Speech by Parliament Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, on the 1983 Budget in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday, 25th October 1982.
DAP calls for withdrawal of 5% Sales Tax increase and the deferring of the $1,900 million defence development expenditure for 1983 until better economic times.
Last October, the Finance Minister, Tengku Razaleigh, presented the 1982 Budget deliberately to generate euphoria to win votes in the April general elections, hiding the grim truths of hard economic times from the people.
He did not prepare the people to be ready for the hard times, forgot about the need to ‘cut the coat according to the cloth’, and instead, embarked on spending spree just to win a general elections.
The Finance Minister asked Parliament to appropriate $31.95 billion in operating and development expenditures, when he knew better than everyone else in the country that 1982 was going to be an even worse year than 1981, and that there was simply no way of finding this vast sum of money unless we want to go the way of bankruptcy like Mexico.
The merchandise account in 1982 will decline for the second consecutive year to a larger deficit of $2,453 million in 1982, compared to $110 million in 1981. The current account of the Balance of Payments is expected to deteriorate further to a larger deficit of $8,649 million compared to $5,286 million in 1981.
Partly as a result of the 1982 Election Budget, the people of Malaysia are facing harder time than necessary if the government had acted responsibly in subordinating Barisan Nasional interests to national interests since last year.
At a period of economic recession and high inflation, the doubling of the sales tax from 5 per cent to 10 per cent is insupportable as it would lead to a general jacking up of prices. The government estimates to collect $800 million increased revenue from the doubling of the Sales Tax, bit the cost to the consumers would be nearer $1,500 million as this would be used as an excuse for a general price increase over and above the 5% Sales Tax increase.
To prevent another price spiral, I call on the Finance Minister to withdraw the 5% increase of Sales Tax as it is untimely and insupportable.
The government should look towards greater savings from a more effective cut-back in government spending. For instance, I find it unjustifiable that at a period of economic recession, the government should continue to spend such vast sums on defence developments as distinct from operating expenditures.
The government is budgetting for an expenditure of $1,900 million for defence development and $1,988 million for defence operating expenditure. Although the government claims that there is a cut-back in defence development expenditure, to spend $1,900 million for defence development in 1983 is highly excessive. Apart from 1982, $1,900 defence development expenditure would be the highest in Malaysian history, when we consider that it was only $116 million for 1975, $338 million for 1976, $351 million for 1977, $316 million for 1978, $530 million for 1979, $812 million for 1980 and $1,619 for 1981.
Our national sovereignty and independence would not in any way be undermined or jeopardized if the defence development programmes estimated at $1,900 million for next year are deferred. It is for the government to make up a case that we cannot afford to defer these development defence expenditures, that their postponement if not cancellation would expose Malaysia to dire dangers threatening our very existence.
Of course, the postponement or cancellation of the $1,900 million defence development expenditures would mean a loss of tens of millions of dollars and even hundreds of millions of dollars of profits, whether in the form of commission or kickbacks, of defence hardware merchants, but their loss is the nation’s gain!
HOUSING
With the deferment of the $1,900 million of defence development expenditures, the government should concentrate on socio-economic areas which directly benefit the low-income groups or in avoiding the unhealthy trend towards national indebtedness.
Housing, for instance, had been slashed by $800 million as compared to the 1982 Budget when the Finance Minister himself had admitted that one of the of the most dismal failures of the government is in the provision of adequate housing for the poor. In his budget speech, Tengku Razaleigh said that “private residential construction has slackened below that achieve under the Third Malaysia Plan and well below the annual rate of 70,000 houses envisaged under the Fourth Malaysia Plan.”
Low-cost housing in Malaysia is a ‘drop in the ocean of demand’. The announcement by the Finance Minister that the government would raise the building rate by another 40,000 in the next 18 months is grossly inadequate, and particularly at this time of recession, I would call on the government to devote a special effort to build low-cost house commensurate with the crying need of the poor for a roof over their head.
Instead of buying tanks and Skyhawks, the government should build more low-cost houses which will also provide more employment opportunities to Malaysians as well as stimulate economic activities in construction and other related fields.
Government cut-backs must concentrate on the less essential actors, and not on essential areas where the poor and the low-income groups would be the one who would be most adversely affected.
