Category: Language

DAP reiterates that it supports Bahasa Malaysia as the national and sole official language

by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, 21st August 1990:

DAP reiterates that it supports Bahasa Malaysia as the national and sole official language.

It is understandable that the Barisan Nasional parties particularly its component parties in Peninsular Malaysia like UMNO, MCA and Gerakan are very worried about the new political impetus provided by the entry of 27 educationists and human rights activists into the DAP last Saturday, for this will give a dramatic boost to the movement to strengthen the Opposition Front and work towards a two-coalition system. Continue reading DAP reiterates that it supports Bahasa Malaysia as the national and sole official language

Signboards and Advertisement

I am moving this $10 cut in the salary of the Minister for Housing and Local Government, Datuk Dr. Neo Yee Pan, to censure him for his failure to check and prevent the implementation of the ‘One Language, One Culture’ advertisement policy of the various Municipal and District Councils.

Only a few days ago, the Alor Star District council made it clear that it would not compromise on its advertisement regulations seriously affecting the usage of Chinese language on signboards and advertisements, and as a result, several Chinese businessmen had taken down their signboards and advertisements in protest. Continue reading Signboards and Advertisement

Call on Police to take action against MP for Kinabalu, Mark Koding, for questioning Article 152 of the Constitution guaranteeing the position of the other languages

Press Conference Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary – General and MP for Petaling, Lim Kit Siang, in Parliament House on 26.10.78:

Call on Police to take action against MP for Kinabalu, Mark Koding, for questioning Article 152 of the Constitution guaranteeing the position of the other languages

When I spoke in Parliament in the Royal Address debate on 13.10.1978, I draw the attention of the Minister for Law and Attorney – General, Datuk Hamzah and the Minister of Home Affairs, Tan Sri Ghazalie Shafie, to the speech which the MP for Kinabalu, Mark Koding, made in Parliament, calling for the closure of Chinese and Tamil primary schools, the banning of other languages on signboards, and the amendment of Article 152 of the Constitution to allow such measures to be taken. Continue reading Call on Police to take action against MP for Kinabalu, Mark Koding, for questioning Article 152 of the Constitution guaranteeing the position of the other languages

Letter to Minister of Labour and manpower to issue a directive to all estate management

Letter to Minister of Labour and manpower to issue a directive to all estate management to give first priority of employment and re-employment to retrenched estate workers.

I have today written a letter to the Minister of Labour, Tan Sri V. Manickavasagam, urging him to issue a directive to all estate management in the country to give priority in employment and re-employment opportunities to retrenched estate workers in the country.

My letter reads: Continue reading Letter to Minister of Labour and manpower to issue a directive to all estate management

DAP proposes deferment of decision to make Oral Bahasa Malaysia compulsory in MCE examination next year.

Speech by DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, when officially opening the Malim Nawar DAP Branch in the Kampar Parliamentary constituency on Sunday, 2nd April 1972 at 5 p.m.

DAP proposes deferment of decision to make Oral Bahasa Malaysia compulsory in MCE examination next year.

When the MCE results were released last week, there was a student in Penang who achieved eight distinctions but who failed to get a certificate because of his failure in the Bahasa Malaysia paper. Continue reading DAP proposes deferment of decision to make Oral Bahasa Malaysia compulsory in MCE examination next year.

Lim Kit Siang to raise problems of Chinese Education in Parliament next month

DAP Malacca State Organising Secretary, Mr. Lim Kit Siang issued the following statement:

Lim Kit Siang to raise problems of Chinese Education in Parliament next month

The DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, will raise the problem of Chinese Education in Parliament which begins sitting on December 8.

Mr. Lim has submitted 100 question, 29 foe oral and 71 for written reply. He has also submitted three Motions and five adjournment speeches. Continue reading Lim Kit Siang to raise problems of Chinese Education in Parliament next month

Tamil education in Malaysia

Speech by DAP Secretary-General, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, at the official opening of the DAP National Tamil-speaking Seminar at Morib on Saturday, Oct. 23 at 9 a.m.

