Speech by DAP Secretary-General, Member of Parliament for Petaling and Malacca State Assemblyman for Kubu, Lim Kit Siang, at the DAP Members of Parliaent dinner held at Metro Restaurant, Wisma MPI Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 30th July 1978 at 8 p.m.
Allocation of ministries and portforlios for DAP MPs to specialise in
I announced this morning that every DAP MP will be assigned ministries of portforlios for them to specialise in and to become knowledgeable, and better still authoritative, in their respective areas of assignment.
I want to emphasise that this is not forming a Shadow Cabinet. This is merely a system to enable our MPs to be able to acquire greater knowledge and insight into the working of government in the different areas.
This allocation of ministries and portforlios is not a rigid or inflexible one . it does not mean that only those who have been assigned the specific ministries or portforlios can speak on those subjects inside outside Parliament. Nor does it mean that MPs assigned specific Ministers or portforlios cannot speak about other Minister or portforlios inside or outside Parliament.
I would except however that PMs assigned specific ministries of portforlios would become more and more knowledgeable about their subjects.
The allocation is also not a permanent allocation. Every 18 months or two years, or even sooner, we may change allocations for we want our MPs to be versatile, to be able to talk intelligently on a variety of issues of the country.
The initial allocation of Ministries of portforlios will be as follows:
Lee Lam Thye : Federal Territory/Housing /Local Government
P.Patto : Home Affairs/Transport
Lim Cho Hock : Public Enterprises/Energy/Telecoms/Posts
Lee Kaw : Finance/Agriculture/Land/Regional Development
Peter Dason : Primary Industries/Foreign Affairs
Fung Ket Wing : Sabah and Sarawak Affairs/Science/Technology/Environment
Chan Teck Chan : Education
Karpal Singh : Law/Defence
Ting Chek Ming : Informeation/Works/Utilities/Culture/Youth/Sports
V.David : Labour
Wong Hong Keat: Trade/Industry
Seow Hung Khim: Health/Welfare Services
Ministers of Parliament concerned should form study groups for each separate Ministry or portfolios assigned to them, involving our 25 State Assemblyman, party leaders and members, and even non-party people who are prepared to contribute ideas and help I formulating new thinking and policies in the respective field.
I would expect regular progress reports about the work of the separate study froups because we want to share these new ideas and thinking not only with the DAP Parliamentary group, but also with the Party Members and the Malaysian people.
Second Edition of ‘Time Bombs in Malaysia’ to be on sole in a few days time
Just before the recent elections, the DAP published a book ‘Time Bombs in Malaysia’ containing a collection of my Parliamentary speeches on the DAP’s stand on a broad spectrum of national issues.
The response from the public has been most encouraging, for the first edition of 10,000 copies were sold out in less than three weeks. As there has been continued demand for the book, we have decided to come out with the Second Edition of ‘Time Bombs of Malaysia’ which will include a few more parliamentary speeches and additional illustrations, and a special commentary on the 198 general elections.
This second edition of ‘Time Bombs in Malaysia’ will be out in a few days time.