What letters did you sign, Kit Siang asks ex home ministers

From Mahathir to Abdullah, they owe the public an explanation, says MP.

KUALA LUMPUR: All past home ministers have been challenged to reveal whether they had signed letters and agreements similar to the one written by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi vouching for an alleged gambling kingpin.

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said Zahid’s predecessors, such as Mahathir Mohamad and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should declare whether they had written such letters.

He said it was “a real shocker” that Ahmad Zahid had a “stack of letters and agreements” that previous home ministers had signed with the United States.

Lim said the two immediate predecessors, Hishammuddin Hussein, and Syed Hamid Albar, had publicly denied that they had ever sent support letters unilaterally to the FBI.

He also listed the home ministers before Hishammuddin and Syed Hamid: Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad), Azmi Khalid and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Dr Mahathir.

Lim also referred to the government’s revelation in Parliament, refusing to disclose the information relating to alleged gambling kingpin Paul Phua as a “huge secret” classified under the Official Secrets Act.

He said it was the first time in his experience since first being elected as MP in 1969, that any minister had refused to disclose information in Parliament on the grounds of secrecy.

Lim said all past home ministers owed the Malaysian public a personal explanation as to whether they had signed letters and agreements with the US which would cause them to “suffer shame” if revealed as stated by Zahid.