Tamil education in Malaysia

It may be said that Tamil education structure in Malaysia has a base and a top, but no middle. Secondary education in Tamil is absent, though there are a few Tamil primary schools at the base and a Department of Indian Studies in the University of Malaya at the top.

Those who study Tamil at university are students who have succeeded in retaining their limited proficiency in the language through private informal study. This must surely affect standards of teaching in the university and hamper the further development of the Department of Indian Studies as a place for Tamil literary learning of a high order. Continue reading Tamil education in Malaysia

Government’s aim to eradicate poverty and to strengthen national unity

Speech by Member of Parliament for Bandar Melaka (DAP) Mr.Lim Kit Siang, in the Dewan Ra’ayat on the debate on the Royal Address from the Throne on 9.3.1971

Mr.Speaker, Sir, His Majesty, the Yang di-Peruan Agong, in his Royal Address, spoke of the government’s aim to eradicate poverty and to strengthen national unity.

We do not quarrel with these objectives. But there is considerable room for disagreement as to whether government policies and measures are aimed at these objectives, or whether, on the converse, they can only aggravate economic inequality and undermine national solidarity and unity.

Despite the government’s multi-pronged economic policies, the single most important economic and social problem continues to be unemployment, which condemns hundreds of thousands of Malaysians to a sentences of poverty, social humiliation and disgrace. Continue reading Government’s aim to eradicate poverty and to strengthen national unity

National Language

Speech by DAP Organising Secretary, Mr. Lim Kit Siang, at the establishment of the Damansara elections Sub-Committee held at the Salak South New Village DAP Branch on Friday, 28th Feb. 1969 at 8p.m.

Last Tuesday, at the opening of the Yoke Nam National Type Primary School, the Assistant Minister of Education, Mr. Lee Siok Yew, said that “the national language should not only be used for lessons in schools, but also at home and in conversations wherever people meet.”

I will like to ask Mr. Lee Siok Yew, and his colleagues in the MCA. Including Dr. Lim Swee Aunn, Mr Khaw Khai Boh, Mr. Michael Chen, Mr. Quek Kai Dong, Mr. Siow Loong Hin, Mr. Chua Song Lim and Mr. Chan Chong Wen, whether they use the National Language at home, when they speak to their parents, wives, children and relatives? I will not ask Tun Tan Siew Sin this question as he does now know a word of Chinese.

I will also like to know from Mr. Lee Siok Yew, whether when in conversation with his MCA colleagues, like Mr. Michael Chen, they speak in the National Language?

Mr. Lee Siok Yew, when he called for the use of the National Language in homes, was trying to implement the UMNO policy of ‘one nation, one language’ in Malaysia. The UMNO fanatics will not permit the other languages free growth, and that is why they do not permit the use of Chinese and other languages in the Parliament, State Assemblies, correspondence with government, public notices, and as a media of instruction and examination in schools. Continue reading National Language

Ten questions on language, education and culture for Mr. Thuan Phaik Fook, Alliance candidate for Serdang.

Speech by the DAP candidate for the Serdang State By election, Mr. Lim Kit Siang who is also DAP Organising Secretary, at the fourth DAP Serdang by-election public rally held at Sungei Way New Village on Sunday, 8th December , 1968 at 8 p.m:

Mr. Thuan Phaik Fook is graduate of the Nanyang University. He said at the first Alliance rally in Serdang last Thursday that the voters should elect him as Assemblyman, because he would fight for the Chinese-educated in the country.

Mr. Thuan told the public that before he joined the MCA, he had wrong ideas about the MCA and had condemned the MCA. He was then getting a salary of $120 a month, after graduating from the Nanyang University, later, through introduction of a friend, he get a job in the MCA, with a salary of five to six hundred dollars. It was then he found that the MCA was a good party. Continue reading Ten questions on language, education and culture for Mr. Thuan Phaik Fook, Alliance candidate for Serdang.