by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Saturday, May 14, 1994:
I will seek an appointment with Rafidah Aziz, to find out why Chua Jui Meng’s two policy announcements in Parliament about the APs for plastic resins had not been implemented
I will seek an appointment with the Minister for International Trade and Industry, Datuk Paduka Rafidah Aziz, to find out why the two policy announcements by the Deputy Minister for International Trade and Industry, Chua Jui Meng, in Parliament last week about the APs for plastic resins had not been implemented.
In Parliament last week, I raised for three consecutive days the issue of the crisis in the plastics industry caused by the virtual monopoly given to Titan Group to import plastic resins through the imposition of 30 per cent tariff last December and the AP requirement in April.
I raised this issue the fourth time in Parliament this Thursday when the Ministry of Finance sought Parliamentary ap¬proval for the 30 per cent customs tariff imposed on Polyethylene (PE) plastics resin last December.
I also warned that unless the government takes immediate measure to resolve the crisis in the plastics industry, its export markets, competitiveness and very survival would be at stake – involving over 1,000 plastics manufacturers and over 60,000 workers.
Chua Jui Meng made two policy announcements in Parliament on May 4 and 5 about the imposition of APs since April 7, which made MITI an agent of Titan as it required all plastic manufacturers which wants to apply for APs to get a ‘No Objection Letter’ – NOL – from Titan first, as MITI would not issue any APs for plastic resins unless Titan issues a NOL.
These two policy announcements by Chua Jui Meng were:
Firstly, that MITI would issue APs to plastic manufactures to import plastic resins if there is no reply from Titan on NOL in five days; and
Secondly, that MITI would automatically issue APs to Free Trade Zone (FTZ) and Licensed manufacturing Warehouse (LMW) plastic manufacturers which are producing 100 per cent for export markets.
I have received widespread complaints from plastic manufacturers that despite these two policy announcements by Chua Jui Meng in Parliament for over a week, MITI officials knew nothing about them.
This must be the first time in the history of MITI and even the government where policy announcements made in Parliament have beer, ignored and disregarded by the Ministry officials.
The Prime Minister should sack Chua Jui Meng as Deputy Minister for International Trade and Indus¬try if he had misled Parliament and misrepresented government policy
Or could it be that Chua Jui Meng had no authority to make those two announcements – and that they never represented MITI policy?
If this is the case, then Chua Jui Meng had acted most irresponsibly, not only in misleading Parliament, but also in misrepresenting MITI policy. If this is the case, then the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, should sack Chua Jui Meng as Deputy Minister for International Trade and Industry for his ineptitude, incompetence and cross irresponsibility.