71 Questions for Written Answer by Mr. Lim Kit Siang

Press Statement by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, 2nd December 1971

71 Questions for Written Answer by Mr. Lim Kit Siang

The following are the 71 questions for written answers which DAP Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, has submitted for the forthcoming session of Parliament beginning on December 8. Mr. Lim submitted a total of 100 questions, 29 of which are for oral answer. The 29 questions for oral answers were released yesterday.

Written Question

1. To ask the Minister of Agriculture and Lands (i) the reason for the government withdrawal of the prospecting rights to extract tin from the sea-bed off Pahang, Perak and Selangor to Conzinc Riotinto Malaysia. (ii) the circumstances and conditions under which the prospecting rights were granted to Pernas.

2. To ask the Minister of Agriculture and Lands (i) the reason for the government withdrawal of the prospecting rights in the off-shore areas off Negeri Sembilan, Malacca, and the Westcoast of Johore to South East Asia and Amoco Malaya Petroleum and (ii) to state the companies which have been awarded this prospecting right, and their conditions.

3. To ask the Minister of Home Affairs to state the number of women probationery inspectors who were taken into the police service since September this year; and to state how many of them were Chinese educated possessing Senior Middle Three qualifications.

4. To ask the Minister of Commerce and Industry to (i) list the electronic industries in Malaysia, giving the state each is sited, the number of workers each employ, the capital investment involved, the production capacity; and (ii) what steps are being taken to promote electronics industry in the country.

5. To ask the Minister of Commerce and Industry to state the number of industries which had been dispersed to rural areas since the implementation of the New Economic Policy by the government, giving a particulars of each, in terms of job opportunities, capital investment, etc.

6. To ask the Minister of Transport whether there is any move to separate motorized from non-motorised traffic in the country’s trunk roads to lesson incidence of accidents and deaths by building along all trunk roads where practicable cycle paths.

7. To ask the Prime Minister to give a report on his talks with President Nixon on the question of American disposal of stockpile rubber.

8. To ask the Minister of Education to state (i) the amount that will be spent in Malacca under the Second Malaysia Plan for education; (ii) list the number and whereabouts of the (a) primary and (b) secondary and (c) other educational institutions, that will be built under the Plan.

9. To ask the Minister of Education to name the primary, secondary and other educational institutions which had been named after a politician, whether deceased or still living.

10. To ask the Minister of Education to give figures of Primary Six drop-outs for each year since 1957, giving separate figures for each state.

11. To ask the Minister of Education whether there is any intention to review the National Joint Council of Teachers to provide a forum for teachers’ unions and the Ministry to thrash out their differences; and if so to state when; and if not whether the Ministry has any proposals to replace the NJCT.

12. To ask the Minister of Labour and Manpower to state the number of strikes this year, giving the strike-lost days for each case.

13. To ask the Minister of Education to give figures for each year since 1957, the Primary One enrolment into National, National-type (English), National-type (Chinese) and National-type (Tamil) schools.

14. To ask the Minister of Labour and Manpower how many disputes over union recognition was reported to his Ministry in 1969, 1970, 1971, and to state the result of these disputes.

15. To ask the Minister of Lands and Mines when it is proposed to establish a forestry college, and to give details of its site, cost and objective.

16. To ask the Minister of Labour and Manpower whether the government would restore the Whitely Council to enable government employees to discuss their staff and services problems with the government side, as is advocated by CUEPACS.

17. To ask the Prime Minister to state the number of newly registered voters for each Parliamentary and State constituency as a result of the voter’s registration exercise in October/ November this year.

18. To ask the Prime Minister how many registration officers were engaged by the Elections Commission during the October/ November registration exercise, and to state the expenses incurred, giving separate figures for each State.

19. To ask the Prime Minister to state how many new voters were registered by (i) government registration officers; (b) political parties; during the recent voter’s registration exercise.

20. To ask the Minister of Commerce and Industry to state the income Malaysia earned from tourism for each year since 1957.

21. To ask the Minister of Home Affairs whether the government has favourably reconsidered registering the proposed Asian Students’ Association as a society, and if not, why not.

22. To ask the Minister of Home Affairs to state (i) the allegations of detention preferred against Hamid Tuah; (ii) when Hamid Tuah will be released from detention under the Internal Security Act.