A good example is health, where the operating expenses have been reduced by $197 million. The Finance Minister announced that the government would increase rates for the first and second class wards, while the third class wards would remain free.
For quite some time, the hospitals service in the country had been suffering a crisis of confidence, because of poor service and treatment. Those who are admitted into the free third class wards generally complain of poor or even bad treatment, so much so that the not well-to-do get themselves admitted into second class wards although it would mean a crushing financial burden on them.
The really well-to-do either go to the first class wards or to private hospitals. Any increase in hospital rates for second class wards is therefore a financial strain on the common people and I call on the Finance Minister to withdraw the idea of increasing rates for second class wards. Already there is a public outcry at the way the hospitals are stopping the prescription of drug medicines because of expenditure cut-down.
The government should restore provisions to the hospitals to ensure that they should prescribe the necessary medication to the patients. What the government should do in the hospitals is to upgrade the efficiency and standard of service in the hospitals to regain public confidence in the hospitals. The mushrooming of private hospitals is an indictment on the Ministry of Health’s hospital service. Only a few days ago, I received a complaint from a former tailor, Sim Om Kim @ Tan Ban Keng, that two years ago in 1980 went into the Malacca General Hospital for treatment of asthma, but as a result of one injection, his whole left leg had to be amputated about a week later. His admission registration number is 617236. I hope the Minister of Health would investigate into this matter and take urgent steps to restore public confidence in the general hospitals.
NATIONAL INDEBTEDNESS
It is most fortunate that in the 1970s we discovered a new natural resources, petroleum, which has become the leading export earner, helping Malaysia to tide over economic difficulties. Thus, despite the present fall in petroleum prices, Malaysia is expected to earn $1,182 million export duty from crude petroleum for 1983, as compared with the estimated export revenue of $218 million from rubber, $98 million from tin, and $116 million from palm oil.
However, we had not fully made used of our good fortune in becoming a net exporter of petroleum, to save up for the rainy day during the good time. Our public debt has now reached a new high.
When the government introduced the Forth Malaysia Plan in 1981, it announced that during the Plan period from 1981 to 1985, Malaysia would borrow from externally $4,000 million as compared with $3,907 million during the Third Malaysia Plan period in from 1976-1980. But this year alone, the government’s foreign debt exceeded the five-year foreign debt mark set in the Fourth Malaysia Plan.
The government’s foreign debt this year is $4,050 million, and together with the foreign debt of $2,909 million in 1981, brings the total foreign debt of Malaysia to $11,813 million. The total outstanding debt of the government, both foreign and domestic. Is $40,122 million in 1982. Considering that in 1982 alone, the government borrowed $9,950 million, by the end of 1983, probably another $10,000 million public debt would be added up.
Malaysia is clearly increasing her public debt at too fast a pace, and the government would be well-advised not to rush head-long to mortgage the future of the new generation of Malaysians.
There is still a lot of area where the government can save substantial money from a more stringent economic drive. One area is the entire system of government purchases and tendering of contracts.
When the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Musa Hitam visited Kluang before the April general election, he approved, among other things, the building of a mosque. A bid for the building of the mosque at $400,000, certified by a quantity surveyor, was rejected, and the contract was given to a tender who quoted $600,000.
CORRUPTION
Thus, $200,000 could have been saved from a $600,000 project, which is over 30%. What justification can the 2M government give for such waste of public funds?
The government is asking for $11,669 million for development purposes next year. If conservatively, we could cut down wastage and unnecessary expenditure of funds in the manner of the Kluang mosque, by 10%, then a huge saving of $1.6 billion would have been effected for more productive use in more essential fields. Similar savings could be effected in operating expenditure as next year $2,053 million would go towards supplies and services, including the purchase of supplies and materials.
Corruption is another cost of development. The 2M government had succeeded marvelously in a propaganda blitzkrieg giving the image that corruption had been checked. The public knows that far from being brought under control, corruption in Malaysia has become more rife than ever. The only difference is that as compared to before, corruption in the 2M administration has become more EFFICIENT AND COMPETENT and as a result, more EXPENSIVE.
I must warn the 2M government that unless the Anti-Corruption Agency is able to effectively combat corruption at all levels, the slogan of a ‘efficient, clean and trustworthy’ government would become an empty one.
I propose that a Parliament Committee be set up to ensure a ‘clean, efficient and trustworthy’ government, to be named Parliament Committee for a ‘clean, efficient and trustworthy’ government, of equal important and status as the Public Account Committee, to monitor, review and examine government department and Ministries as to whether they live up to these three criteria of good administration.
As a parliamentary watchdog on the government, such a committee would be able to play a effective and meaningful rule to help the ordinary citizen against dishonest, inefficient and untrustworthy government conduct.
LOOK EAST
The 2M Government has asked Malaysian to ‘Look East’ and emulate the work ethics of the Japanese. I think it would do well for the 2M government to itself ‘Look East’ first and learn the right lessons from the Japanese economic miracle.
More than everything else, the Japanese success is because of the profound sense of national consciousness among the Japanese who have a common national goal and identity. There is no division of Japanese into two class of citizens, one the bumiputras and the other the non-bumiputras. Japanese professionals do not migrate in such large numbers overseas because their children could not expect fair education opportunities in their own homeland. Japanese professional are not accused of disloyal to the country because they disagree with the policies of the government of the day. Only last week, the Member for Matang accused my two comrades, Sdr. Sim Kwang Yang MP for Kuching and Dr.Ling Sie Ming, MP for Sibu, for being ‘disloyal’ because they exercised their constitutional right to speak in English.
In Fact, it is the Member of Matang himself who is disloyal to the Malaysian Constitution attacking the constitutional provisions allowing Sarawak and Sabah MPs to speak in English in Parliament. Again in Japan, Japanese MPs and Opposition leaders are not banned from visiting parts of their own country, like Sdr.Lee Lam Thye and I are banned from visiting Sabah because of Datuk Harris Salleh’s Mortal fear of DAP leaders.
If we are to learn from the Japanese, we must first learn to promote that sense of national one-ness, which in Malaysia, must be based on Malaysia’s multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious character.
It is important that the Barisan National understand and respect the legitimate aspirations of the Malaysian people, not only those voted for the Barisan National, but also those who voted for the opposition.
KEPAYANG DECLARATION
The Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, said a few days ago that the DAP won in Kepayang by-election because the Kepayang voters wanted to keep the DAP alive, and that the DAP “has nothing more to offer and it just wants to live”.
It will be a sad day if Dr. Mahathir could hear the ‘whisper’ of Datuk Lee San Choon, but could not hear the loud and clear voice of 16,246 people of Kepayang, who on Oct. 16 gave the DAP a 9,764 majority. In fact, the DAP’s victory in the Kepayang by-election by Sdr.Lau Dak Kee with a landslide victory majority showed that the BArisan National general election wins in April this year was an ‘aberration’.
The Kepayang by-election is historic, not only in terms of establishing within five months that the Barisan general election victory was an ‘aberration’, but because the voters adopted a Declaration setting out the Malaysian nation they aspire to, and which could serve as a basis for the Barisan National government to create the national unity to enable Malaysia to perform a Japanese economic miracle.
I have been entrusted by the people of Kepayang to proclaim the Kepayang Declaration in Parliament, which I hereby do:
Adopted by the people of Kepayang during the Kepayang by-election 1982.
