Dr Kamarul Zaman Yusoff,
Kegilaan Penasihat DAP merangkap Ketua Parlimen DAP, Lim Kit Siang, mengeluarkan kenyataan media sudah menjadi seperti satu legenda dalam dunia politik Malaysia ini di mana, sepanjang ingatan saya, tiada lagi mana-mana ahli politik Malaysia yang serajin beliau di dalam berbuat demikian walaupun kenyataan media beliau kerap tidak mendapat maklum balas daripada pihak yang diseru.
Malah, Ketua Staf Ibu Pejabat DAP, Foo Yueh Chuan, dalam satu laporan portal berita DAP, Roket Kini, bertajuk “Jawatan ‘Setiausaha Politik Lim Kit Siang’ bukan lantikan biasa-biasa” pada 25 Ogos 2017 menyebut mengenai bagaimana “Lim Kit Siang menulis dan mengeluarkan kenyataan medianya sendiri setiap hari, sehingga mencecah tiga atau empat kenyataan dalam satu hari”.
Perkara ini memang tidak dapat dinafikan lagi jika dilihat kepada rekod kenyataan media yang Lim Kit Siang keluarkan selama ini yang dicatatkan secara rapi di dalam blog beliau, di mana contoh yang paling jelas sekali ialah kenyataan media yang beliau keluarkan dalam 9 hari pertama di bulan Oktober 2017 yang berjumlah sebanyak 21, atau purata sebanyak 2.3 kenyataan media setiap hari.
Senarai 21 kenyataan media yang Lim Kit Siang keluarkan dalam 9 hari pertama di bulan Oktober 2017 adalah seperti berikut:
1. 1 October 2017, 7:25 am: “Tomorrow, a third “Believe It or Not” event in two years involving the Prime Minister will take place when Najib declares open the new glittering MACC headquarters in Putrajaya”
2. 1 October 2017, 4:17 pm: “Challenge to MACC chief, Dzulkifli to declare whether he dare to recommend that Najib is not a suitable candidate for the next general election because of involvement in the 1MDB scandal?”
3. 2 October 2017, 9:01 am: “Call on all Opposition political parties in Sabah to unite on a common platform to topple Najib, UMNO and Barisan National at both the federal and Sabah levels in the 14GE and not to allow any differences among them to deflect them from this common objective”
4. 3 October 2017, 10:09 am: “Salleh and Abdul Rahman are stooges because they are not only Najib’s court jesters, they also fit the other meaning of ‘stooge’ in blindly defending Najib’s lies and falsehoods”
5. 3 October 2017, 3:08 pm: “MACC should return RM5 million to Yayasan Prihatin SPRM from Najib because of “conflict-of-interest” and ask for a budget provision of RM300 million for 2018 to combat corruption against “sharks” of corruption”
6. 3 October 2017, 5:44 pm: “A government which has lost the ability to differentiate between right and wrong has forfeited the right to be the government of Malaysia”
7. 4 October 2017, 2:08 pm: “Challenge to Najib to deny that he had not created an instant billionaire (in Malaysian ringgit) by approving RM1.8 billion commissions to Leissner or 9% of the three 1MDB bonds totally US$6.5 billion in 2012/3 – which is several times the industry average for underwriting risky bonds”
8. 4 October 2017, 3:46 pm: “Were there “fireworks” in the Cabinet this morning with Education Minister Mahdzir demanding public apology from Adnan for leading students astray or was there Ministerial camaraderie laughing at the “great fun” at the Putrajaya school?”
9. 4 October 2017, 5:59 pm: “Lawyers directed to take out a test case to sue the media which printed lies and defamatory material about me, like receiving RM1 billion bribe from Mahathir, just by quoting some “Tom, Dick and Harry””
10. 5 October 2017, 6:31 am: “Call on the civil service chiefs to resist the political pressures by Prime Minister and the UMNO/BN leadership to co-opt civil service to campaign for UMNO/BN in the run-up to 14GE”
11. 5 October 2017, 11:50 am: “Syed Saddiq should be a model for young Malays and young Malaysians to be true to our Malaysian Dream for the country to be show-case to the world of an united, successful, progressive, prosperous, plural nation of diverse races, religions, languages and cultures”
12. 5 October 2017, 5:09 pm: “Is Dzulkifli emulating Najib in refusing to have any media conference because he is afraid like the Prime Minister that his boasts and bombasts may be pricked by journalists’ sharp questioning?”
