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The Teluk Kemang Voters Have The Opportunity To Tell The Malaysian Government To Stop Wasting Our Resources Part of the speech by Dr Tan Seng Giaw, DAP National Vice-Chairman and MP for Kepong during the gathering at Linggi, (Teluk Kemang) Negeri Sembilan, on 29 May 2000, the eve of nomination for the parliamentary byelection. | |||||||
| Nomination for the Teluk Kemang, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, by-election is on 30 May, 2000, polling being on 10 June 2000. The by-election is being held owing to the death of S.A. Anpalagan, Member of Parliament, MP, for the constituency and Parliamentary Secretary to the Health Ministry. The Barisan Nasional, National Front, BN, candidate is S. Sothinathan, and the Barisan Alternative,Alternative Front, BA, candidate is Ruslan Kassim. (Sothinathan was political secretary to the Malaysian Indian Congress, MIC, president Dato' Seri S. Samy Vellu whereas Ruslan is Parti Keadilan Nasional's, National Justice Party (Keadilan), information chief. The latter was close to the former Deputy Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is serving a six-year jail sentence for alleged corrupt practices.) The 66,646 voters in Teluk Kemang can choose between BA's Ruslan and BN's Sothinathan. They have to consider various aspects such as political situation, economy, education and welfare. As BN has 147 MPs and BA has 42 (another 3 from PBS, Sabah). One more seat for BN would not change the politcal scene. But one more to BA will make a great difference: more voices of the people can be heard in Parliament. BN may be less arrogant. BN will use its machinery (including government machinery), money and the mass media to garner support for the constituents. It intends to crow about increased majority. For example, where, in Teluk Kemang constituency last year, there was hardly any compensation for the victims of encephalitis epidemic, for which over 100 people died and millions of pigs culled, money is now available. On the eve of nomination, posters and flags of BA | |
candidate are scarcely visible, but those of BN candidate are almost everywhere. The Election Law forbids these before nomination. Clearly, this is a contest between the might of the BN Government and the choice of the people. If the people want a clean, democratic, open, transparent and just governance, they should choose the BA candidate. By doing so, they are telling the Government to take heed of the aspirations of the people. For example, Petronas which belongs to all Malaysians, has production-sharing with foreign oil comapnies off the coast of Terengganu, Malaysia, since the 1970s, paying RM500 million royalty to the Terengganu government annually. The administrative cost for the state is about RM300 million yearly. There is evidence to show that the previous BN state government did not use the money prudently. From the parliamentary answer given to Abdul Rahman, Keadilan MP for Kemaman, Terengganu,, Petronas has produced RM138 billion oil and gas from Terengganu, in over two decades. If we consider, RM38 billion for the production-sharing and RM30 billion the cost of production, then the revenue is RM70 billion. According to the current estimate, the oil reserve may last 15 years and that of gas 30 years. How has the Government invested the RM70 billion? True, there is a heritage fund in the Treasury; the amount may be RM100 to RM200 million. In Teluk Kemang, there are oil refineries, reminding the people of our exhaustible resources. If the voters would like these resources managed better, then choosing the BA candidate is a good bet. While it may not add one more MP to the BN's 147, it will tell the Government to listen to the people.
Dr Tan Seng Giaw | |||||
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