Increase of local Telekom rates would be another blow to render ‘zero credibility’ to the government’s ‘zero inflation’

The proposed increase of local Telekom rates, by introducing local telephone charges according to time used, would be another blow to render zero credibility’ to the government’s ‘zero inflation’ campaign.

Telekom Malaysia last reported a profit of RM1.4 billion and there is no justification for the increase of local Telekom rates by introducing charges according to time used.

This will also be a setback to propel Malaysia into the information age by intruding the maximum number of Malaysians to get into the Information Superhighway by getting onto the Internet.

At present, Jaring members who can get access to the Internet are allowed 300 Internet hours per year. It has been calculated that this could cost up RM150 telephone charges a year. However, if local telephone charges are going to be levied according to time used, this could work out to RM780 per year at the rate of 13 sen every three minutes; or RM2,340 a year at the rate of 13 sen per minute.

These additional prohibitive telephone charges would work against the government policy to encourage a maximum number of Malaysians to explore and make use of the Internet, as it would even make many Malaysian who are already connected to the Internet to reduce their access to the Information Superhighway. One direct result would be creation of a new divide between the information-rich and the information-poor Malaysians – apart from bracketting Malaysia among the information-poor nations in the global information infrastructure (GII).

Telekom must not be allowed to impose charges on local calls according to time used to subsidise its reduction of tariffs for international trunk calls to fight cheaper international trunk tariffs provided by “call-back” services.

Although the Deputy Energy, Telecommunications and Posts Minister, Datuk Chan Kong Choy said that International Callback’s rates are roughly 30 per cent lower than Telekoms, there are those who claim International Callback’s rates are lower by half or more those of Telekom rates.

Chan said that under the Ministry’s present “telephone tariff re-balancing” exercise, the international telephone rates should be reduced to be cheaper, and perhaps even lower than international call-back services.

The question is why Telekoms had not reduced its international rates earlier, instead of having to be forced by competition by the International Callback providers.

In its rates review, the Eergy, Telecommunications and Posts Ministry should be aware that soon there will be international providers, which would be able to provide international “callback” services at 10 cent-per-minute at US rates, using an Internet-based system.

Call on Health Ministry to clarity its stand on HMOs and resolve the HMO controversy in Malaysia

The Sun reported today that a majority of Tenaga Nasional Bhd’s panel doctors had signed an agreement to allow MediMaster, a health management organisation (HMO), to manage the health Care of Tenaga ’a 25,000 employees’.

More than 75% of Tenaga’s 370 panel doctors signed up before the Oct. 31 deadline while a few indicated they wanted to wait for Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) approval while some group practices asked for more time.

Telekom, employing 30,000 people, has also issued a letter of intent to a HMO to manage the healthcare of its employees.

It is time that the Health Ministry clarity its stand on HMOs and resolve the HMO controversy in Malaysia.

Medical practitioners have complained that they have been forced to sign up for HMO schemes as they were told that they would be dropped as company panel doctors if they did not do so.

In the HMO controversy, HMOs claimed that by playing the role of health providers or middlemen, they could reduce the healthcare for companies by between 15 and 20 per cent.

However, the great public interest issue is whether the patient’s health interest would be sacrificed to “lower costs” for companies and “greater profits” for HMOs.

A HMO is a company which manages a group of doctors under its umbrella and offers its services to employers to take care of their employee’s medical needs. Employers pay the HMO a fixed amount for each employee covered, and the HMO in turn pays its doctors a fixed sum per patient per year.

It has been reported that MediMaster has an annual capitation fee of RM85 per patient which works out to an average maximum of RM7 that doctors may spend on treatment for a patient a month.

There have been widespread reports about abuses of HMOs in other countries, where doctors prescribing treatment that exceeds that capitation fee have to obtain prior approval from the HMO, causing delay in treatment of emergency cases which have resulted in deaths.

Under the MediMaster HMO scheme, doctors are given two options – either a capitation fee or RM7 per patient per month or preferred fee for service of RM14 for an adult and RM12 for a child per visit.

As the fees cover only minor illnesses, the doctors will have to claim for “uncommon” or chronic illnesses and emergency treatment.

