Blackout on 'sensitive' parts of Sarawak rep's speech

DAP's Violet Yong says the speaker has not responded to her query on why parts of her assembly speech have been left out of the Hansard.


DAP state assemblyperson for Pending Violet Yong Wui Wui is still scratching her head as to why sections of her speech in the Sarawak state legislative assembly sitting last November are not in the Hansard.

"I am still waiting for the reply from Speaker Awang Asfia Nasar to the letter I wrote to him soon after the sitting," she said in an interview today.

sarawak nomination day 090506 violet yongYong in her letter to Awang complained about parts of her speech, touching on the families of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and Deputy Chief Minister Dr George Chan, that had been left out of the Hansard.

A copy of her letter has been sent to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

"I did not have an easy time making my speech in the state assembly on Nov 4, 2010. I was interrupted many times by the speaker, State Minister of Public Health and Environment Wong Soon Koh and Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Office Larry Sng when I touched on the wealth of Taib and his family members.

"But I took the position that the truth had to be told, for the sake of the people," Yong said.

"Unfortunately, the parts on the wealth of Taib and his family are missing from the Hansard, and I have asked the speaker for an explanation on this," she added.

"I don't know why anybody should be so afraid of the truth about the riches of Taib and his family members."

'State leaders afraid of people knowing the truth'

She said she had the feeling that state government leaders were afraid that the people would come to know the truth.

Among the parts of her speech missing, she said, were on three parcels of state land, totalling 269 acres in the Muara Tebas district near the Kuching International Airport, which had been alienated to a dormant company, Monarda Sdn Bhd, at "an obscenely low price".

Yong said the land was located in the prime Borneo Development Corporation housing estate, for which Monarda "paid" a miserable RM78 million or RM291,000 an acre for land worth between RM2 million and RM2.5 million an acre at the market rate.

"The three parcels are worth about RM500 million, but they were given away to the children of Taib and George Chan at an obscene price," she added.

She said her checks with the Registrar of Companies showed that Monarda was owned by Taib's eldest daughter, Jamilah Hamidah who had 12 shares, youngest daughter Hanifah Hajar (also 12 shares), eldest son Mahmud Abu Bekir (52 shares), George Chan's daughter Anisa Hamidah Abdillah alias Chan Wai Kuen, who is married to Taib's son Sulaiman Abdul Rahman, who also holds 12 shares. Another unnamed person owns 12 shares.

Yong said 10 questions that she also raised in her speech were left out of the Hansard.

The questions included asking Taib the total cost of the Sarawak International Medical Centre, now known as the Heart Hospital of the Sarawak General Hospital, and the terms of its takeover by the federal government.

She also asked Taib to list the parcels of land and their total acreage alienated to companies owned by his children, sisters, brothers and to himself over the last 1 - Malaysiakini