Media Statement (2) by Lim Kit Siang in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, 11^th July 2009: 

MCA Senators owe nation and Malaysians fulsome apologies for turning Senate into a rubbish dump for political rejects and has-beens, totally against the intent of nation’s Founding Fathers in having a Second Chamber comprising Malaysians of distinction or with distinguished public service

In the shortened four-day Senate meeting this week, the only mark MCA Senators have made is their protest and demand that I apologise to the Senate for calling the House “a rubbish dump”.

MCA Senators, Datuk Wong Siong Hwee and Datuk Yip Kim Fook, staged a duet in the Senate last Wednesday in their protest at my remarks, with the former declaring in a floursh: “Lim has insulted us and is unfair to all of us. The Senate is not a market place. He is an irresponsible leader.”

Wong and Yip have only confirmed the lowly place the Senate has sunk 52 years after Merdeka as they insulted themselves by proving that the Senate had indeed become a “political rubbish dump”.

They even tried to drag the first DAP Senator, Tunku Abdul Aziz into the picture in their duet with Wong telling Tunku Aziz: “He has not only called us rubbish, but had also called you garbage”.

What a low and cheap shot which could only emanate from the rubbish dump!

I repeated my remark of the Senate turning into “a political rubbish dump” at a press conference at the Senate on Monday after Tunku Aziz was sworn in as Senator.

I never said Tunku Aziz was “garbage” as what I said at the media conference at the Senate on Monday was reported by the New Straits Times (9.7.09) thus:

Last Monday, Lim, after witnessing Tunku Abdul Aziz take his oath as senator, urged the government to ensure that the senate did not become a political rubbish dump.

“I have always said the founding fathers wanted the senate to be a place for eminent people, not a political rubbish dump,” he said.

Clearly the MCA Senators do not understand simple English, a reflection of the how bad the English standards of Malaysians have gone to the dumps in the past few decades.

I do not owe the Senate any apology as it is the MCA Senators who owe the nation and Malaysians fulsome apologies for turning Senate into a rubbish dump for political rejects and has-beens, totally against the intent of the nation’s Founding Fathers in having a Second Chamber in Parliament comprising Malaysians of distinction or with distinguished public service.

When I was in the Senate for the first time in my life on Monday to witness the historic occasion of the first DAP Senator taking his oath, I heard the announcement by the outgoing Senate President, Tan Sri Dr. Hamid Pawanteh of six Senators who taken their oath in his Chambers on 9th April 2009, as a result of the Cabinet reshuffle of Datuk Seri Najib Razak on his appointment as Prime Minister as that they could be appointed Ministers or Deputy Ministers, including four who were defeated in last year’s general elections, viz: Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, Datuk Dr. Awang Adek Hussin, Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun, Datuk Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil.

This was surely never the intention of the nation’s Founding Fathers for political rejects in the general elections defeated in their bid to get into Dewan Rakyat to enter Parliament by the “back door” of the Senate!

In fact, Article 45(2) on the composition of the Senate had been abused by the MCA in the past five decades for it was used as a “garbage dump” for political rejects and has-beens, totally contradictory to the intent of the nation’s Founding Fathers that Senators appointed by the Yang di Pertuan Agong shall be persons who have “rendered distinguished public service or have achieved distinction in the professions, commerce, industry, agriculture, cultural activities or social service or are representative of racial minorities or are capable of representing the interests of the aborigines”.

Can anyone of the current batch of MCA Senators step forward to claim that he or she qualifies to be a Senator for being a Malaysian of distinction or has “distinguished public service” to justify appointment as Senator?

If none, hasn’t the MCA turned the Senate into a political “rubbish dump” for decades?

What did the whole lot of MCA Senators say in the four-day Senate meeting? Did anyone of them raise the burning issues of the day like the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal; the RM28 million Istana Khir Toyo scandal; the half-baked Cabinet decision on PPSMI which would make millions of Malaysian students “guinea pigs” twice in their 11-year primary and secondary schooling; the need for a new Inspector-General of Police to ensure an efficient, incorruptible and professional world-class police service to turn back the tide of endemic crime to make Malaysians safe in their own country; and total public loss of confidence in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) which is better known as Malaysian Agency for Cars and Cows?

Of course not, because the MCA Senators regard the Senate as a mere “political rubbish dump” rather than as an important second chamber of Parliament for the deepest hopes and fears, dream and nightmare of Malaysians regardless of race, religion or territory to be articulated, thrashed out and addressed!

The appointment into the Senate of Tunku Aziz, as well as the other four Pakatan Rakyat Senators, is an opportunity for the Senate to return to the original intent of the Founding Fathers to be a respected and honoured second revising chamber of Parliament.

Can Tunku Aziz and Pakatan Rakyat Senators expect any help from the MCA Senators to turn the Senate from a “political rubbish dump” into a respected and honoured second revising chamber of Parliament?

*Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary leader & MP for Ipoh Timor