DAP today lodged a police report at the Kuala Lumpur Dang Wangi district police headquarters over the dissemination of the MCA Japanese encephalitis (JE) humanitarian fund that it said was tainted with discrepancies.

The party called for an investigation as it said the recipients have included 706 Malay names, far more than the estimated 100 Malays who were affected. It also alleged that some legitimate recipients did not receive any of the monies due to them, as well as the possibility of phantom recipients.

DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock cited the case of a taxi driver named Husin @ Abdul Ajis Haji Hassan who was listed as a recipient but who did not get even a single sen of the RM2,000 due to him.

Moreover, the details listed one Mageret Bt Gajangan who was supposed to have received RM25,000 is nowhere to be found in the National Registration Department (Melaka branch), said Kerk, who is also a member of Parliament for Kota Melaka.

The controversy first came to light in October 2000 when allegations surfaced that the list of 4,426 recipients had included names of people who were not entitled to any aid from the RM15 million fund amassed by MCA to help JE victims and their families.

According to MCA, the fund was meant solely for members, residents and workers of the farming community that were affected by the JE outbreak in 1999. More than 100 people died as a result of the outbreak that also saw more than one million pigs culled.

Unsatisfactory answers

Kerk said he was not satisfied with the answers given by MCA leaders concerning the Malay names on the list.

They [MCA leaders Ong Ka Ting, Lim Si Cheng and Hong Choon Kim] explained that the Malay families were given aid because they had moved out of their homes or had lost their jobs during the Nipah viral outbreak.

But these generalised answers do not satisfactorily answer the public allegations that aid had actually been given out for political purposes, he said.

According to Kerk, Malay workers who had lost their jobs could not number more than 100".

Ling Liong Sik (MCA President) had also promised in the year 2000 that the criteria used for disbursing the funds would be made known to the public, but till today, he has not given any details, Kerk said.

DAP does not question the disbursement to any deserving victim, whether he or she is a Chinese, Indian or Malay. However, the donors and the farmers are entitled to know the truth  how was the fund disbursed and whether there were actually any phantom recipients, he said.