Speech by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, at a DAP Raub by-election ceramah held at Bukit Fraser, Raub, on Sunday, 29th May 1983 at 10 a.m
Call on the Ministry of Education to build a national primary school at Bukit Fraser to respect the wishes of the people.
It will be no exaggeration to say that all these years since Merdeka, when Pahang was governed under virtual political monopoly of the Barisan Nasional government, many areas were neglected and forgotten. One of these areas is Bukit Fraser.
Although the Federal and State Government encouraged the development of hotels and tourists facilities, the welfare of the people at Bukit Fraser had not been given any attention.
For instance, the Malays of Bukit Fraser had been pressing for many years for the establishment of a national primary school for the school-going children of Bukit Fraser, and although a piece of land had long been earmarked for such a school, the government had done nothing to build the school.
This is because all these years, the Barisan Nasional had controlled the Raub area, both the Parliamentary and State Assembly constituency, without fear of opposition challenge, and therefore felt that they did not have to care for the people’s needs and wants. The MP for the area, Dr. Tan Tiong Hong, for instance, had not taken the trouble to meet the people of Bukit Fraser to find out what they are their needs and problems since his election as their elected representative since the last General Elections.
I call on the Ministry of Education to build a national primary school at Bukit Fraser without any more delay, so that Bukit Fraser would have all three types of primary schools to cater to the demands for national, Chinese and Tamil primary education.
The people at Bukit Fraser face many problems. For instance, recently the warm-clothing allowance of the workers at Bukit Fraser were cancelled, although the weather conditions at Bukit Fraser require special clothing; the telephone facilities at Bukit Fraser most unsatisfactory as lines are reserved only for the VIPs while the ordinary Bukit Fraser people are denied telephone uses; the medical facilities and services infrequent and inadequate; sub-standard construction of the few low-cost houses; inability of the people of Bukit Fraser to get land for cultivation; and the failure of the Pahang State Government to open up a special settlement foe the people and workers of Bukit Fraser to stay permanently after their retirement.
There is a Bukit Fraser Development Corporation, but this Corporation had never bothered about the welfare of the people in the area. The DAP’s by-election campaign at Bukit Fraser had brought to light these long-standing problems of the people of Bukit Fraser, and the DAP will pursue these matters both in the Pahang State Assembly as well as in Parliament.
The election of another DAP Assemblyman into the Pahang State Assembly will make the Pahang Assembly more responsive and sensitive to the needs and problems of the people, for the Barisan Government will then have to compete with the DAP to look after the people. The Raub by-election candidate of the MCA, Mr. Chua Hun Khim, had been a Raub District Councillor for nearly two years, where he distinguished himself by his indifference to the problems of the people of Raub. Having literally ‘slept’ for two years in the Raub District Council, he now wants to have the opportunity to ‘sleep’ in the Pahang State Assembly for the next four years. From his record, his election as Raub Assemblyman will virtually mean the people of Raub would have no elected representative, who will speak up for them and fight for their rights and interests, for the next four years.