Press Conference Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, at DAP PJ Hqrs on Saturday, 30.11.1985 at 12 noon
Has the government raised the quota reserved for bumiputras in all new public shares issue from 51% to 70%?
Early this month, there was controversy when in the MAS public shares issue, the new Ministry of Trade and Industry guideline was announced at the last minute that 30% of the open portion of all new public shares issue must be reserved to bumiputras. As all new public shares issue would have to reserve 30% to the government-approved bumiputra companies, the new government regulation that 30% of the remaining 70% of the open portion open to public subscription should be reserved to bumiputras would mean that a total of 51% of all new public shares would now be reserved to bumiputras.
This sudden and completely-unexpected increase of 30% quota to 51% for all new public shares issues for bumiputras created a furore and raised the fundamental question whether the government would chop and change its rules and regulations in utter disregard of the damage this would cause to investor confidence.
When I raised this matter in Parliament during the debate on the Ministry of Trade and Industry estimates for next year, the Deputy Trade and Industry Minister, Datuk Oo Gin Sun, in his reply, denied that the government was now imposing a quota of 51% for bumiputras for all new public shares issue.
I was unable to understand Datuk Oo’s reply at that same time, but now, I may be beginning to see the light. From the new public share issue by Mechmar Bestobell Berhad, the Ministry of Trade and Industry seems to have decided not on a 51% quota for bumiputras, but a 70% quota!
According to the Mechmar Bestobell Bhd. Prospectus, it is offering 10 million shares at $1 each, to be made of the following:
1. 4.9 million shares reserved for bumiputra investors approved by the Ministry of Trade and Industry;
2. 1 million shares reserved for an approved government institution;
3. 600,000 shares for employees and directors; and
4. 3.5 million shares available for public subscription, of which at least 30 per cent is to be set aside for Bumiputra individuals, companies, co-operatives or institutions approved by the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
In this case, the new public shares issue of Mechmar Bestobell Bhd. Prospectus would mean that 59% would be reserved for bumiputra companies (which includes the one million shares); while the open portion open for public subscription is cut down to 35% (out of which 30% must be reseved to bumiputras). This means that out of the total 10 million shares, 69.5% would be reserved to bumiputras.
In the MAS case, it was the new regulation that 30% of the open portion of public shares issue (which was 70% of the entire share issue) should be reserved to bumiputras. Now in the Mechmar Bestobell Bhd. case, the open portion had been reduced to 35%, with the 30% bumiputra quota intact, while the original 30% of entire share issue reserved to bumiputras increased to 59%.
I call on the Minister of Trade and Industry, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, to explain this shocking change of government rules which would have such far-reaching effect on corporate ownership, and to explain the latest government decision to increase the latest government decision to increase the quota reserved for bumiputras for all new public shares issue from 51% to 70%.
DAP condemns another killing by illegal Indonesian immigrants and call for stern government action to stop allowing Malaysian being turned into a haven of crime for the illegal Indonesian immigrants
The criminal elements of the illegal Indonesian immigrants have struck again, killing a video company officer, Gee See Kao, 25, and wounding two others, the victim’s father, Gee Choon Sim and brother Gee See Kan, in a cold-blooded armed robbery at their Taman Murni house at the 15 km Jalan Cheras in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The illegal Indonesian immigrants have in the last few years turned Malaysia into a haven for their criminal activities and the most despicable deeds. The Barisan Nasional government, in particular the MCA and Gerakan, must bear full responsibility for this gross failure to protect the people’s welfare and the country’s needs, as the crimes of the illegal Indonesian immigrants had been going on for years.
It is most regrettable that the MCA leadership, in particular Datuk Lee Kim Sai, is only interested in extracting publicity from the issue, but not to get the problem solved. The people will never forget the ‘drama’ staged by Datuk Lee Kim Sai outside the MCA headquarters in Kuala Lumpur at the end of 1982 where he made the wife of a Malaysian labourer who was killed by illegal Indonesian immigrants at a Felda scheme at Pahang Tenggara to kneel outside the MCA to write with her own blood her ‘indictment’ against the illegal Indonesian immigrants. She had lost her blood, but her ‘wrong’ were never righted! She was not the only victim of the illegal Indonesian immigrants, but only one of the long list of innocent victims.
What makes me indignant is that when in Oct. 1982, I sought to move a motion in Parliament to ask for firm government action against the illegal Indonesian immigrants, so that they are stopped from entering Malaysia freely and those already here arrested and repatriated back, those who opposed my motion most vehemently were none other that Datuk Lee Kim Sai years, more and more Malaysians being killed, wounded or robbed by the illegal Indonesian immigrants.
The DAP calls on the Government not to run away from its responsibility and to use all the powers at its command to resolve once and for all the problem of illegal Indonesian immigrants.