By Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, 19th May 1990:
Kit Siang faxes Anwar Ibrahim for an urgent and immediate briefing for DAP MPs on the 1990 Education Bill
I have today sent a fax to the Education Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, asking for an immediate and urgent briefing for DAP MPs on the 1990 Education Bill, which is to be tabled and rushed through Parliament next month.
My fax to the Education Minister reads:
“19th May 1990
YB Anwar Ibrahim,
Education Minister.
Yang Berhormat,
I am faxing to ask for an immediate and urgent briefing for DAP MPs on the 1990 Education Bill, which is to be tabled and rushed through Parliament next month.
You had repeatedly promised, both inside and outside Parliament, that MPs and the public would be given ample time to study and debate the new educational proposals in the Education Bill 1990.
However, although Dewan Rakyat is to meet in three weeks time, no MP had received a copy of the Bill or the draft proposals of the 1990 Education Bill.
What the public gets to know about the new Education Bill 1990 are partial information, for instance the announcement by the Deputy Education Minister, YB Woon See Chin, that the Boards of Management of the 432 Chinese primary schools on government land will be abolished under the 1990 Education Bill.
You should be aware by now that this has created a furore in the Chinese educational community, for the abolition of the Boards of Management of these 432 Chinese primary schools is completely unacceptable.
As a responsible political party, the DAP does not want to be accused of commenting on the 1990 Education Bill without knowing the full contents, and this is why I am asking for an immediate and urgent briefing for DAP MPs on the 1990 Education Bill.
Yours sincerely,
(Lim Kit Siang)
DAP Secretary-General
Parliamentary Opposition Leader”