Author: Curator

Pekemas must decide whether it wants to co-operate with the DAP against the Alliance or it wants to break-up effort at Opposition Unity

Speech by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, at a DAP Public Rally at Pokok Mangga, Bandar Melaka, on Friday, 8th February, 1974 at 9.00 p.m.

Pekemas must decide whether it wants to co-operate with the DAP against the Alliance or it wants to break-up effort at Opposition Unity

Parti Pekemas must decide whether it wants to co-operate with the DAP and put up a joint Opposition against the Alliance and the National Front at the next General Elections, or break-up Opposition’s attempt to form a United Front. Continue reading Pekemas must decide whether it wants to co-operate with the DAP against the Alliance or it wants to break-up effort at Opposition Unity

Call on Tan Sri Lee Siok Yew to pay compensation to the deceased families of the victims of Malacca Hospital poisoning in July/August 1973

Speech by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, at a Public Rally at the Esplanade, Penang on Saturday, 5rd February 1974 at 9 p.m.

Call on Tan Sri Lee Siok Yew to pay compensation to the deceased families of the victims of Malacca Hospital poisoning in July/August 1973

Senator Yeap Kheng Yam of MCA, Perak, and other MCA related circles are very unhappy that I have taken up in the mass deaths in the Malacca Hospital in July and August 1973, and my motion to cut the salary of the Minister of Health, Lee Siok Yew, by $100. Continue reading Call on Tan Sri Lee Siok Yew to pay compensation to the deceased families of the victims of Malacca Hospital poisoning in July/August 1973

Need for a strong consumer movement, which is not a department of the Ministry of Trade and Industry

Speech by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, at a Public Rally at the Esplanade, Penang on Saturday, 3rd February 1974 at 9 p.m.

1. Need for a strong consumer movement, which is not a department of the Ministry of Trade and Industry

If profiteering, hoarding and speculation, some of the main causes of inflation, are to be brought under check, a strong and effective consumer movement is necessary.

For such an effective consumer movement to develop in Malaysia, it must have firstly, ample funds to finance its programme of activities; and secondly, complete independence from control or influence from any pressure group or government. It should not become a department of the government, for then it would be impotent and ineffective. Continue reading Need for a strong consumer movement, which is not a department of the Ministry of Trade and Industry

MCA Ministers and Members of Parliament should undergo an elementary course in Parliamentary principles and practices

Speech by DAP Secretary General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka at the official opening of Tanjung Rambutan DAP Branch on 2nd February, 1974 at 4.30 p.m.

1. MCA Ministers and Members of Parliament should undergo an elementary course in Parliamentary principles and practices

On Tuesday, during the debate on the Mid-Term Review of the Second Malaysia Plan in Dewan Negara, Senator Yeap Kheng Yam, (MCA – Perak), said he regretted that I had moved a motion in the Dewan Rakyat to cut the salary of the Minister of Health, Tan Sri Lee Siok Yew by $100/- over the 107 deaths at the Malacca General Hospital during the period from July – August, 1973. Continue reading MCA Ministers and Members of Parliament should undergo an elementary course in Parliamentary principles and practices

Call on the government to tame and contain the greed of manufacturers and importers for maximum profits regardless of hardships to the consumers

Speech by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, at a DAP Public Rally at Tanjong Rambutan, Perak, on Saturday, 2nd February 1974 at 9 p.m.

1. Call on the government to tame and contain the greed of manufacturers and importers for maximum profits regardless of hardships to the consumers

On the 21st January 1974, the Alliance Government introduced and passed in the Dewan Rakyat the Price Control (Amendment) Bill to arm the government with more powers to fight inflation and price increases. Continue reading Call on the government to tame and contain the greed of manufacturers and importers for maximum profits regardless of hardships to the consumers

Thung Pau’s journalists who are on strike

DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, issued the following statement when visiting the Thung Pau’s journalists who are on strike.

As a former working journalist and a journalist union official, I can fully sympathise with the Thung Pau reporters who have gone on strike for the last 5 days. Unless they have exhausted all possible avenues to reach a just settlement of the outstanding issues, they would not have resorted to their ultimate weapon in going on a strike.

That the dispute had already lasted 16 months since the very formation of the Thung Pau chapel on September, 1972 is, in my view evidence to infinite patience and sense of responsibility with which the trade union officials in the National Union of Journalists and the Thung Pau chapel have tried to reach understanding with the management. Continue reading Thung Pau’s journalists who are on strike

The Malacca Hospital mass deaths

I MOVE to cut the salary of the Minister of Health by $100.

On August 22, 1973, 1 called a press conference in my Malacca office making public the unusually high number of deaths in the Malacca Hospital during July and August last year, because of the breakdown of the hospital’s autoclave, i.e. sterilisation plant, leading to blood and saline poisoning of the patients.

I called for a public inquiry into the deaths, and into the negligence and maladministration of the Malacca Hospital which made such mass deaths possible. Continue reading The Malacca Hospital mass deaths

Towards a Malaysian Culture: Six DAP Proposals

Speech by Lim Kit Siang in the Dewan Rakyat during the 1974 Committee of Supply debate on the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports

Towards a Malaysian Culture: Six DAP Proposals

One of the stated objectives of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports is to “promote cultural talents among Malaysians with the objectives of creating a national culture by developing the use, as well as promoting the knowledge and understanding in the development of national culture, through which unity and national integration identity can be achieved.” Continue reading Towards a Malaysian Culture: Six DAP Proposals

On a National Oil Policy

Oil has recently been very much in the news, not only in Malaysia, but throughout the world.

After the Dewan Rakyat adjourned on Dec. 21 for the Christmas and New Year recess, the Minister for Primary Industries announced the same night government approval for price increases for petrol, diesel and fuel oil. Premium grade petrol went up by 34 cents a gallon, regular petrol 24 cents a gallon; gas oil and diesel 11 cents a gallon, and fuel oil 5 cents a gallon.

These are pretty hefty increases, and set in motion a new round of increases in transportation and haulage costs and price rises in a whole range of goods, the end of which we have not seen yet. Continue reading On a National Oil Policy

Import duties on Mandarin oranges

Press Statement by Ketua Pembangkang & Secretary-General, Mr. Lim Kit Siang on 28.12.1973

Call for lifting of import duties on Mandarin oranges to enable poor and low-income Malaysian Chinese to celebrate Chinese New Year

The MCA is holding a special conference for all its branch officials in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow to discuss the issues and problems facing the people of Malaysia, in particular the Malaysian Chinese.

What is needed is not more discussion, but resolution and action to help the ordinary people in the country to lead a better and more fulfilling life.

There are so many things which should be done immediately, and which can be done immediately, both by MCA Ministers and other Alliance Ministers. The only question is whether these Ministers have the will, ability and determination to do what is right by the people.

For instance, the Finance Minister, Tun Tan Siew Sin, can immediately do the following things: Continue reading Import duties on Mandarin oranges