One controversy is the definition of “uncommon illness”, as Tenaga, through MediMaster, could reject these claims and MediMaster has not been able to produce a list of “common illnesses”.

The Malaysian Medical Association has also forwarded to the Malayssian Medical Council several important issues concerning doctor-patient relationship, confidentiality of patients’ records which are claimed to be HMOs intellectual referral of patients, etc, which must be addressed by the authorities.

As the right to health must be regarded as a fundamental human right, the Government has a responsibility to ensure that any HMO scheme would not sacrifice the rights and interests of patients to any corporate profit-making scheme.

The Health Ministry should immediately set up a special task force to carry out an in-depth study of the advantages and disadvantages of the HMO system, and if HMO is to be permitted, set up a system of registration and regulation of HMOs in the country.

Until such a study has been completed and a system of registration and regulation of HMOs has been put in place, there should be a suspension of all HMO activities in the country.

Najib deserves a vote of censure in Parliament if he treats MPs with contempt by not giving them adequate time to study the new Education Bill 1995 before Parliamentary debate

The Education Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, deserves a vote of censure in Parliament if he treats MPs with contempt by not giving them adequate time to study the new Education Bill 1995 before Parliamentary debate.

Najib said in Singapore that the new Education Bill 1995 would be tabled in Parliament on Dec. 19 or 20. He said the Bill would be presented to the Cabinet at the end of the month and would then be tabled in Parliament after the debate on the 1996 budget.

I would presume that Najib is talking about two separate matters. Firstly, the tabling of the new Education Bill 1995 in Parliament for first reading after the debate on the 1996 budget and secondly, the second and third reading of the Bill on Dec. 19 or 20.

However, after studying the parliamentary schedule, I conclude that Najib wants to rush the new Education Bill 1995 through Parliament for all three readings either on the same day or on the second day – giving MPs virtually no time to study and get public feedbacks on the Education Bill.

This is because the budget debate will not end until December 18. Originally, the budget debate would end on December 13, i.e. 11 days for second reading of the 1996 Supply Bill until next Wednesday and 16 days for the Committee stage debate. However, as the Standing Orders have been amended to increase the number of days for Budget Committee debate to 18 days (and the Standing Orders amendments had been immediately implemented affecting the rights of MPs when asking supplementary questions during question time), the 1996 Budget debate should go on till Dec. 18.

If the new Education Bill 1995 is given to MPs only after the Budget debate, this means the earliest MPs would get sight of the Bill would be Dec. 19 – and MPs would be asked to debate on the important new Education Bill and give it approval for all three readings either on the same day, or on the second day.

Considering that Dec. 20 is the last sitting for the current budget meeting of Parliament. This parliamentary schedule for the tabling, debate and passing for such an important Bill as the new Education Bill 1995 is most preposterous and outrageous.

What about the three other Education Bills which Najib has said would be presented and passed by Parliament at the same time as the Education Bill 1995 – namely the new National Higher Education Council Bill, the new Private Institution of Higher Education Bill and the Universities and University Colleges (Amendment) Bil?

Does this mean that MPs would be asked to debate and pass four Education Bills in all three readings all in one day or by the second day the Bills has been distributed to MPs?

After having won a landslide victory in the April general election and now controlling five-sixty majority in Parliament, the Government should show more respect to Parliament. But the reserve seems to be the case – to the extent that the Education Minister is publicly talking about a parliamentary schedule for the new Education Bill 1995 and the three other education bills which is completely contemptuous of the rights of MPs as well as the Malaysian citizenry.

Najib said in Singapore that “Never in our history has a Bill gone through such extensive and long drawn-out discussions, debates and scrutiny. Eight years is long enough and if it is not done now, it will never get done.”

This is the most misleading. Where were the “extensive and long drawn-out discussions, debates and scrutiny” on the new Education Bill in the past eight years?

MPs have not seen the draft Bill and know nothing about the “Extensive and long drawn-out discussions, debates and scrutiny” on the new Education Bill.

It is public knowledge that no work was done on the new Education Bill in the few years after the 1990 general election, as it was felt that the condition was not politically rape for the passage of a new Education Bill. This means that although the new Education Bill had a eight-year history, it does not mean that there had been continuous and intensive work on the Bill for the past eight years.

