Call on Education Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, to state clearly whether the Education Bill 1990 would be made public before the next general elections

Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, at the DAP ceramah in Gopeng on Wednesday, 1st August 1990 at 9 p.m.

Call on Education Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, to state clearly whether the Education Bill 1990 would be made public before the next general elections

The Education Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, has been saying a lot of things about the Education Bill 1990, except to make public the entire contents of the Bill.

Anwar Ibrahim should know by now that second-hand reports about the Education Bill 1990, even by the Education Minister himself, is completely unacceptable to the people.

During the 13-day abortive Ling-Lee power struggle in the MCA, the people had seen how the Ling and Lee factions had accused each other as being liars.

Furthermore, the MCA President, Datuk Dr. Lign Liong Sik, had told MCA members that the Government had approved the establishment of the Johore Bahru branch campus of Tunku Abdul Rahman College as part of his achievements as MCA President. But yesterday, Anwar said that the Government was still studying the proposal and had not yet given its approval for the Johore Bahru campus for the Tunku Abdul Rahman College.

If the MCA President could so badly and blatantly tell lies even to his own MCA delegates and members, how could the government expect the people to trust the words of the Barisan Nasional Ministers.

As Deputy Education Minister, Woon See Chin should know that Liong Sik was telling a lie, but he dared not contradict Liong Sik!

The Ling-Lee fight also showed how MCA Ministers and Deputy Ministers could ‘eat’ their own words without any qualms. For instance, the Deputy Education Minister, Woon See Chin, declared at the end of June that for two years, Liong Sik was an autocrat, practiced ‘one man leads, the group is responsible’; but when there was a Ling-Lee accord three weeks later, Woon immediately changed his tune and said that for the last six months, Liong Aik had changed his style of leadership!

Is this the type of moral education which the 1990 Education Bill wants to introduce for the new generation of Malaysians – using the likes of Ling Liong Sik, Lee Kim Sai and Woon See Chin as the role-models for future Malaysians?

A person like Woon See Chin who twists and turns, and demonstrates his total lack of moral qualities and political principles, is not fit to be Deputy Education Minister, we specially at a them when a new Education Act is being formulated which is to give emphasis on moral education.

If Woon See Chin has moral qualities and a sense of decency, he would not cling to the post of Deputy Education Minister after all the things he had said about Liong Sik.

There is no use Anwar Ibrahim talking a lot about the 1990 Education Bill. What we want is a clear and definitive statement from him as to whether the 1990 Education Bill would be made public before the general elections, and whether the people would have ample time to study them. Furthermore, is the Barisan Nasional Government going to keep its 1986 election pledge in repeal Section 21(2) of the 1961 Education Act before the next general elections?