port Klang Free Trade Zone (PKFTZ) scandal. Chan had exceeded his Ministerial powers in signing financial undertakings giving government guarantees to the contractor in the RM 4.6 billion Port Klang Free Trade Zone scandals. By signing such guarantees he should not have signed, the public had to fork out questionable cost-overruns increasing the cost of the project to RM 4.63 billion from the original estimate of RM 1.1 billion.

Clearly BN MPs will only resign if there is a tape of their misbehavior and misdeeds on the same level as Chua Soi Lek. Sadly the public appears to be appalled and unforgiving of private scandal in the form of moral indiscretions than by public scandals of financial corruption, even though such financial corruption incurs higher cost of billions of ringgit in losses.