I challenge Najib to make public a chronology of events on the work on the Education Bill 1995 if he claims that the past eight years had been fully packed with work on the Bill.

Nobody is trying to obstruct the passage of the Education Bill. All that is demanded is that Parliament and the nation should be given adequate time to study and give their feedback on the Bill, before it is passed by Parliament and become law of the land.

As the Bill has a eight-year history, it is not unreasonable to ask that Parliament and the nation be given two months to study and give feedbacks to the Bill.

If the Education Ministry could only give the Education Bill to MPs on Dec. 19, the Parliament should not be asked to pass the Bill in all three readings by Dec. 20.

Instead, Parliament should adjourn to allow MPs two full months to study and get public feedbacks and reconvene for a special sitting to debate and pass the new Education Bill 1995, and the other three Education Bills, at the end of February or early March.

I hope Barisan Nasional MPs would support the demand that Parliament and the nation be given at least two months to study the new Education Bills before they are debated and passed by Parliament, as this is not a party issue but concerns the privileges of Members of Parliament as well as the rights of Malaysian citizens to participate meaningfully in the formulation and finalization of important legislation with far-reaching consequences to the nation and future generations.

DAP commends Malaysian Government for taking an active part in the International Court of Justice at The Hague to seek a world court declaration that possession of nuclear weapons violated international law

DAP commends the Malaysian Government for taking an active part in the International Court of Justice of the Hague to seek a world court declaration that possession of nuclear weapons violates international law.

It has been reported that the Attorney-General, Datuk Mokhtar Abdullah will be making oral submissions to the international Court of Justice which had been holding hearings on the issue since October 30, involving 25 nations.

The timing is most opportune, particularly at a time when French president Chirac and the French Government are defying international opinion and morality in continuing with French nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

Malaysia has an international responsibility to demand for total nuclear disarmament and the destruction of all nuclear weapon by all members of the nuclear club.

This is why Malaysia must also play leading role in the international arena to protest against French resumption of nuclear tests, as well as to demand that the French should cease and desist from further nuclear tests in the South Pacific atolls of Momuroa and Fangataufa.

I have sent an urgent message to New Zealand Prime Minister, Jim Bolger as host of CHOGM next week proposing that CHOGM should commission 1995 Nobel peace laureate Joseph Rotblat and Pugwash Conferences of science and World Affairs, to lead an international study of the impact of French nuclear tests on the environment and health of South Pacific islanders and the eco-system.

This is essential as the French Government as well as their Ambassadors have been blithely claiming that the French nuclear tests in the South Pacific are “completely harmless”.

This is a most outrageous claim which cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.

The CHOGM in Auckland next week should commission 1995 Nobel Peace Laureate, Joseph Rotblat and Pugwash Conferences of Science and World Affairs, to lead an international study of the impact of French nuclear tests on the environment and health of South Pacific islanders and the eco-system.

Such a CHOGM commission would be pregnant with meaning and symbolism, as this was also the reason why the Norwegian Nobel Committee gave its 1995 peace Prize jointly to Robiat and Pugwash Conferences of Science and World Affairs.

In 1955, Rotblat joined Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell and six other scientists in signing a manifesto that led to the founding of the annual Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs to lobby governments on nuclear disarmament.

The 1995 Nobel Peace Prize award was most opportune, for it was not only 50 years since atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was also in the midst of international controversy over the resumption of French nuclear tests, as the Nobel Committee said, “One of the reasons for the prize is a sort of protest against testing of nuclear weapons, and nuclear arms in general”.

Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences can be joined by other international organisations of scientists, like the international Physicians for the Prevention of nuclear War which was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, in the study of the impact of the French nuclear tests on the environment and health of the South Pacific islanders and the eco-system.

This study can also from the basis for drawing up of a Bill of Indemnity to demand French compensation for all damages to the health of those affected and the eco-system, whether past, present of future, arising from French nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

DAP calls for a National information Policy with the objective to restore press freedom by giving full meaning to Article 10 of the Malaysian Constitution on “freedom of speech and expression”

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Information, Datuk Mohd, Shafie Apdal had not given a proper and satisfactory answer to my question in parliament yesterday about the National information Policy draft.

