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The reappointment of Rafidah, Samy Vellu, Ong Ka Ting and  Nazri as Cabinet Ministers and Khir Toyo and Adnan as Mentri Besar among others without their clearing the taint of corruption or serious allegations of abuses of power and malpractices made against them would be the wrong signal after the stunning landslide nine-tenth parliamentary majority election victory

Media Conference Statement
by Lim Kit Siang

(Petaling Jaya,  Thursday): Yesterday, I sent the first email to Abdullah after he has been sworn in as Prime Minister after winning the stunning nine-tenth parliamentary majority, which reads: 

“Integrity test for  the appointment of new Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers and Mentris Besar

“Congratulations for an unprecedented nine-tenth parliamentary majority and your being sworn in as the fifth Prime Minister with your own mandate. 

“This is the time for YAB to  ‘walk the talk’ in your  pledge of a clean, incorruptible, efficient and people-oriented government which wants to hear the truth from the people, starting with the integrity test for the selection of the new Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers and Mentri-Mentri Besar by ensuring that no one who is tainted by corruption or had not been able to give a satisfactory accounting of serious allegations of  corruption, abuse of power, breach of trust and  various malpractices should be appointed. 

“In the previous Cabinet YAB  inherited from Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, there are quite a number who would not pass such a test.  This applies to the previous crop of Chief Ministers/Mentris Besar as well. 

“The appointment of new Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers and Mentris Besar will be an acid test of YAB’s  political will to go all out in the crackdown on corruption, especially as the Barisan Nasional had confessed in full-page advertisements in all the Chinese newspapers during the election campaign that the government is ‘corrupt and rotten to the very core…with no aspect of life untainted by corruption’ and that only YAB  could ‘cleanse the Augean stables’. 

“Any appointment  from the previous holdovers who are perceived by the Malaysian people as tainted by corruption or inability to clear him/herself of serious allegations of corruption, abuses of power, breach of trust and malpractices  will be regarded as YAB’s  failing the test of political will to root out corruption in public life. 

“YAB should also require all  Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, Chief Ministers, Mentris Besar and State Exco members to publicly declare their assets and those of their next of kin to subject to public scrutiny to usher in a new political culture of integrity in public life with zero tolerance for corruption. 

“DAP will fully support and co-operate with YAB in your  pledge for a clean, incorruptible, efficient and people-oriented government which is prepared to hear the truth from the people, and we  will take YAB at your  words after being  sworn in as Prime Minister on Monday, welcoming reminders ‘where I go wrong, when I do something that is not going to be good for Malaysia’. 

“Finally, I urge YAB to  allow former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to go overseas for his medical treatment for his spinal injury as a result of the dastardly assault by the former Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor, when Anwar was defenceless, handcuffed and blindfolded six years ago. " 

 The reappointment of Rafidah Aziz, Samy Vellu, Ong Ka Ting  and  Nazri Abdul Aziz as Cabinet Ministers and  Mohd Khir Toyo and Adnan Yaakob  as Mentri Besar among others without their clearing the taint of corruption or serious allegations of abuses of power and malpractices made against them would be the wrong signal after the stunning landslide nine-tenth parliamentary majority election victory. 

All these personalities have yet to clear themselves or give satisfactory accounting to serious allegations of corruption, abuses of power, breach of trust and malpractices which had been made against them, such as: 

  • Rafidah Aziz – Keadilan Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Noor had been found guilty of  committing an offence under the Officials Secrets Act (OSA) for exposing secret documents of corruption investigations including one relating to Rafidah as International Trade and Industry Minister, viz: a document of the Prosecution Division, Attorney-General's Office dated 14th March 1995 signed by Abdul Gani Patail which stated that there was prima facie basis to prosecute Rafidah on five counts of corruption  under Section 2(2), Ordinance 11, 1970;
  • Samy Vellu -  and his  greatest unresolved scandal, the 14-year-old  MAIKA-Gate,  the  total lack of accountability, transparency and integrity in the management of the RM106 million collected from 66,000 shareholders of  MAIKA Holdings - the investment arm of the MIC – despite the repeated cries and  futile  calls by shareholders for the refund of their money down the decades.
  • Ong Ka Ting – the grave  allegation of “black gold” politics in MCA  (i.e. the marriage of organized crime with corruption to subvert the political and economic system and the rule of law))  by none other than the MCA Youth leader and a Deputy Minister, Datuk Ong Tee Kiat last year implicating the MCA President.
  • Nazri  - the illegal issue of taxi permits.
  • Khir Toyo – several reports to the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA)  had been lodged against him involving improper land deals and infrastrastructure projects., resulting the message  from Abdullah inner circle before the election  that Toyo would be one of the Mentri Besars who would be dropped after the polls.
  • Adnan Yaakob – various police reports had been lodged implicating him for corruption and abuses of power as  Pahang Mentri Besar in connection with multi-million ringgit timber concessions.

Now that Abdullah has won the biggest parliamentary mandate in the nation’s history with 90 per cent of the parliamentary seats or the most awesome, very unhealthy and dangerous nine-tenth parliamentary majority, the Prime Minister  should prove that he has the political will to declare corruption as the No. 1 Public Enemy and launch an all-out war against corruption by ensuring that the new list of Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers and Mentris Besar only contain men and women of  impeccable  and unimpeachable character without any taint or suspicion of corruption or improprieties. 

Furthermore, Abdullah should demonstrate that the “big fishes” no more enjoy immunity from prosecution for their corrupt practices with the arrest and prosecution of the “big fishes” – especially as the ACA director-general

Dato Zulkipli bin Mat Noor had said:  "There are so many rivers, the sea is so huge, how can there be no fish?”

 (25/3/2004)

* Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman