Question for Parliament by Lim Kit Siang Concerning Malacca issues, etc. (3)
In the Parliament meeting beginning next Tuesday, DAP Member of Parliament, Mr.Lim Kit Siang, has asked several questions concerning Malacca, other area, and foreign policy. Some of these are:
1. To ask the Minister of Communications to give definitive statement as to the Government’s plan and intention on the question of building a Port in Malacca.
2. To ask the Minister of Health whether he would launch a campaign among the staff of general hospitals and clinics to impress on them the need to be polite, courteous and kind to the sick and the poor; as it is the universal complaint among the sick and the poor that they are treated roughly and rudely at the medical centres, e.g. the General Hospital of Malacca.
3. To ask the Minister of Defence
(i) when will work begin on the building of the Lumut naval base;
(ii) what steps are being taken to ensure fair and equitable compensation to the squatters and landowners who will be affected by the government acquisition of the land for the Lumut base project;
(iii) whether the Government is aware of the reservations among the people of Sitiawan about the sitting of the naval base in Lumut, and whether he would give the people of Lumut an ample opportunity to give their views on the matter.
4. To ask the Minister of Trade and Industry to give reasons for the slow take-off of the Ayer Keroh Industrial project in Malacca to attract industries and create jobs for the people of Malacca; and whether the Ayer Keroh industrial project will end up as a mere ‘white elephant’ becoming a burden, rather than a job-manufacturer, for the State of Malacca.
5. To ask the Minister of Communications
(i) to state the number of outstanding applications for telephones in the Klang area still on the waiting list;
(ii) what steps his Ministry has taken to solve the back-log of telephone applications in Klan; and
(iii) whether he is aware of widespread dissatisfaction and complaint at the delays and rudeness of some Klang telephone board operations when the public tried to make trunk calls, and whether he would instruct all telephone board operators to be ever polite and courteous under whatever circumstances in their dealings with the public.
6. To ask the Minister of Communications whether there are any plans to dredge the Batu Pahat River which has silted heavily, to facilitate greater river traffic for trade and embarkation and disembarkation of cargo.
7. To ask the Minister of Communications whether there are any plans to repair the Batu Pahat jetty, which is in a bad state if disrepair, so that the barrier trade there could continue more effectively.
8. To ask the Minister of Education whether he has received representations from the Batu Pahat Parents’ Association asking for the opening of national-stream Form Six classes in Batu Pahat and the building of a technical and vocational school in Batu Pahat, so that students from national secondary schools could continue their studies in or near their home-town without having, as at present to go a far to Alam Shah in Selangor or Jitra in Kedah to continue their studies; and to state whether the Ministry has any plans under the second Malaysia Plan to start national-stream From Six classes, and a technical and vocational school in Batu Pahat.
9. To ask the Prime Minister whether, in view of the support which the People’s Republic of China has given to the Malaysian claim of 12-mile sovereignty over the Straits of Malacca, which is a gesture of goodwill and friendship, the Malaysian Government would take reciprocal action by taking the initiative to begin talks with the People’s Republic of China with the aim to set up diplomatic relations between the two countries.
10. To ask the Prime Minister
(i) the Government’s stand on the French nuclear testing in the Pacific;
(ii) whether the Government has ever expressed concern or protested to the French Government for the nuclear testing; and
(iii) whether the Malaysian Government subscribes to the call to turn the Pacific into a nuclear testing-free zone.