The following extract is from People's Mirror, March 14, 1987. It was published after the infamous "Ming Court Affair" when 28 elected Sarawak Barisan coalition assemblymen flew to Kuala Lumpur and held a clandestine meeting at the Ming Court Hotel as part of a strategic move to topple Chief Minister Taib Mahmud.
Same one who toppled me, says Ningkan
KUCHING, Fri - FORMER Chief
Minister Datuk Kalong Ningkan said today that the person behind the group of 28
who tried to topple the government also had a hand in removing him in 1966.
Then that person wanted the
post of Chief Ministership, said Datuk Stephen Ningkan. He however, would not
want to name the person.
On Wednesday Chief Minister
Datuk Patinggi Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud attributed the sudden resignation of four
of his ministers and three assistant ministers to the orchestration of an
invisible rich pair of hands.
When questioned as to
whether the previous state government leadership was involved, the Chief
Minister said "yes".
Recalling the 1966 incident,
Datuk Ningkan said 21 of the 32 Alliance menbers in the Council Negeri signed a petition stating that they had lost confidence in him as Chief
Minister. They asked for his removal.
"It is the same person
who tried to topple me and now that person is doing it to Datuk Taib,"
said Datuk Ningkan who is also the adviser of Sarawak National Party.
The signatures were obtained
by calling the members to Kuala Lumpur which is also the base the present group
is using, he said.
"They called one after
another to go to Kuala Lumpur. Until then, they could not get the
majority," he said, adding that the group could not dismiss him as he
still had 21 Council Negeri members in his government.
The group approached the
king to give consent to the Sarawak Governor to sack me, he said.
Datuk Stephen Kalong Ningkan
refused to resign. He declared that the constitutional and democratic manner in dealing with a motion of no
confidence was to debate in the Council Negeri.
The Governor had no powers
to sack the Chief Minister," he said.
He said the Land Bill Crisis
of 1965 and a year later his refusal to have Malay as the state's official
language by September 1967 was made use of by former Yang Di Pertua Negeri Tun
Rahman Yakub.
"Tun made use of that,
saying I was anti-Malaysia," said the former Chief Minister who objected
to the pace and methods of implementing the national language policy in
Sarawak.
He said he told the Prime
Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman that English would remain the official language
until 1973 or later if two-thirds ( of the Assemblymen ) in the Council Negeri
decided so.
He was replaced by Penghulu
Tawi Anak Sli from Parti Pesaka.
But on Sept 7, 1966 the High
Court in Kuching ruled that the dismissal of Stephen Ningkan was
unconstitutional.
But Penghulu Tawi Sli
presented to the Governor, then the Speaker of Council N15egeri, and the Chief
Minister copies of a statutory declaration requesting an immediate meeting of
Council Negeri and expressing no confidence in Datuk Ningkan.
Datuk Ningkan, who said he
is a son of a padi-farmer, wanted to call for a State Election.
On Sept 15, the Federal
Government declared a state of emergency in Sarawak.
“If given the chance to hold
a state election I could have won,” he said.
He said it was a ‘false
emergency’.
Datuk Ningkan said he
pledged his full support to the leadership of the Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi
Haji Abdul Taib.
Of the intended Snap Central
Executive Committee meeting that is to be held in Kuala Lumpur, the Snap
adviser said the CEC could not be held any place outside Sarawak.
He said the CEC to be held
tomorrow (Saturday) will form a disciplinary committee to investigate the eight
Snap members who are involved with the rebel group.
