by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Friday, June 25, 1993:
Samy Vellu’s proposal to Cabinet to legalise the use of parabolic satellite dishes his first positive action for more than a year
The proposal by the Minister for Energy, Telecommunications and Posts, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu to the Cabinet to legalise the use of parabolic satellite dishes is his first positive action for more than a year since the public expose by the DAP about his involment in the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal and his role in the national energy crisis causing nation-wide power disruptions and breakdowns.
Malaysia should not turn away from the information technology and revolution by clamping down on parabolic satellite antennae. If parabolic satellite dishes are allowed in Indonesia, Brunei, India, Thailand, Pakistan and even China to allow the views to plug into satellite television programmes, there is no reason for the ban in Malaysia.
Furthermore, there are 23,000 parabolic satellite dishes in Sarawak and Sabah, and they were installed before it was illegal to do so. The law making it illegal, where an offender can be fined up to RM10,000 or jailed between two and three years or both was enacted only last year.
It would be most ridiculous that the government should appoint 2,000 officers just to take action against the 23,000 parabolic satellite dishes on the ground that they are now illegal. The government should be aware that it would not be long before satellite dishes would be so small that they could not possibly be detected by enforcement officers unless the whole of Malaysia is turned into a police state with a spy in every household!
As at present, the law looks very foolish where parabolic satellite dishes are allowed in Sarawak and Sabah but not in Peninsular Malaysia.
Samy Vellu should get an early Cabinet decision so that a clear ruling is given allowing the use of parabolic satellite dishes in the whole of Malaysia.