Conspiracy or what?

Lim free to resign based on principle, says Mirzan

PETALING JAYA: Asli’s head of Centre for Public Policy Studies Dr Lim Teck Ghee has resigned over the controversial studies on bumiputra equity ownership in Malaysian companies.
His resignation, effective from the end of the month, came after Asli (Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute) president Mirzan Mahathir issued a statement on Tuesday that the studies by the centre that showed bumiputra equity ownership could be as high as 45% could not be vigorously justified.
Mirzan said that after re-examining the methodology and conclusions of the report, Asli had concluded that there were shortcomings in assumption and calculation that led to conclusions that could not be vigorously justified.
He also expressed deep regret over the “hurt and confusion felt by all Malaysians” caused by the report.
“Since I cannot agree with Mirzan’s statement and because of the need to defend the position and integrity of independent and non-partisan scholarship, I will be stepping down from my position at the end of the month,” Dr Lim said in a four-paragraph press statement here yesterday.
“I hope the public space opened up by the centre’s work on this particular issue, as well as other important issues, will be expanded on and vigorously defended by others.
“It is the fundamental right of the Malaysian public to question all government statistics and policies, more so when these are not transparent or defensible.”
Mirzan in his reply via e-mail said since Dr Lim had a different view to Asli’s and he felt strongly about it, he was free to resign from his position based on principle.
He said Asli was not told to retract Dr Lim’s findings directly.
“We did an evaluation of the specific report and found it wanting. If its assumptions and calculations are faulty, we felt that the conclusions arrived at may also be faulty. As such, we feel that the report does not fairly reflect the true picture of bumiputra equity ownership in Malaysia,” he added.
Mirzan also denied any political pressure to issue the statement.
Dr Lim, a prominent political scientist, was also the former UN regional adviser and senior social specialist with the Environment and Social Development Sector Unit of the World Bank.
He also worked as regional adviser on poverty alleviation and social integration for the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang described the retraction by Mirzan as a dishonourable and cowardly act.
“It is evident that Asli was under pressure from the strong arm tactics employed by certain quarters to retract the findings of the report,” he said. Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin said that organisations making public findings that concern the people must be careful not to get them wrong, as retracting their statements would not stop the damage already done.
“We (Umno) did not agree with the methodology used by Asli because it was inaccurate and unfair and it is now proven to be without basis,” he said.

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