Media Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader and DAP MP for Ipoh Timur Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Monday, 14th January 2008:

Call for Commission of Inquiry into all murdered politicians since 2000 to establish whether their killings have any links with politics and whether there is any evidence of terrorism or increasing violence infiltrating into politics

In an immediate reaction to the gangland-style killing of Johore MIC Deputy Chief and Tenggaroh State Assemblyman Datuk S. Krishnasamy in Johore Baru on Friday, MIC President and Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu revealed that Krishnasamy had received death threats week before he was murdered. He ordered all MIC buildings to beef up security.

Many questions cry out for answer. Firstly, why didn’t Samy Vellu, who was informed of the earlier death threats by Krishnasamy, take the threats seriously?

In the past decade, two MIC State Assemblymen had been shot dead in public, the previous case being Lunas State Assemblyman in Kedah, Dr. Joe Fernandez, 54, who was shot three times by two men at the Jalan Maju Jalan Harapan junction in Bukit Mertajam on a motorcycle while driving home from his clinic in Kulim on Nov. 5, 2000. Is there any reason why the two cases of elected representatives shot to death in public places were both from the MIC?

Thirdly, in ordering that all MIC buildings beef up security, is Samy Vellu suggesting that the killing of Krishnasamy is related to his political work?

On the day of his killing, it was reported that business rivalry was not ruled out in Krishnasamy’s murder.

Deputy Internal Security Minister, Datuk Johari Baharum said in Jitra yesterday that he believed that Krishnasamy’s killing had nothing to do with politics.

However, today’s Star reported that just hours after the slaying of Krishnasamy on Friday, a senior national MIC leader received a call saying he was next on the hit list.

Is there a hit list to kill MIC politicians and what is the cause of this hit list? The public must not be kept in the dark as they are entitled to know the full facts as to whether there is a hit list to kill MIC politicians and if so, the reasons for such a hit list.

Has Malaysian politics degenerated into the gutter and is infiltrated by gangsters, terrorists and other violent tendencies?

This is a matter of grave concern not only to politicians but to the Malaysian public whether Malaysia has cross into uncharted territory where gangsterism, terrorism and violence of whatever genre has becoming part and parcel of Malaysian politics - which all right-thinking and peace-loving Malaysians must oppose and reject.

This was why I had phoned up the Johore Chief Police Officer, Datuk Hussein Ismail yesterday to enquire whether there is any evidence or signs to link Krishnasamy’s murder with politics.

Although Hussein said the police was keeping an open mind to look at all possible angles, the very fact that the Johore Police Chief had not openly said that there were indications to link Krishnasamy’s murder with politics is welcome news that such links had not been established.

If there are indications of the infiltration of terrorism or violence into the political arena, an all-party summit of political leaders should be convened to nip in the bud all such undesirable tendencies.

In the past few years, there had been several killings of politicians like the murder of a Kedah MCA Youth leader Ching Eng Wah, 43, in Padang Serai in August last year.

The Cabinet on Wednesday should give serious attention to the murder of politicians and form a Commission of Inquiry into all cases of murdered politicians since 2000 to establish whether they have any links with politics and whether there is any evidence of terrorism or increasing violence infiltrating into Malaysian politics.

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* Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader, MP for Ipoh Timur & DAP Central Policy and Strategic Planning Commission Chairman