KICK OUT' TAN SRI HERMAN LUPING!

KOTA KINABALU: Bersih Sabah calls on the government to 'Kick Out' Tan Sri Herman Luping out of the panel in the Royal Commision of Inquiry (RCI) and the demands the re-drafting of the Terms of Reference (TOR) with immediate effect.

According to Bersih Sabah spokesperson Andrew Ambrose (also known as Atama), "While we welcome PM Najib's announcement, we believe that the government is not sincere with appointments of panel members of the highest integrity.

"We demand that Tan Sri Herman Luping be disqualified and immediately removed as a panel member due to his highly publicized corruption case in the 1980's during which he was accused with soliciting RM1million from timber tycoon Victor Wong Chet Sing on April 25th 1985.

"During this time he was the State Attorney General and a legal advisor of a political party. We find him simply not clean so appointment of a panel of low integrity is a face palm to the government."

Andrew stressed further that "Sabahans have been fooled for far too long by misleaders of low integrity. It's time that the government step up with real and impactful actions and solutions to solidify the promises they have made to the people in the name of justice & fairness for all. Sabahans should not settle for less in the Terms of Reference (TOR) of RCI and therefore must exercise their Constitution Rights to freedom of expression."

As such, Bersih Sabah calls on the people of Sabah to reject the TOR and demand additional terms of allowing amnesty for witnesses to protect those who testify in court, culprits must be charged in court and punishable by law, and finally international and impartial observers into the RCI to ensure better transparency because the RCI involves investigation of foreigners granted citizenship. In this turn of event, Bersih Sabah now calls the government to set up a Referendum to find out wether Sabahans are happy with the findings and conclusions of the RCI.

On a related note, Andrew further emphasised that as concerned members of the public, Bersih Sabah would like to see the 8 Demands of Bersih to be fulfilled - including the cleaning up the electoral roll, usage of indelible ink, free and fair access to the media, postal voting, the setting of minimum campaign period of 21 days, and strengthening public institutions such as the Election Commission to function independently of government. He added that an announcement of a massive rally in Sabah will be done very soon.