The ordinary rakyat would not have known of the RM13 billion in foreign exchange losses in 1993.
Even though the source for this revelation has now been revealed as the former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who tipped him and felt that it should be the opposition leader who should expose the losses, Lim Kit Siang used facts and figures that were not in the public domain and proceeded with the exposure which left millions of ordinary Malaysians stunned.
Even though his calls for an inquiry fell on deaf ears, the veracity of the claim was reaffirmed with Bank Negara official Nor Mohamed Yakcop, the only person given the authority over forex trading was moved out and the bank’s governor, Jaffar Hussein, resigned.
If not for P. Patto along with Lim Kit Siang who was arrested, charged, and convicted in connection with their expose of the scandal in the purchase of four Swedish-made SPICA-M fast strike crafts by the Royal Malaysian Navy in 1978, the ordinary rakyat would not have known of this.
DAP and Lim Kit Siang would not called the RM2.5 billion “scandal of scandals” when Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF), a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of state-owned Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad, was found to have engaged in a wide range of shady dealings involving the Carrian Group that included the murder of a BBMB auditor who questioned the propriety of the loans.
DAP and Lim Kit Siang would not have called for the government then to explain the more than US$600 million losses suffered by the country over the Maminco-Makuwasa tin caper on Nov 19, 1986.
DAP and Lim Kit Siang would not have denounced Mahathir’s ‘piratisation’ of the North-South Expressway in 1987.
DAP and Lim Kit Siang would not have called out the colossal losses suffered by MAS, the scandalous RM1.79 billion buyback bailout of Tajudin Ramli’s 29.09% stake at RM8 a share when the market price was only RM3.68.
DAP & Lim Kit Siang would not have called out the RM10.5 billion bailout of Renong and the RM11 billion bailout of Perwaja Steel.
Even though some of them severed their collaboration later, Mahathir, Tengku Razaleigh, Anwar Ibrahim, Hadi Awang, etc would have no one to collaborate with earlier in their fight and dislodge the dominant coalition then, Barisan Nasional from their perch
The 1MDB saga, first exposed by the blog Sarawak Report, would not have the `legs’ to continue its momentum if not for the continued expansion of the matter led by DAP for the ordinary rakyat to understand the magnitude of the theft.
If there is no DAP, the country probably would have ‘created more millionaires’ amongst the ruling elites and the politically connected as the ’sakau’ culture will continue unabated, probably increasing in intensity with each passing year.
Look at the corruption in the 80s which is mentioned in the hundreds of thousands moving to the millions in the 90s to the hundreds of millions in the 2000s to the billions in the 2010 onwards.
More projects `imaginary or otherwise’ would be announced to 'sakau’ monies from the taxpayers and the projects either still in planning stages or were left uncompleted.
All allegations of corruption will remain just as allegations.
Perpetrators of alleged corrupt acts will be free.
Prison would only be for those who stole milo or shoes from places of worship.
Yes, DAP did not deserve all the credit for speaking out against all the corrupt acts.
There are also others like whistle-blowers, journalists, and bloggers who helped expose and highlight all the excesses and corrupted acts involving politicians, their cronies, and the elites.
But those are lone voices.
DAP as a political party provides a platform through Parliament for those collective voices to be heard and in rare cases strike fears into the hearts of those perpetrators, who, if not for the matter brought up in Parliament would have presumed that they could get away with it.
Previously, when they were in the opposition, DAP could probably be useful for some politicians from other parties who could be using them as the channel to dethrone or usurp their competitors from rising or competing against them in their own party's hierarchical structure by getting DAP to reveal dirty secrets on their rivals just like what Lim Kit Siang revealed about the forex losses in his recent biography.
Now that they are in the government, maybe their usefulness in this aspect is no longer viable for some of these politicians.
UMNO, PAS, Bersatu, and likes would not have a punching bag and the go-to bogeyman to blame every time for all the ills that were afflicting the Malays.
UMNO, PAS, Bersatu would not be able to frighten the Malays that the Malaysians of Chinese descent in DAP would christianise the country, take over lands owned by the Malays, etc even though it will never happen or can’t happen.
UMNO, PAS, and Bersatu would not have the opportunity to allege that if DAP were to govern the country, they would amend the constitution, a preposterous allegation akin to saying that Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs are real and do exist.
Before the present collaboration to form the unity government, UMNO would not have had the opportunity to paint Lim Kit Siang from DAP for every ill, from urinating publicly in KL when it was proven that he was in Sabah on the said date to his ambition to become the Prime Minister when he brought up the issue saying that under the Constitution, any Malaysian can be the prime minister.
UMNO leaders and delegates would not have a whipping boy where they can freely hurl all sorts of groundless and even seditious allegations and lies against the DAP – that the DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam, anti-Malay Rulers and “agents of Christianisation” to bring about a “Christian Malaysia”.
Opposition politicians would not be able to accuse Dr Mahathir of being under the control of DAP during the period when he was the Prime Minister from May 2018 to Feb 2020.
Opposition politicians would not be able to accuse DAP of controlling PH and Anwar Ibrahim if PH were to govern the country.
MCA would have no one to accuse of radicalizing the Chinese stirring up racial tension in the country and taking over ownership of Chinese political representation in this country.
What would have happened to the politicians in UMNO, PAS, and Bersatu if there was no DAP to blame?
What would have happened to those politicians who left or were sacked from UMNO if there was no DAP?
Haiz……life would be much easier for a lot of politicians had DAP not existed.
Would it be easier for the ordinary rakyat and the country?
One wonders.
For sure, DAP did inject some life into the local political landscape.
Otherwise sitting down in the coffee shops in the morning or at the roadside mamaks would be boring as conversations will be confined to just enquiring or boasting about the prowess of their children and grandchildren and the scale of the corruption in this country only and nothing on politics.
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