Press Statement by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang on 28th September 1971.
Constituency tour of Kota Utara constituency
Following my visit to Jalan Pokok Mangga last Friday, I have completed my first constituency tour of the Kota Barat constituency. During this tour, I had visited Jalan Tranquerah, Tranquerah Pantei One and Pantei Two, Bachang, Jalan Gajah Behrang and Jalan Pokok Mangga.
I will visit the other areas of Kota Barat not covered in this visit during my second constituency tour of Kota Barat, after a similar series of visits to the other state constituencies of the Bandar Melaka Parliamentary constituency.
Beginning next week, I will make my first constituency visit to the Kota Utara constituency.
During my tour of Kota Barat, the commonest complaint by the residents is the uncleared drains which bred a prevalence of mosquitoes. It really makes one wonder whether the Municipality has any Health Division, at all. For the sake of the rake-payers, I will urge the Health Division and the Municipal authorities to buck up and discharge their duties, efficiently and conscientiously.
Another very common complaint is against the service of the Malacca General Hospital, of discourtesy and rudeness.
I am not running a campaign against the Malacca General Hospital. I have no doubt that there are many doctors, nurses and hospital staff who are hard-working, polite and decent people. But the few who are rude, discourteous and even rough with patients, will bring and had brought disgrace to the whole establishment.
I will ask the people of Malacca town and state who have cause to complain against any discourtesy, rudeness or negligence they suffered in Malacca General Hospital to report to me at my office at 33A Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Malacca (opposite Cold Storage) and I shall take up every legitimate complaint. We must endeavour to make the Malacca General Hospital into a place of pride, a centre of kindness to the people of Malacca, and not a curse, a shame, a disgrace or a death-house, by exposing, correcting and removing all shortcomings and defects in the Hospital.
Those who have not lost touch with the common people can see that the people of Malacca are undergoing grave economic hardships. Business has never been so bad in Malacca history, with rampant unemployment multiplying sufferings.
The government had talked on countless occasions of vast economic schemes to revive Malacca economy and create jobs, but they have been empty-talk so far, “all thunder, no rain.”
This is no more time for propaganda and cheap publicity, but for concrete deeds to lighten the burden and suffering of the common people. I call on the State Government to immediately get down to the task of drawing up an economic blueprint to check the economic drift, decline and death of Malacca.
Let the Chief Minister tell the next State Assembly of concrete plans, with facts and figures, of how he and his government proposes to revive Malacca economy and solve the rampant unemployment problem in the state.
The State government should be able to do things for the people than just raise land taxes, which has added greatly to the people’s hardships. If it can do nothing else, the least it can do is to abolish all its increases for assessments and land taxes.