Mohd. Shafie said the National Information Policy draft could not be finalized as expected in 1992 due to rapid changes in Information Technology (IT) and that the special panel chaired by Tan Sri Samad Ismail had to consider several panel chaired by Tan Sri Samad Ismail had to consider several developments, like the information superhighway, cyberspace and the need to establish a body known as the media council to regulate media activities in the country.

It is very unsatisfactory that the new amendments to the Parliamentary Standing Orders curtailing the freedom of MPs to ask supplementary questions have made it virtually impossible for MPs to scrutinise and expose unsatisfactory answer by government front-benchers who give half-truths and misleading information during question time.

For instance, Mohd. Shafie failed to inform Parliament that in February 1993, the Information Minister, Datuk Mohamed Rahmat had announced that the National Information Policy draft would ready in June 1993.

When June 1993 came, Mohamed Rahmat said the draft was expected to be completed by September 1993 and that it would be submitted to the Cabinet for approval by the end of the year.

The draft was submitted to the Information Ministry at the end of 1993, and in April 194, Mohamed Rahmat said publicly that the National information Policy draft would be submitted to the Cabinet in June 1994, as hi officers had been given six months to study the draft.

This deadline was again disregarded, and in April 1995, Mohamed Rahmat said the government was still considering the proposal in the draft National Information Policy submitted by the Tan Sri Samad Ismail special panel to set up a Malaysian Media Council to monitor the media and “ensure press freedom” in the country.

Thus, when Mohd. Shafie told parliament yesterday that the special panel had to consider “new things” like the proposal to set a Malaysian media council, this was making a mockery of parliament – for the special panel had already made such a proposal and it was the Information Ministry which had not been able to make up its mind on the matter after close to two years!

It is also clear that the special panel purportedly to deal with the issues of “press freedom” of print and electronic media is not the proper forum with the requisite expertise and background to deal with issues raised by an information technology revolution, which should be dealt with by a special committee on the larger question of developing a National Information Infrastructure (NII).

In this connection, there should be a clear directive to the Tan Sri Samad Ismail special panel that in reviewing its draft National Information Policy, its emphasis should be to restore press freedom by giving full meaning to the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and expression enshrined in Article 10 of the federal constitution and not impose new restrictions on a very feffered press in Malaysia.

Let us be brave to admit that press freedom is one of the “blots” in Malaysian democracy, with the electronic media even more unfree and biased than the print media, and that such a stunted plant urgently requires are and space to reach greater maturity – without which Malaysia cannot achieve the Vision 2020 as espoused by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed or develop the civil society which had been the constant theme of the deputy Prime minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The question therefore is whether the proposed National Information Policy is going to be a new charter for press freedom in Malaysia, loosening all the restrictive press controls, or it is going operate like a Press Censorship Board!

Deputy Information Minister’s threat to ban foreign publications most unwarranted and highlights the need for a shake-up of the Information Ministry to make it more in tune with the challenges of an Information Age

The Deputy Information Minister, Datuk Suleiman Mohamed said yesterday that the Information Ministry would recommend the banning of any foreign publication which persists in painting a false picture of the country.

He said his ministry was studying such articles published by various foreign publications and would submit its recommendations to the Home Ministry.

Suleiman was referring in particular to reports in the foreign publications about a rift between the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed and the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

It would appear that top information Ministry officials, whether the Information Minister or Deputy Minister, has only one reflex to articles or things they don’t like – to ban or to censor them.

In September, the Information Minister Datuk Mohamed Rahmat went on such a spree when he repeatedly issued stern warnings about censorship of the Internet because “some students abroad are spreading disinformation on Malaysia through the internet” and cyberporn.

Mohamed Rahmat even announced an Inter-Ministry Committee to impose censorship of the Internet, although nothing has been heard of such a Committee since then.

Is the Information minister going to propose another Inter-Ministry Censorship Committee to censor foreign publications which publish reports regarded as “adverse and untrue stories meant to jeopardize our economic growth and political stability?”

If Malaysia’s economic growth and political stability could be so easily undermined, then they must be very fragile and could not have very strong fundamentals as repeatedly proclaimed in national and international forums by the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister.

Even if the Information Ministry has its way to ban foreign publications which publishes reports about the Mahathir-Anwar relationship of the power tussle between their two factions, what would the information Ministry propose if these reports are subsequent posted on the Internet and accessible by Malaysian netters?

Would the Information Ministry then come back with the proposal that Malaysia should ban the Internet and turn its back to the information Superhighway?

It is clear that the deputy Information Minister’s threat to ban foreign publications is not only most unwarranted but highlights the need for a shake-up of the Information Ministry to make it more in tune with the challenges of an Information Age.

If the foreign reports are so damaging to Malaysia, and a study has to be made, why is the Home Ministry not conducting the study instead of the Information Ministry?

In any event, what action does the Information Ministry propose the government should take against UMNO leaders and members who speak to the foreign journalists who write these articles in foreign publications?

I note that the new Sunday Times Columnist a Kadir Jasin yesterday had devoted his column specifically to UMNO leaders and members who “give regular briefing to foreign correspondents” to have the courage to deny statements allegedly made by them n the foreign media.

Kadir Jasin pointedly advised these UMNO leaders and members that “before they do that…they should make sure thay really did not speak to the magazine, whether it is immediately before the publication of a report of three months earlier.”

Will the Information Ministry, for instance, propose to the Home Ministry to ban all UMNO leaders and members from speaking to foreign correspondents?

The deputy Information Minister is probably more interested in gaining political mileage in the present UMNO election frenzy by making his statement – but he should realise that it is precisely such half-baked statements which does no good for Malaysia’s international image as an open, liberal and democratic society.

CHOGM should commission 1995 novel peace laureate, Joseph Rotblat and Pugwash Conferences of Science and world Affairs, to lead an international study and World Affairs, to lead an international Study of the impact of French nuclear tests on the environment and health of South Pacific islanders and the eco-system

Up to date, the united Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) had failed to adopt any positive or concrete measures to oppose the continues defiance of world opinion and morality by French President Jacques Chirac, who has set off three nuclear tests in the South Pacific and wants to explode another three.

All eyes of the world are now on the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Auckland next week, which is meeting in close proximity to the two atoll of Mururoa and Fangataufa selected as the French underground test sites.

The Malaysian people are most outraged by the arrogance and conceit of the French Government in their insensitivity to world conscience and morality against French nuclear tests, especially in the dismissal of International protests by claiming that the French nuclear tests are “completely harmless”.

The world community cannot allow the French claim that its nuclear tests in the South Pacific are “completely harmless” to go unchallenged.

The commonwealth heads of Government should take the opportunity of their meeting in Auckland to commission 1995 Nobel Peace Laureate, Joseph Rotblat and Pugwash Conferences of Science and World Afairs, to lead an international study of the impact of French nuclear tests on the environment and health of South Pacific islanders and the eco-system.

Such a CHOGM commission would be pregnant with meaning and symbolism, as this was also the reason why the Norwegian Nobel Committee gave its 1995 peace Prize Jointly to Rotblat and Pugwash Conferences of science and world affairs.

In 1955, Rotblat joined Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell and six other scientists in signing a manifesto that led to the founding of the annual Pugwash Conferences on science and world affairs to lobby governments on nuclear disarmament.

The 1995 Nobel Peace Prize award was most opportune, for it was not only 50 years since atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was also in the midst of international controversy over the resumption of French nuclear tests, as the Nobel Committee said, “One of the reasons for the prize is a sort of protest against testing of nuclear weapons, and nuclear arms in general”.

Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences can be joined by other international organisations of scientists, like the international Physicians for the Prevention of nuclear War which was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, in the study of the impact of the French nuclear tests on the environment and health of the South Pacific islanders and the eco-system.

This study can also from the basis for drawing up of a Bill of Indemnity to demand French compensation for all damages to the health of those affected and the eco-system, whether past, present of future, arising from French nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

Call on Anwar Ibrahim to give clear indication when winding up the budget next Tuesday as to whether the RM15 billion Bakun dam project would be delayed as part of the government plan to reschedule mega-projects to cool the economy.

The Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should give a clear indication when winding up the budget debate in parliament next Tuesday as to whether the RM15 billion Bakun hydroelectric dam project would be delayed as part of the government plan to reschedule mega-project to cool the economy.

The Singapore Business Times had carried a commentary over the weekend stating that “The Bakun dam saga continues to befuddle investors as the signals are conflicting”.

It said: “On the one hand, Ekran Bhd. which has the mandate to implement the massive project, is selling lucrative portions of the massive timber concessions on the dam site.

“At the same time, there are indications that the Government may delay the project over fears that the economy is overheating and it may be sensible not to bunch the construction of big ticket infrastructure projects.

Last week, Ekran Bhd. said it hopes to sell the rights to all the timber licence to extract timber from 56,000 ha in the Bakun area involving 27 million cu metres of timber.

In August, Ekran sold the rights to three million cu metres of timber to Ultimate Strategies Sdn. Bhd. for RM405 million.

Now, Ekran hopes to sell another eight million cubic metres of logs for about RM400 million.

Ekran would probably raise some RM2 billion simply by selling off its concession rights to the 27 million cu metres of timber in the Bakun area, without lifting its finger. There is probably no faster way of making money than getting concession fights to extract 27 million cu metres of timber and selling them off for cash!

Anwar should clarify the position of Bakun dam project especially as the Minister for Energy, Telecommunications and Posts, Datuk Leo Moggie had said in his reply to one of my parliamentary questions that up to now, the financing arrangements for the RM15 billion Bakun dam project has not been finalized.

This is most shocking, as the Bakun dam project is already in a very advanced stage of implementation yet the financing arrangements had not been finalized.

There are valid grounds for concern especially as Ekran Bhd.’s previous bond issue to raise funding for the project had received poor rating by the Rating Agency Malaysia (RAM) early this year.

However, despite its failure to date to finalise its financing arrangements, Ekran has already announced that it is starting work on the Bakun dam project this month, and has hired Korean contractor Dong-A Constitution to construct three diversion tunnels to divert the Balui River for the building of the dam.

The three diversion tunnels are respectively 1.5 km, 1.6 km and 1.67 km in length and Ekran claims that they would be the largest diversion tunnels ever built in the world.

This will be a violation of the EIA Report, Part 1 on Reservoir Preparation which has made it clear that no work on the Bakun dam should start until Ekran had submitted its Biomass Removal Plan to the authorities for approval.

Leo Moggie had told parliament that Ekran would submit its Biomass Removal plan to the governments concerned at the end of October and he promised to consider whether to make public the Biomass Removal Plan.

Up to now there is no report that Ekran had submitted its Biomass Removal Plan or that it is being studies by the authorities concerned.

In these circumstances, how could Ekran be allowed to start work on the Bakun dam by starting construction on the three diversion tunnels to divert Balui River?

DAP welcomes signs of a more open government attitude towards Internet and the backing down of the obscurantist approach advocated by the Information Minister, Datuk Mohamed Rahmat.

I welcome signs of a more open government attitude towards internet and the backing down of the obscurantist approach advocated by the Information Minister, Datuk Mohamed Rahmat.

In September this year, on his return from a trip to United States, Datuk Mohamed Rahmat had issued stern warnings that the Government was closely monitoring the activities of some students abroad who were spreading disinformation on Malaysia through the Internet.

A few days earlier, he had announced in Michigan that the Government had set up a Inter-Ministry Committee, comprising representatives of the Information, Home, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, and Energy, Telecommunications and Posts Ministries to look into abuses on the Internet, referring specifically to the “rampant spread of sex culture or pornography” and “dissemination of negative information… to oppose their governments”.

I had criticized Datuk Mohamed Rahmat;s comments and warnings and stressed that Malaysia needs an Information Minister, who had the proper order of priorities about Internet, which is to develop a National Information Infrastructure (NII) and to get maximum number of Malaysians to make beneficial use of the Internet, rather than to frighten Malaysians from the Information superhighway and the new information revolution.

This prompted me to direct a specific question to the Information Minister, Datuk Mohamed Rahmat, in the current meeting of Parliament, namely:

“To ask the Minister of Information to state what are the areas of concern of the Government about the Internet and how the government proposes to impose censorship on the Internet on the ground that Malaysian students abroad are spreading misinformation about the country overseas as well as because of pornography on the Internet.”

I received a reply, not from the Information Minster, but from the Minister for Science, Technology and Environment, Datuk Law Hieng Ding, who said that the Government has no plans to censor information on the Internet although cases of overseas Malaysian students providing misinformation about the country have been detected.

Has the inter-Ministry internet Censorship Committee announced by Mohamed Rahmat in the United States been disbanded and if not, what are its real functions and terms of reference

Law said the Government could not take any action on this but would instead provide correct information through the Internet. He said this was better way of countering negative information on the country.

As for pornographic, materials available over the Internet, Law said the Government would try to bar such materials it its sources were known but conceded that it was difficult for the Government to identity all pornographic materials in the Internet.

I was surprised that Datuk Mohamed Rahmat, to whom the question was originally directed at, had not answered my question but had referred it to the Minister for Science, Technology and Environment.

I welcome Law’s reply which reflects a more enlightened attitude to the Internet than the obscurantist approach of Datuk Mohamed Rahmat.

The pertinent question is whether the inter-Ministry Internet Censorship Committee which was announced by Mohamed Rahmat in the United States has now been disbanded, or whether it is still in existence, and if so, what is its real function, purpose and terms of reference!

CHOGM in Auckland should call on France to fully end its decolonization process in South Pacific by granting independence to South Pacific islanders who are currently under French rule

The reason why the French ambassador, Eduoard Braine, could arrogantly claim that French nuclear tests in the South Pacific are “completely harmless” is because France is exercising sovereignty over French Polynesia and is still acting like a colonial power when decolonisation should have ended French rule in the South Pacific.

Without the French territories in the South Pacific, President Chirac and the French Government would be compelled to explode the French nuclear tests in metropolitan France itself or abandon the resumption of French nuclear tests – and there is no doubt as to the choice in such an eventuality. Nobody believes that the French Government would be able to convince the French people to allow French nuclear tests in metropolitan France because they are “completely harmless”.

The French Ambassador’s arrogant claim that the French nuclear tests in the South Pacific are “completely harmless” are therefore not only most self-serving, but highly contemptuous or the rights of the South Pacific islanders, whether as to their health, life or their eco-system, and utterly insensitive of world opposition to nuclear tests and weaponry.

As president Chirac would not be able to conduct nuclear tests at France does not have overseas territories in the South Pacific, namely French Polynesia, New Caledonia, the Walls and Futuna Islands, the Commonwealth heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Auckland next week should call on France to fully end its decolonization process in South Pacific by granting independence to South Pacific islanders who are currently under French rule.

The resumption of French nuclear tests in the two atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa had highlighted the Polynesia independence movement, which had been growing in strength over the year.

It is pertinent to note that in the 1993 poll to elect two representatives to the French National Assembly, a candidate from the Polynesia Liberation front won 44.3 per cent of the votes.

CHOGM should ensure that it is not like other international conferences which have proved to be nothing more than “talks shops protesting against French nuclear tests and work out an action programme to demand French halt all further tests

The CHOGM meeting next week should ensure that it is not like other international conference which have proved to be nothing more than “talks shops” protesting against French nuclear tests.

It must work out a Commonwealth Action Programme with the specific objective to demand that president Chirac and France halt all further nuclear tests.

Such a commonwealth Action Programme to oppose and stop further French Nuclear should establish a commonwealth Action Council to oppose and Stop Further French Nuclear tests, comprising the heads of governments of a dozen or so states, which should be empowered, among other things, to:

• Demand a meeting with President Chirac to convey to him the world outrage at his decision to resume French nuclear tests;

• Propose International sanctions in the United Nations as well as in other international forums against France for the resumption for French nuclear tests;

• Send an independent Commonwealth commission of scientists to study the impact of the French nuclear tests on the environment and health of the South Pacific islanders and the eco-system;

• Draw up a Bill of Indemnity to demand French compensation for all damages to the health of those affected and the eco-system, whether past, present of future, arising from French nuclear tests in the South Pacific; and

• Mobilise international opinion and pressure for the France to fully and truly end it decolonisation process by granting full independence to all South Pacific islanders.

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