We, the people of Kepayang, on the occasion of the Kepayang by-election on Oct. 16, 1982, DECLARE on behalf of like-minded Malaysians throughout Malaysia:
THAT WE OPPOSE AND PROTEST IN THE STRONGEST POSSIBLE TERMS against the Barisan National’s Nation-Building Policy of the 1980s to build a Malaysia of ‘one language, one culture’ as contained in the Barisan National Government’s first top policy document after the April General Election at the official Opening of Parliament on Oct. 11, 1982;
THAT WE CONDEMN THE MCA IN PERTICULAR, which, after scoring the self-proclaimed ‘major breakthrough’ in the April 1982 General Elections, agreed to and supported the Barisan National’s Nation Building Policy of the 1980s of ‘one language, one culture’, and such a nation-building policy is completely in violation of the multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural basis of the Malaysian nation;
THAT WE DEMAND ALL MCA MINISTERS, DEPUTY MINISTERS, PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES, MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT, STATE EXECUTIVE COUNCILLORS AND STATE ASSEMBLYMEN TO EXPLAIN TO THE COUNTRY ON WHAT AUTHORITY THEY AGREED TO AND SUPPORTED THE BARISAN National’s Nation Building Policy of the 1980s of ‘one language, one culture’ which will gravely undermine and jeopardize the political, economic, educational and cultural rights and status of Malaysian Chinese and future generations;
THAT WE CONDEMN THE BARISAN NATIONAL GOVERNMENT’S restrictions on the lion dance, which clearly is one of the early steps in the Barisan National’s Nation Building Policy og the 1980s of ‘one language, one culture’;
THAT WE EXPRESS SHOCK at the speech by the Acting Prime Minister, Datuk Musa Hitam, at the opening of the MCA General Assembly questioning the ‘loyalty’ of Malaysian Chinese who dare to criticize and oppose the Barisan National policies and DECLARE that our loyalty to Malaysia is second to none but no one is required to be loyal to UMNO, MCA or the Barisan National;
THAT WE DECLARE THAT MALAYSIA CAN ONLY SUCCEED, FLOURISH AND PROSPER AS A MULTI-RACIAL MALAYSIAN MALAYSIA, where the policy is one of ‘many languages, many cultures’ and not ‘one language, one culture’;
THAT WE AUTHORISE THE DAP to communicate our views as herein expressed, which we term the Kepayang Declaration, in Parliament as a guide to Parliament and the Government as the proper nation building policy for the 1980s in Malaysia.
I hope that the Barisan National government would respect the views of the people of Kepayang and Malaysia as expressed in the Kepayang Declaration. We in the DAP are prepared to co-operate fully with the Government to establish a united Malaysia. We do not want a Politics of Confrontation. But if we are confronted, then we have no choice but to respond to the Politics of Confrontation. The very fact that we participate in the parliamentary democratic process shows that we believe in the Politics of C0-operation for the National Interest, but on basis of the people’s rights and interests.
PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES
Another secret of the Japanese success is the privotal role education plays in Japanese lives. The 2M Government should ‘Look East’ and follow the Japanese example and allow the establishment of private universities.
Japan has about two million university students. We are one-tenth of Japanese population, and in proportion, we should have 200,000 university students. We have only 20,000. Japan has about 300 universities, but we have only five when we should in proportion have 30 universities. I am glad that the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Musa Hitam, said on Saturday that the government plans go set up a sixth university, which is clearly grossly inadequate.
In Japan 80 per cent of the universities are private universities, but in Malaysia, efforts to establish the first private university, Merdeka University were opposed by the component parties of the Barisan National like UMNO, MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP and Berjaya. I would call on the 2M Government to ‘Look East’ and announce that Malaysia would follow the Japanese example and allow the establishment of private universities.
CORRUPTION IN SABAH
During the debate on the Royal Address, the Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Harris Salleh, tried to defend the ‘politics’ of blackmail practiced by Datuk Harris Salleh and Parti Berjaya in Sabah. He also tried to defend his gross abuse of powers in banning Sdr. Lee Lam Thye and me from visiting Sabah and the ground that I had abused the privilege of entering Sabah in 1978, and that the ban was to ‘safeguard the security’ of the people, not because the Berjaya State Government feared me.
This is itself proof of the abuse of powers by Sabah Chief Minister, for arrogating to himself the powers of the Home Affairs Minister with regard to ‘security’. But what Datuk Harris Salleh really needed is that my entry into Sabah will pose a ‘grave security threat’ to the political future of Parti Berjaya, not to the people or State of Sabah.
Datuk Harris Salleh took the opportunity to distort what happened in 1978. After banning me from visiting Sabah, Datuk Harris Salleh had accused me of being ‘communistic’ during my week-long visit to Sabah in 1978. I spent considerable time visiting the ordinary people, the hawkers, the taxi-drivers, the workers, the man in the street, to meet them and learn of their problem. If to be with the people is to be ‘communistic’, I plead guilty. This itself shows the type of politics of Parti Berjaya, which could only hang on to power through the ‘Politics of Blackmail’ and fear the ‘Politics of Rakyat’.
During the week-long visit to Sabah from Feb. 24 to March 4, 1978, I visited Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Tawau and Lahat Datu, I was literally deluged with a multitude of the people’s problems, some big some others small, some of Federal concern, others of Federal-State or State concern or that of the local authorities. I was surprised and even shocked that there were so many problems and complaints, which made me wonder whether the four major towns in Sabah I visited had elected representatives or not.
I gave expression to many of the problems which the people conveyed to me, in particular those still most close to the hearts of Sabahans I met, including the problem of Filipino refugees, rampant corruption and the indiscriminate issue of taxi permits.
I happened to be on the same plane as the Sabah Chief Minister on Feb. 24, and I informed him that at the end of the visit, I would make a courtesy call on him which I did on March 3.
‘SHOW-DOWN’
But Datuk Harris had staged-managed a ‘confrontation’ and a ‘shut-down’, trooping out his Cabinet and top government leaders heads. As a civilized man, who makes a courtesy call on the head of government, one does not go for a confrontation. But probably, I should have acted then in a less civilized fashion.
That the whole confrontation was ‘staged-managed’ could be seen, in retrospect, from the fact that when I returned to Kota Kinabalu on March 2, various people came to meet me and virtually ‘begged’ me not to have any confrontation when I meet Datuk Harris Salleh the next day. One such approach came from Datuk Wee Boon Ping through telephone introduction by Datuk Stephen Yong, the SUPP Secretary-General, from Kuching.
I had no intention in the first place to have a political confrontation with the Chief Minister, but these ‘mission of appeal’ made me extra careful to avoid any hint of confrontation with the Chief Minister when I called on him.
Although I walked into a ‘trap’ by Datuk Harris Salleh, I did not, as given prominent coverage by Berjaya report and Bernama reports, withdrew my statements on Filipino refugees, corruption and indiscriminate issue of taxi permits, although I did clarify a few matters.
Firstly, on the problem of Filipino refugees which was, and still is, foremost in the minds of all Sabahan groups, whether Kadazans, Chinese or Malays, for they have created enormous socio-economic problems for the people of Sabah by displacing Sabahans of employment opportunities, educational and health facilities as well as creating serious law-and-order problems as evidenced by marked increase in the incidence of crimes like thefts, robbery and even murder. The refugee problem becomes graver when it is realized that Sabahans who live in the interior whether Malays or Kadezans, lead poor and desperate live while some of the refugees lead better lives.
FILIPINO REFUGEES
I had suggested an all-party round-table conference to deal with the problem of the ‘refugees’ so that this be treated as a non-partisan problem. I called for the immediate halt for an increase in Filipino refugees, and I stated publicly that I understood that the number of refugees, one of the issue which Parti Berjaya has highlighted in the 1976 general election which brought it to power, had increased from 90,000 to 140,000 from 1976 to 1978.
I was asked by Datuk Harris Salleh to prove that there were 140,000 refugees in Sabah at my ‘courtesy call’. I had relied on several accounts which point to 140,000 as a fairly reliable figure. But I admitted that I did not prossess actual information, and if this figure of 140,000 refugees was disputes by the Berjaya government, I was prepared to withdraw it. But I did not withdraw all else I had said about the problem of Filipino refugees.
After the meeting with Harris Salleh, I found that the person who had publicly declared that there were 140,000 Filipino refugees in the Sabah State was none other than the Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk James OngkilI, in the Berjaya newspaper, Daily Express dated June 22, 1977.
Datuk Harris Salleh also took strong objection to a statement which I made after laying wreaths at the mausoleum of Tun Fuad and Datuk Peter Mojuntin that “there is a feeling in some quarters that corruption at all levels of Government had not changed materially since the coming into power of Berjaya Government.” In fact, this feeling was very prevalent, and it was there that I found the phrase, meaning ‘Big and Small are all swallowed up’ generally used by Sabahans to describe the corruption in the State.
I took Datuk Harris Salleh that I had not make any allegations of corruption against the Berjaya leaders and Ministers, but there are now evidence galore of corruption by the Berjaya government. The ‘A-B-C’ scandal, whereby 800,000 acres of timber concessions were distributed to three categories of Berjaya party officials, where those in the A category get 1,500 acres, B category 1,000 acres and C category 500 acres each, is the best example of Berjaya corruption.
I challenge Datuk Harris Salleh to agree to the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into corruption in Sabah, and let the people and the world see whether the Berjaya government is corrupt or clean.
Datuk Harris Salleh said last Saturday that Berjaya will relinquish its three State Assembly seats in Sandakan to the opposition if the people there no longer want the party to represent them. In the Sandakan Parliamentary election in April, the Berjaya candidate was rejected and Sdr. Fung Ket Wing re-elected shows that the people of Sandakan do not want Berjaya to represent them. Datuk Harris Salleh should be a man of his words and order the three Berjaya Assemblymen in the Sandakan area to resign and also announce that the Berjaya would not contest in these three seats.
In actual fact, for the good of the people of Sabah, Datuk Harris Salleh should resign as Chief Minister of Sabah and end the ‘Politics of Blackmail’ in the state, which is a serious blot on Malaysian democracy.
PUBLIC FINANCE WATCHDOG
I want to take this opportunity to commend the Auditor-General, Tan Sri Ahmad Noordin bin Hj. Zakaria, for his consistently high standards and competence in the performance of his role as a watchdog over public finances. The government must give full support to the Auditor-General , especially in the extension of Financial and Compliance Audit to ferret out any irregularity, weakness or efficiency in financial control and management to Performance Audit or Value-for-Money Audit to assess the efficiency of performance and pinpoint undue delay, wastage, deficiency or other shortcomings in performance.
As the Auditor-General’s office can effect substantial savings by exposing financial irregularities and efficiency of performance, this is one department where government should increase allocation even in a general government cut-back of spending, for otherwise, the government is being penny wise-pound foolish.
I am therefore most unhappy that the 1983 budget allocations for the Auditor-General’s Department has been reduced from the $21.5 million in 1982 to $20.9 million.
As a result of the failure of the government to expend the Auditor-General’s Office in keeping with total government expenditures, the Auditor-General has said in the 1979 Federal Government Report that “In view of the rapid growth of public expenditure arising from the ever-widening range and variety of government participation in socio-economic activities since the last ten years, it is no longer possible for the Audit Office, with its present strength, to review in every audit year the operations of all public sector agencies in the country for the purpose of reporting on their financial activities.”
As a result, the Audit Officer has introduced a new Audit Plan whereby audit coverage is provided on a three-year cycle. Under this plan, the audit to be conducted each year is so programmed that each Ministry or Department will be subject to a detailed review of its financial control systems at least once in every three years. This is clearly a retrograde step, and I call on the government to immediately increase allocations to the Audit Office so that it could carry out annual audits of all government departments instead of a three-year audit.
I note that the Audit Office will be carrying out special audit reviews or surveys to evaluate specified operational activities and the implementation of programmes or projects. Such performance audits must not be hampered by lack of staff and funds.
I notice that in the 1979 Auditor-General’s Report on the Federal Governments, the Auditor-General has dropped the usual appendix on “Recommendations and Observations made by the Public Accounts Committee on the Public Accounts which have not yet been implemented or dealt with by Executive Action”, which in the 1978 Auditor-General Report listed 11 outstanding items.
I do not know whether this was because all these 11 outstanding items had been acted on by the Government, or whether the Auditor-General had given up in despair of ever hoping that the Executive would take action on the outstanding items which go as far back as on the 1966 Audit Report!
But the Auditor-General cannot effectively ensure high standards of public accountability of public expenditures, unless his efforts are fully complemented and backed up by an efficient Public Accounts Committee in Parliament.
The Auditor-General has produced his 1979 Audit Report on the Federal Government Accounts, but the Public Accounts Committee had yet to table its report on the 1975 and 1976 Reports, or produce the Full Report on the 1977 Accounts.
The first thing the new Parliamentary Public Accounts Committeemust do is to get all these Reports out in the shortest possible time.
Call on Public Authorities to set the example as a good employer
Pernas has acquire Hotel Jaya-puri in Petaling Jaya and would be redeveloping it into PJ Hilton. I have been told by the Jayapuri Hotel staff that they would all be retrenched and retrenched and replaced by new employees. At present the Jayapuri Hotel staff of some 400 workers comprised 48% of Malays, and 52% of non-Malays. Pernas instends to replace the present staff with a new one comprising some 90-95 per cent Malays.
The New Economic Policy would be seen as dispossessing non-Malays of jobs if public authorities like Pernas use public funds to acquire existing establishments and then retrench the non-Malay workers.
I would urge the Minister involved to look into this and stop such injustices from occurring.