13. 6 October 2017, 8:25 am: ““H” is Najib’s propaganda “war general””
14. 6 October 2017, 3:02 pm: “Further proof that the rot has set in and only a government and political change in Putrajaya can bring a new hope to Malaysians with a new sense of responsibility by the nation’s leaders”
15. 7 October 2017, 7:20 am: “If there is any truth in the lies about Mahathir’s RM1 billion bribe to me, and MACC knows nothing about it, then MACC Chief Commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad should resign in disgrace because of utter incompetence”
16. 7 October 2017, 2:48 pm: “There is a plot to get MACC to arrest and parade me in handcuffs in orange-coloured MACC lock-up uniform to counter kleptocratic allegations against Najib over 1MDB scandal”
17. 7 October 2017, 6:15 pm: “Still waiting for Dzulkifli of MACC to accept invitation personally explain at the “Sayangi Malaysia, Hapuskan Kleptocrasi” rally in PJ on Oct. 14 what he had done to defend Malaysia’s reputation against being regarded worldwide as global kleptocracy as a result of 1MDB scandal”
18. 8 October 2017, 6:58 am: “I have been in politics for 52 years and the thought of becoming Prime Minister of Malaysia had never entered my mind”
19. 8 October 2017, 2:22 pm: “Call on all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or politics to attend the Pakatan Harapan rally “Sayangi Malaysia, Hapuskan kleptocrasi” in PJ to send a clear and unmistaken message to Najib and the world”
20. 8 October 2017, 11:09 pm: “If Mahathir had given me RM1 billion bribe, I will give one million Malaysians earning below RM1,200 a month a donation of R1,000 each”
21. 9 October 2017, 1:01 pm: “Can Puad Zarkashi of JASA which is nothing but a Special Affairs Department specializing in lies and black ops against DAP and PH reply rationally to former UMNO Secretary-General Sanusi Junid about me?”
Bagaimanapun, rekod kenyataan media Lim Kit Siang ini, yang selalunya adalah berupa kritikan, desakan, cabaran atau jawapan kepada musuh-musuh politik beliau, khususnya UMNO/BN, tetapi juga PAS, terjejas teruk dalam 9 hari pertama di bulan November 2017 di mana beliau hanya mengeluarkan sebanyak 3 kenyataan media, atau purata sebanyak 0.3 kenyataan media setiap hari, sahaja.
Senarai 3 kenyataan media yang Lim Kit Siang keluarkan dalam 9 hari pertama di bulan November 2017 adalah seperti berikut:
1. 1 November 2017, 9:48 am: “Najib’s “mother of all budgets” delivering fake news”
2. 2 November 2017, 4:07 pm: “Was “the power of 1MDB scandal” at play when in Parliament yesterday former Second Finance Minister Husni transformed from a Najib critic on 1MDB to a Najib sycophant, talking about Najib’s legacy of “zero corruption” when everybody knows it is “global kleptocracy”?”
3. 4 November 2017, 3:38 pm: “UMNO/BN government caught red-handed in trying to “steal” the 14GE by shifting 1,051 army voters to an uncompleted Segamat military camp”
Dapat dilihat betapa, sejak petang 4 November 2017 sehingga petang ini, 9 November 2017, tiada satu pun kenyataan media yang dikeluarkan oleh Lim Kit Siang untuk mengkritik, mendesak, mencabar atau menjawab musuh-musuh politik beliau, khususnya UMNO/BN, tetapi juga PAS, walaupun isu yang boleh dicipta sentiasa ada, sehingga timbul banyak pertanyaan mengenai “kebisuan” beliau ini.
Apakah Lim Kit Siang tidak merasa puas hati dengan prestasi Kerajaan Pulau Pinang dalam menguruskan banjir tetapi tidak mampu menyuarakannya kerana kerajaan ini adalah diketuai oleh anak beliau sendiri? Apakah beliau merasa bimbang kejadian dan pengurusan banjir ini akan membawa kekalahan kepada DAP di Pulau Pinang tetapi tidak mampu menyuarakannya kerana beliau adalah Penasihat DAP?
Apakah Lim Kit Siang merasa malu untuk mengkritik, mendesak, mencabar atau menjawab musuh-musuh politik beliau di dalam suasana di mana Kerajaan Pulau Pinang mendambakan bantuan daripada mereka? Apakah beliau merasa bimbang jika beliau sendiri meminta bantuan, atau berterima kasih di atas bantuan, musuh-musuh politik beliau menangani banjir maka imej beliau akan terjejas?
Kita lihat sahaja berapa lama Lim Kit Siang boleh “membisu”.
*Dr Kamarul Zaman Yusoff, Pengarah Institut Kajian Politik Malaysia (MAPAN),
Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM).