Call on Anwar Ibrahim to confirm whether the Education Ministry is sending the draft Education Bill 1990 to the NUTP soon

By Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, June 30, 1990:

Call on Anwar Ibrahim to confirm whether the Education Ministry is sending the draft Education Bill 1990 to the NUTP soon

I refer to a New Straits Times report of 28th June 1990 quoting the secretary-general of the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP), N.Siva Subramaniam, as saying that the Education Ministry would be sending copies of the draft of the Education Bill 1990 soon to the NUTP.

The NUTP secretary-general was also reported as saying that the draft 1990 Education Bill would be distributed to all the U
By Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Penang NUTP branches, and all the branches had been directed to convene special meetings to discuss the proposed new education act.

I call on the Education Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, to confirm whether the Education Ministry would be sending the draft Education Bill 1990 to the NUTP soon, and if so, when; and why MPs are not given the priority to receive copies of the draft Education Bill 1990.

It would appear that the Cabinet Committee on the Education Bill 1990 is taking a vacation, and had not met for quite some time. This is most irresponsible, and shows that the Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders are not serious about their responsibilities with regard to educational questions.

The Malaysian public are entitled to know when exactly would the Cabinet Committee on the Education Bill 1990 complete its work and why the Government cannot make public the draft Bill in its present form for public debate and discussion.

Is Daim Zainuddin prepared to give a personal indemnity that the Bank Negara would get its money back from the gold-leasing activities to Drexel Trading?

Finance Minister, Daim Zainuddin, said yesterday that Malaysia will get its money back and even make a profit of $16.7 million from the Bank Negara’s leasing of gold reserves with Drexel Trading, which has filed bankruptcy proceedings in the United States.

At present, Bank Negara has $115 million worth of gold reserves (for 112,646 ounces of gold) with Drexel Trading, which has filed bankruptcy proceedings when its parent company, Drexel Group, was involved in a billion-dollar ‘junk-bond’ scandal with shook the United States.

If the Drexel Group could not be restructured, and Drexel Trading is liquidated, then Malaysia stands to lose a total of $131 million for Bank Negara’s leasing of gold reserves to Drexel Trading.

Daim Zainuddin maintains that Malaysia will get back all this money when Drexel group is restructured next year.

Is Daim Zainuddin prepared to give a proposal guarantee to personally indemnify the Malaysia Government $131 million if by next year, Drexel Trading is unable to pay back the $115 million of gold reserves to Bank Negara, together with the $16.7 million profit?