KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 — Veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang today urged voters in Kimanis to give another by-election victory for the Warisan-Pakatan team similar to the Sandakan parliamentary by-election in May last year as a stand against corruption and kleptocracy.
“I hope there will be a repeat in the Kimanis by-election for Sabah will be delivering an important lesson to the rest of Malaysia that a stand must be taken against corruption and abuses of power of the previous administration.
“The Kimanis by-election is important for it will be an occasion for the voters to express their approval of the anti-corruption efforts so far, although the road ahead for Malaysia to become a nation of integrity is a long and arduous one,” he said in a statement today.
Lim said Malaysians must demonstrate to the world that they want to put the shameful chapter in the nation’s history firmly behind and not to allow leaders who had been responsible for turning Malaysia into a global kleptocracy to return to power.
“Malaysia has made a historic turnaround to build a clean, honest, accountable and transparent government.
“I expect the latest report of Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2019 which should be released later this month to have a good report of Malaysia’s anti-corruption efforts for the past year, but Malaysia has still a very long way to go to be internationally recognised as a top nation of integrity in the world,” he said.
Nomination day today closed as Umno chose to field Kimanis Umno chief Datuk Mohamad Alamin while Warisan fielded Datuk Karim Bujang.
The Kimanis by-election is being held following the Federal Court’s decision to uphold the election court ruling declaring the victory of Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, then of the BN, in the general election null and void.
A total of 29,664 registered voters are eligible to vote on January 18 with early voting slated on January 14.
