LET the Cabinet make history tomorrow (April 19) by doing a quartet by declassifying the reports of Council of Eminent Persons (CEP), the Institutional Reform Committee (IRC), the Hishammuddin Yunus special committee on management of foreign workers as well as lifting the ban on Bernard Sta Maria’s book The Golden Son of the Kadazan.
I welcome the announcement of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that he will uphold the principle that information should not be kept from the rakyat and that he will bring the issue of the declassification of both CEP and IRC reports to the Cabinet for decision.
The lifting of the ban on The Golden Son of the Kadazan will be a welcome recognition of the Malaysian patriotism of a great Kadazan and Malaysian, Peter Mojuntin, as the continued ban on the book will be a slur on the good name and great deeds of Mojuntin before his premature and unfortunate death in the “Double-Six” Nomad Crash tragedy on June 6, 1976.
This is especially after Mojuntin’s Berjaya succeeded in toppling USNO and Tun Datu Mustapha Datu Harun and saved Malaysia from a national crisis.
Had the Double-Six Nomad crash disaster not occurred, Mojuntin might have saved Sabah from another tragedy.
There is also no reason to continue to classify the report of the independent special committee on the management of foreign workers chaired by former Court of Appeal judge Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Yunus.
The publication of Hishamuddin’s report will contribute to the resolution of a complicated and long-vexed issue. – April 18, 2023
Veteran lawmaker and retired DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang is the incumbent MP for Iskandar Puteri.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
