(Media Conference Statement by DAP Parliamentary Candidate for Ipoh Timur Lim Kit Siang at DAP Ipoh Timur election centre, Ipoh on Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 1 pm)

I challenge Barisan Nasional Chairman Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the Barisan Nasional (BN) to distribute its 2004 general election manifesto on “Excellence, Glory and Distinction” together with its 2008 manifesto of ‘Security, Peace and Prosperity” to the 11 million voters to judge whether BN had failed or dishonoured its pledges.

Abdullah has produced a report claiming that the Barisan Nasional has fulfilled the pledges it made in its 2004 general election of “Towards a Malaysia of Excellence, Glory and Distinction” but he should not pre-empt any public judgment. He should facilitate the Malaysian people to pass such a judgment by circulating the 2004 Barisan Nasional manifesto together with the 2008 BN general election manifesto for comparison and study.

I have no doubt that if the Barisan Nasional dare to distribute its 2004 BN manifesto together with its 2008 BN manifesto, the judgment would not be a flattering one for the BN as the Malaysian public would be able to see at a glance the great divide between the BN promise and delivery.

In fact, many Malaysians will find that instead of the 2004 BN Manifesto of “A Malaysia Of Excellence, Glory and Distinction”, the past four years have seen “A Malaysia of Mediocrity, Humiliation and Dishonour” as illustrated by the plunge in Malaysia’s Transparency International Corruption Perception Index from No. 37 in 2003 to No. 43 in 2007; the fall-out of Malaysia’s premier university from being ranked no. 89 among the World’s Top 200 Universities in 2004 to No. 169 in 2005, 192 in 2006 and completely out of the Top 200 league in 2007; the shame and ignominy of a judiciary disgraced by one scandal after another about its independence, integrity and quality in the past two decades, and a whole host of other events and indicators.

I have not got the time to read the 2008 BN manifesto in detail, or to undertake a detailed comparison with the 2004 BN manifesto, but a quick check shows that in the first seven paragraphs of the 21-paragraph 2004 BN manifesto (four paragraphs of prelude and 17 paragraphs of contents), there are at least 43 violations, deviations and broken pledges!

Let me for the moment just focus on two issues:

Firstly on crime. In the 2008 manifesto, BN promised: “Bring down the country’s crime index”.

What did the 2004 BN manifesto promised on crime, law and order? Let me quote from it: “Improve the level of personal safety for every individual”!

What is the BN record on this pledge of its 2004 manifesto in the past four years?

It was a total failure and disaster. After four years, Malaysia today is even more unsafe to its citizens, visitors, tourists and investors because of endemic crime.

When Abdullah became Prime Minister in October 2003, the crime situation was already out of control which was why one of his first reform promises and measures which won him all-round plaudits and support among Malaysians was the establishment of the Royal Police Commission to reduce crime to restore to Malaysians their twin fundamental rights to be free from crime and the fear of crime, whether in the streets, public places or the privacy of their homes.

In the past four years, however, the crime index had worsened from 156,315 cases in 2003 to 224,298 cases in 2007 – a sharp rise of some 45% when it should have gone down as recommended by the Royal Police Commission which proposed a 20% drop in the crime index in the first 12 months of its report.

For the first time in the nation’s 50-year history, the crime index last year crashed through the 200,000 psychological barrier. Women in Malaysia are now more unsafe today than four years ago – as the incidence of rape had more than doubled from a daily average of four women in 2003 to 8.5 women last year!

Secondly, on corruption. On this subject, the 2008 BN Manifesto pledge to “continue to enforce anti-corruption measures without fear or favour”. This is a far cry from its 2004 manifesto where it declared “an all-out campaign against corruption, without fear or favour” and pledged to “promote a culture of zero-tolerance for corruption”.

The 2008 BN manifesto is a big letdown as it has abandoned the 2004 pledge to promote “a culture of zero-tolerance for corruption”. Today, there is a culture of even greater tolerance of more rampant corruption than the time of the Mahathir administration as evidenced by Malaysia’s worsening ranking in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index in the past four years of Abdullah premiership.

And the phrase “zero-tolerance for corruption” had disappeared from the lexicon of the Abdullah administration!

If Abdullah is honestly confident about the great successes of the BN 2004 manifesto as boasted by his own report card, he should accept another challenge – to have television debates which should be telecast live of political leaders of parties contending in the 2008 general election on whether the 2004 BN General Election Manifesto of “Excellence, Glory and Distinction” had been honoured or had ended up in “Mediocrity, Humiliation and Dishonour”!