23. To ask the Minister of Home Affairs to state how many people had been detained under the Internal Security Act for economic sabotage or threat to Question No. 26 for the country, to, date.

24. To ask the Minister of Home Affairs whether it is proposed to make the Pulau Jerajak into a permanent penal isle, and if not, when it is proposed to dismantle the penal settlement.
25. To ask the Minister of Home Affairs whether it is true that the government has decided to shift the political detention camp from Muar to Taiping, and if so, to give details as to when and why this step is taken.

26. To ask the Minister of Education to give the number of technicians who graduated from the Ungku Omar Polytechnic (ii) the number employed by private sector and (iii) the number unemployed.

27. To ask the Minister of Education to state the number of students who are known to have taken drugs for each year since 1965; and to state what action is being taken to check the spread of drug use by students.

28. To ask the Minister of Labour and Manpower to explain the basis on which the Bank Bumiputra and the Malayan Banking were appointed as the sole sellers of social security stamps under the Ministry of Labour’s Social Security Scheme.

29. To ask the Prime Minister to state the number of expatriate planters in Malaysia, the total earnings they collectively earn a year; and what steps are being taken to Malaysianise them.

30. To ask the Minister of Education whether he has received any representations from the Union of Clerks in Fully Assisted Schools to extend the Suffian Commision recommendations to school clerks, rather than to absorb them into government service, and to state the government’s attitude to this issue.

31. To ask the Minister of Education to state the number of (a) Malay and (b) non-students studying Jawi in (i) primary schools and (ii) secondary schools.

32. To ask the Minister of Science and Technology whether his Ministry has conducted a national survey to assess the scientific manpower in the country and to find out how many science graduates are employed in work which is related to science and also how related to science and also how relevant the field of study in the university is to their present occupation.

33. To ask the Minister for National and Rural Development what steps are being taken to protect the Malaysia turtles on the beaches in Trengganu and Pahang from mistreatment by egg-collectors and tourist promoters, so as to save them from extinction.

34. To ask the Minister of Home Affairs why the Field Force has continued to be stationed at the Jinjang Community Centre, since the declaration of Emergency, thus denying the people of Jinjang free use of their community hall; and to state when the Field Force propose to withdraw from the Community Hall, or find alternative site for encampment.

35. To ask the Minister of Health whether there is any allocation under the Second Malaysia Plan to expand the medical and health clinic in Jinjang to meet the great increase in population.

36. To ask the Minister of Transport whether he is aware that the trunk road leading north from the Malacca town at Bachang is very narrow and dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists; and to state what steps are being taken, especially in view of the nation-wide Road Safety campaign, widen that stretch of road to protect life; and (ii) to state the number of accidents, no. of persons wounded, killed in that stretch of road since 1960, fiving figures annually.

37. To ask the Minister of Commerce and Industry to state what is the outcome of the three-day visit of the North Koran trade mission to Malaysia recently.

38. To ask the Minister of Education to give a list of all the technical and vocational schools in Malaysia, indicating against each the number of school places.

39. To ask the Prime Minister to give a list of the election expenses spent by each State and Parliamentary candidate in the May 1969 General Elections.

40. To ask the Minister of Education whether the Ministry has set up a Curriculum Development Centre, if so, to give details as to its term of reference and work.

41. To ask the Minister of Transport to ten stretches of Malaysian roads with the highest accident rates, giving details about casualties and to state what is being done to reduce the incidence of accidents in these accident-prone areas.

42. To ask the Minister of Health what is the allocation for the State of Johore by his Ministry under the Second Malaysia Plan, and to give details of the main heads of those allocations.

43. To ask the Minister of Agriculture what short-term, medium-term and long-term steps had been taken to prevent floods in the State of Johore.

44. To ask the Minister of Defence to state the total number of aircrafts in the Malaysia Air Force, giving a breakdown according to different types of planes.

45. To ask the Minister of Defence the average flying hours a jet pilot in Malaysians Air Force is required to fly to maintain all-weather pilot proficiency.

46. To ask the Minister of Defence the total number of posts for pilots in the Malaysian Air Force, the number of unfilled posts, and to state what steps are being taken to fill the vacancies.

47. To ask the Minister of Defence the total number of post for technical officers in the Malaysian Navy which is not filled, the total staff complement, and what steps are being taken to fill the vacancies.

48. To ask the Minister of Education to state the number of Malaysian students who were awarded scholarships by Commonwealth Scholarships Commission this year, giving the names of the scholarship students, and the course each student is pursuing and centre of his studies.

49. To ask the Minister of Transport whether the Malayan Airlines has contracted to buy six boeings of the 737-200 advanced series, and if so, to state the cost of each, when will they be delivered, and that routes they will be used when delivered.

50. To ask the Minister of Education to inform the House of the Salient points of the findings of his Ministry on why 7,357 MCE candidates in 1970failed their entire examination because of failure in Bahasa Malaysia One subject, and to state what remedial action had been taken this year to prevent a similar recurrence for the 1971 MCE candidates.

51. To ask the Minister of Education whether there had been any official investigations into the allegations in the Mahasiswa Negara in July 1971 on crimes in the campus, such as pilferage, criminal breach of trust and even ‘sexual offences.’

52. To ask the Prime Minister when work on the $2.5 million National Library will begin and when it is expected to be completed.

53. To ask the Minister of Education whether he has received representations from the Lower Perak Branch of the DTC Union asking for revision of government general orders giving longer time for settlement of judgement debts as the present stipulated period of 14 days grace is too short.

54. To ask the Minister of Education to state how many teachers have been given permission to take part in politics, giving a breakdown according to each individual political party.

55. To ask the Minister of Education to state how many applications by teachers to take part in politics have been rejected, since May 1969, giving separate figures for each political party.

56. To ask the Minister of Home Affairs to give the number of (i) armed robberies; (ii) kidnapping and (iii) murder in West Malaysia for each year since 1957 (excluding Singapore during the years the island was in Malaysia).

57. To ask the Minister of Home Affairs to give the number of people who were arrested and detained under the Internal Security Act in (i) West Malaysia (ii) Sabah and (iii) Sarawak since January 1 this year.

58. To ask the Minister of Home Affairs to give the result of the Operation Ngayau in Third Division in Sarawak launched in August this year, and to state the number of persons killed and detained during the Operation.

59. To ask the Minister of Home Affairs to state the number of people detained and arrested as a result of the Operation Taat Setia in the Kinta Valley.

60. To ask the Minister of Home Affairs to give the number of contacts between security forces and communist guerrillas since May 13, 1969, giving details of each such contact, together with the number killed or wounded on each side.

61. To ask the Minister of Labour to give the number of people registered for work at each of the employment exchanges for each month of this year.

62. To ask the Minister of Commerce and Industry to list the manufacturing industries which are under majority foreign ownership, giving for each such firm, the total capitalization of the industry and the percentage of foreign ownership.

63. To ask the Minister of Commerce and Industry to state how many times the government intervened in the rubber market to buy up rubber to prop up the rubber price since 1968, giving dates of such intervention, the amount the government spent, and the quantities bought.

64. To ask the Minister of Commerce and Industry to confirm whether it is true that in mid-August this year, the government ‘resorted to measures which had been never taken before in the hope that the price does not continue to drop’ when the price of rubber was threatening to fall below 40 cents a lb., which he spoke about in Baling on August 13.

65. To ask the Minister of Works, Posts, and Telecommunications to name the towns which have automatic self-dialling system in (i) by the end of this year (ii) in 1972 (iii) in 1973; (iv) in 1974 and (v) in 1975.

66. To ask the Minister of Works, Posts and Telecommunications to explain why the detour of the trunk road from Malacca to Muar to by-pass the town of Merlimau had not been completed despite work for at least three years, to state when work on the straightening of this portion of the road was started and the amount which had been spent, and total cost estimated originally.

67. To ask the Minister of Information and Broadcasting to give the amount of time devoted to (i) Bahasa Malaysia (ii) Chinese (iii) English and (iv) Tamil programmes over Television Malaysia per week.

68. To ask the Prime Minister to give the full list of directors of PERNAS, and the reason for each appointment.

69. To ask the Minister of Works, Posts, and Telecommunications when work on the East-West Highway would begin, and to name the main towns the Highway will link up.

70. To ask the Minister of Labour and Manpower to state the number of workers who lost their jobs because of closure or reduction of production of tin mines in Malaysia since Jan. 1 this year.

71. To ask the Minister of Education whether a final decision has been taken as to the site of the Universiti Kebangsaan, and if so, to name the site.