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DAP Offers Its Legal Team Offers To Defend Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall(SCAH) From Any Legal Suit Calling For Works Minister S. Samy Vellu To Resign


Press Statement
by Lim Guan Eng

(Petaling Jaya, Wednesday): DAP is appalled that Works Minister S. Samy Vellu has threatened to sue SCAH for calling Samy Vellu to resign over the myriad and numerous failure of government public works project. SCAH is only exercising the democratic right to ask Ministers to resign for the Ministry’s failings and Samy Vellu’s refusal to be accountable. 

Malaysians are angered that S. Samy Vellu could be so callous and irresponsible by saying that no one was at fault for the failures of these public works projects, whether the numerous accidents on the East Coast Highway, the closure of a new hospital in Johor Baru due to fungal infection, the closure of MRR2 Kepong flyover or Gua Tempurung caused by mudslide or the RM 300 million Matrade Building scandal and the delayed construction works. Samy Vellu must remember that government public works project amount to billions of ringgit and the public has a right to expect value for money. Samy Vellu is not fit to be a Minister if he can say that no one is at fault whether the contractor or the designer of the Ministry monitoring the project. 

How can there be no one at fault when government projects involving billions of ringgit fails? It would be a big surprise if there is no call for Samy Vellu’s to resign for such an irresponsible aattitude. There is a call for Samy Vellu to resign because Malaysians demand good governance, clean, efficient and trustworthy administration. 

Samy Vellu should realize that Malaysians have lost faith in his ability in handling these project failures that have caused Malaysians not only financial loss and inconvenience but also damaged our reputation as a reliable growth centre in the region. DAP’s reiterates its previous stand that Samy Vellu should resign not only for the project failures and lack of remedial action in his Ministry but also for the various MAIKA scandals that has not benefited the Indian community.  

DAP is however surprised that Samy Vellu dared not take on the DAP for making such calls but has instead picked on SCAH. In the public interest, DAP’s legal team is willing to defend the SCAH from any suits filed by Samy Vellu against SCAH for calling on him to resign. DAP stresses that this call for Samy Vellu to resign is consistent with previous calls made by DAP against MCA Ministers who fail in their responsibilities  to resign.  

DAP regrets that instead of looking at the issue from a national Malaysian perspective, MIC has chosen to turn it into a racial issue. If every problem is turned into a racial problem and not form a Malaysian perspective solely on its merits, then Malaysians can never enjoy good governance because no incompetent officer can be removed on account that he is a Malay, Indian, Chinese, Iban or Kadazan.  

Prime Minister Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Samy Vellu must be brave to face the truth that Samy Vellu must go simply because Samy has lost the confidence of all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or even political affiliatons.

(21/10/2004)


* Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary-General