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Call on Mahathir to honour his word that he is prepared to investigate the multi-million ringgit logging scandal involving Pahang UMNO by suspending Khalil as Information Minister and establishing an  independent public commission of inquiry with powers to investigate  other logging scandals, whether involving PAS or UMNO Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Penang,  Friday): After the UMNO Supreme Council meeting yesterday, Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad made three statements:  All potential UMNO  candidates should officially declare their assets before the election (Bernama); UMNO Supreme Council members are bound by the principle of collective responsibility, “accountable for all decisions, be those done now or in the past and by those who are no longer with us” (New Straits Times); His preparedness to investigate the multi-million ringgit logging scandal involving UMNO Pahang which has been  the subject of a recent series of exclusive Malaysiakini reports. (Malaysiakini) However, these three statements do not amount to any full and unqualified commitment either by UMNO or the Barisan Nasional government to a  clean, honest and incorruptible government, as they raise the following three questions: Firstly, why is UMNO Supreme Council not prepared to support the enactment of a law in the September Parliament to require all candidates in the next general election to publicly declare their assets, as  the requirement on UMNO candidates to declare  assets only to the top UMNO leadership is next to useless to create a culture of accountable political integrity in public office with zero tolerance for corruption; Secondly, is the   belated reminder to UMNO Supreme Council members of the principle of collective responsibility - less than three months before he steps down as the fourth Prime Minister after  more than 22 years -  that they bore responsibility for “whatever is being done now as well as those undertaken by previous leaders who are no longer with us” meant to strengthen the political will of UMNO leaders to expose all forms of corruption, criminal breach of trust and  abuses of power or to get them to close ranks against any form of such expose, whether for past, current or future misdeeds, involving UMNO leaders? Thirdly, is Mahathir prepared to establish  an independent public commission of inquiry into the multi-million ringgit logging scandal involving Pahang UMNO and the former Pahang Mentri Besar, Tan Sri Khalil Yaakob who is currently the UMNO Secretary-General and Information Minister?   When stating that he was prepared to investigate the multi-million ringgit logging scandal involving Pahang UMNO which as reported by  Malaysiakini, Mahathir added that “as far as I am concerned, UMNO does not own any land in Pahang”. He said that state land could only be alienated to a private company, and not a political party, and asked: “Does that company belong to UMNO? How can a political party be given state land?”   Mahathir immediately targeted PAS for its abuses of logging practices in Kelantan and Terengganu under PAS state governments, with the comments:   “When did UMNO do this (awarding land to the party)? It is PAS which has been giving out land to its members, even though the land shouldn’t be logged.  If you do a survey, you will see it. This is PAS….but, yes, I ‘m always ready to investigate.  We will investigate Kelantan and Terengganu too. Let’s see who gives and who gets (the land).”  - (Malaysiakini 31.7.03)   Mahathir’s response gives the unfortunate impression that he wants the demand for accountability on the  Pahang UMNO logging scandal to end with the threat  that any investigation  into the multi-million ringgit logging scandal involving Pahang UMNO will also lead to investigations and  expose of  the logging malpractices and abuses of the PAS state governments in Kelantan and Terengganu.   Mahathir should clarify whether this was what he meant and threatened  in his comments yesterday.   If Mahathir has proof of any multi-million ringgit logging scandal involving PAS in Kelantan or Terengganu, it is his duty to expose them and not to use it as a quid pro quo for silence about multi-million ringgit logging scandals involving UMNO in the other states.   Another unfortunate impression of Mahathir’s comments yesterday was that he was trying to hide under the technicality that “state land could only be alienated to a private company and not a political party” as an adequate defence to the serious allegation of  multi-million ringgit logging scandal involving Pahang UMNO.   This is a weak and even untenable defence, when UMNO Pahang secretary Ahmad Tajudin Sulaiman had filed an  affidavit in court on June 17, 2003 advancing technical arguments denying liability for breach of contract  in having to compensate timber company Seruan Gemilang Makmur (SGM), which claimed that it was given concession rights by Pahang UMNO to exclusively extract, remove and sell all the timber logs in a 10,000-acre plot of  land in Nenasi, about 100 kilometres south of Kuantan.  The logging concession, estimated at RM100 million, was awarded to Pahang UMNO in March 1998 when Khalil was the Pahang Mentri Besar. I do not want to go into the merits or demerits of the respective arguments by Pahang UMNO  and SGM in their litigation which is for the Kuantan High Court to adjudicate, but to note that in Tajudin’s affidavit  six weeks ago in denying liability and even claiming counter-compensation, there is a clear admission of the involvement of Pahang UMNO in the mutl-million ringgit logging scandal in Pahang. Mahathir should  honour his word that he is prepared to investigate the multi-million ringgit logging scandal involving Pahang UMNO. He should suspend Khalil as Information Minister and establish an  independent public commission of inquiry into the multi-million ringgit logging scandal involving Pahang UMNO and GSM  with powers to investigate  other logging scandals, whether involving PAS or UMNO.  (1/8/2003) * Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman