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VolumeII f, SaturdayNo. 8 18th December, 1965

PARLIAMENTARYDEBATES

DEWAN NEGARA (SENATE)OFFICIAL REPORT

(SECOND SESSION OF THE SECOND DEWAN NEGARA)

CONTENTS

ADMINISTRATION OF OATHS [Col. 8411ANNOUNCEMENTS BY MR PRESIDENT-

Leave to the Honourable Dato' Ong Yoke Lin, P .M.N., and the HonourableRaja Rastam Shahrome bin Raja Said Tauphy [Col. 8411Message from the House of Representatives [Col. 842]

BUSINESS OF THE SENATE [Col. 8441ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS [Col. 845]ORDER OF BUSINESS (Motion)--

The Supply Bill, 1966 [Col. 8611

MOTION--The Parliament (Members ' Remuneration) Act, 1960-(Amendment to Schedule)

[Col. 8621BILLS--

The Mini ^ters, Assistant Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries (Remunera-tion) (Amendment) Bill [Col. 8811

The Turnover Tax (Amendment) Bill [Col. 8981The Income Tax Laws (Malaysia) (Acne dment) (No. 2) Bill [Col. 909]The Excise (Amendment) Bill [Col. 9121The Supplementary Supply (1965) (No. 2) Bill [Col. 9131The Development Fund (Amendment ) Bill [Col. 918]

The Customs (Malaysia Common Tariffs) Bill [Col. 919]The Insurance (Amendment) Bill [Col. 926]

The Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes Bill [Col. 932]The Federal Statute Law Revision (Suits against the Ruling Houses) Bill

[Col. 9371The Majlis Amanah Ra `ayat Bill [Col. 938]

WRITTEN ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS [Col. 4441

D;-CHETAK DI -JA3ATAN CHFTAK KERAJAAN

OLEH MOKHTAR BIN HAJI SHAMSUDD : N, PI NGUASA

JOHOR BAHRU

1967

Harga: $1

MALAYSIA

DEWAN NEGARA (SENATE)

Official Report

Vol. [I Second Session of the Second Dewan Negara No. S

Saturday, 18th December-, 1965

The Senate met at Ten o'clock a.m.

PRESENT;

The Honourable Mr President, DATO' HAJI ABDUL RAHMAN BIN MOHAMEDYASSIN, S.P.M.J., P.I.S., J.P. (Johore)

ENCHE' A. ARUNASALAM, A.M.N. (Appointed).

ENCHE' ABDUL RAHMAN BIN AHMAD (Perlis).

ENCHE' ABDUL SAMAD BIN OSMAN, P.J.K. (Appointed).

TURN HAJI AHMAD BIN HAJI ABDULLAH, A.M.N. (Penang).

TUAN HAJI AHMAD BIN HAJI ABDUL MANAP, P.P.N. (Melaka).

CHE' AISHAH BINTI HAJI ABDUL GHANI (Appointed).

CHE' BIBI AISHA BINTI HAMID DON, A.M.N. (Appointed).

ENCHE' AMALUDIMN BIN DARUS (Kelantan).

[DATU JOSEPH AUGUSTINE ANGIAN ANDULAG, P.D.K. (Sabah)

ENCHE' AWANG DAUD MATUSIN (Appointed).

DATU TUANKU BUJANG B N TUANKU HAJI OTH M AN (Sarawak).

ENCHE' CIIAN KEONG HON (Appointed).

„ ENCHE' CHAN KWONO-HON, J.M.N., S.M.S., J.P. (Selangor).

ENCHE' CHEAH SEND KHIM, J.P. (Penang).

„ DATO' DR CHEAH TOON LOK, D.P.M.K., D.M.K., J.M.N., J.P.(Appointed).

DATO' J. E. S. CRAWFORD, D.P.M.P., J.M.N., J.Y.

DATU' KURNIA INDERA (Appointed).

ENCHE' D. S. D0RAI RAJ, A.M.N., P.J.K. (Appointed).

DATO' FOO SEE MOI, D.P.M.K., J.P. (Appointed).

ENCHE' GAN TECK MEOW, J.M.N. (Appointed).

ENCHE' GOH CHEK KIN, P.J.K. (Trengganu).

ENCIIE' HOH CHEE CHEONG, A.M.N., J.P. (Pahang).

„

ENCHE'

ENCHE'

C. D. ISMAIL, J.M.N., J.P. (Appointed).

ANDREW JIKA LANDAU (Appointed).

ENCHE' KOH KIM LEND (Melaka).

DAm' LEE FOONG YEE, J.M. N,, P.P.T ., J.P. (,Negri. Sembilan}

DATO ' Y. T. LEE , D.P.M.S., J.M.N., P .J.K., J.P . (Appointed).

ENCHE' LIM HEE HONG , J.M.N., J.P. (Appointed).

„ ENCHE ' LIM Joo KONG , J.P. (Kedah).„ ENCHE' MOHAMED ADIB BIN OMAR , P.J.K. (Trengganu).

DATU PENGIRAN MOHAMED DIGADONG GALPAM , P.D.K. (Sabah)

839 1 8 DECEMBER 1 965 840

The Honourable DATO' HAJI MOHAMED NOAH BIN QMAR, P.M.N., S.P.M.J.,D.P.M.B., P.I.s., J.P. (Appointed).

.. TUAN DAJI MOHAMED SAAID BIN HAJI ABU BAKAR(Appointed).

„ ENCHE' S. P. S. NATHAN (Appointed).

NIK HASSAN BIN HAJI NIK YAHYA, J.M.N. (Appointed).

TEMENGSJONG OYONG LANAI JAU (Sarawak).

'l. 0K PANGKU PANDAK HAMID BIN PUTEH JALI, P.J.K.

(Appointed).

ENCHE' SAIDON BIN KECHUT, A.M.N. (Appointed).

L, DATO' SHEIKH ABU BAKAR BIN YA -IYA AL-HAJ, D.P.M.J..

P.I.S., J.P. (Johore).

NATO' G. SHELLEY, P.M.N., J.P. (Appointed).

TUAN SYED AHMAD BIN SYED MAHMUD SHAHABUDIN,J.M.N., S.M.K., J.P. (Kedah).

Y, TUAN SYED DARUS BIN SYED HASHIM (Perlis).

„ ENCHE' WILLIAM TAN (Appointed).

DATO' T. H. TAN, P.M.N. (Appointed).,. NATO' E. E. C. THURAISINGHAM, D.P.M.J., J.P. (Appointed ^.

,S ENCHE' S. O. K. UBAIDULLA, J.M.N. (Appointed).

DATO' WAN IBRAHIM BIN WAN TANJONG, J.M.N., P.J.K.,Orang Kaya Indera Maharaja Purba Jelai (Pahang).

y, ENCHE' YAHYA BIN AHMAD, P.J.K. (Negri Sembilan).

ENCHE' YAHYA BIN HAM AIIMAD (Perak).

ABSENT:

The Honourable the Minister without Portfolio , DATO' ONG YOKE UN, P.M.N.(Appointed).ENCHE' HONG KIM SUI (Appointed).

ENCHE' KHOO TECK PUAT (Appointed).

ENCHE' ATHI NAHAPPAN (Appointed).

RAJA RASTAM SHAHROME BIN RAJA SAID TAUPHY (Selangor.

p, WAN MUSTAPHA BIN HAJI WAN ALI , S.M.K. (Kelantan).

ENCHE' YEOH KIAN TEIK (Perak).

IN ATTENDANCE :

The Honourable the Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Justice,DATO' DR ISMAIL BIN DATO' HAJI ABDUL RAHMAN, P.M.N.(Johor Timor).

the Minister of Finance, ENCHE' TAN STEW SIN, J.P.(Melaka Tengah).the Minister of Transport, DATO' HAJI SARDON BIN HAJIJUBIR, P.M.N. (Pontian Utara).

,. the Minister for Welfare Services, TUAN HAJI ABDUL HAMIDKHAN BIN HAJI SAKHAWAT ALI KHAN, J.M.N., J.P.

(Batang Padang).the Minister of Labour, ENCHE' V. MANICKAVASAGAM,J.M.N., P.J.K. (Kiang).

841 18 DECEMBER 1965 S42

The Honourable the Minister of Information and Broadcasting,ENCHE' SENU BIN ABDUL RAHMAN (Kubang Pasu Barat).

the Minister of Agriculture and Co-operatives,TUAN HAJI MOHAMED GHAZALI BIN HAJI JAW! (Ulu Perak).

the Minister of Lands and Mines , ENCHE' ABDUL-RAHMANBIN YA`KUB (Sarawak).

the Assistant Minister of Finance , DR NG KAM POH, J.P.(Telok Anson).

PRAYERS

(Mr President in the Chair)

ADMINISTRATION OFOATHS

The following Members took andsubscribed the Oath, or made andsubscribed the Affirmation required byLaw:

Enche ' Chan Keong-Hon (Appoin-ted).Tuan Syed Darus bin Syed Hashim(Perlis)Tuan Haji Ahmad bin Haji AbdulManap (Melaka)Datu Tuanku B uj ang bin TuankuHaji Othman (Sarawak)Enche' Chan Kwong Hon (Selangor)Datu Joseph Augustin AngianAndulag (Sabah)

ANNOUNCEMENTS BYMR PRESIDENT

LEAVE TO THE HONOURABLEDA TO' ONG. YOKE LIN, P.M.N.,AND THE HONOURABLE RAJARASTAM SHAHROME BIN RAJA

SAID TAUPHY

Mr President : Ahli2 Yang Berhormat,saya ingin memberitahu kapada Dewanini, bahawa menurut kuasa yang telahdi-beri kapada saya, saya telah meng-izinkan Yang Berhormat Dato' OngYoke Lin dan Yang Berhormat RajaRastam Shahrome, atas permintaanmereka kedua sendiri, berchuti dari-pada menghadziri Meshuarat DewanNegara ini sa-lama enam bulan mulaldaripada 9 haribulan Oktober, 1965bagi Yang Berhormat Dato' OngYoke Lin, dan mulal daripada 17 hari-bulan Nobember, 1965 bagi YangBerhormat Raja Rastam Shahrome.Demikian-lah saya ma`alumkan.

MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE OFREPRESENTATIVES

Ahli2 Yang Berhomat, ada-lah sayamenyatakan kapada Dewan ini,bahawa saya telah menerima satuperutusan daripada Dewan Ra`ayat.Sekarang saya jemput-lah SetiausahaDewan Negara membachakan Per-utusan itu.

Malaysia and to provide formatters incidental thereto;

to amend the Insurance Act,1963;

(Whereupon the Clerk reads thefollowing Message)

"Mr President,

The House of Representatives haspassed the following Bills

(1) to amend the written lawsrelating to the remuneration ofMinisters, Assistant Ministersand Parliamentary Secretaries;

(2) to amend the Turnover TaxAct, 1965;

(3) to amend further the lawsrelating to income tax of Sabah,Sarawak and the States ofMalaya;

(4) to amend the Excise Act, 1961;

(5) to amend the DevelopmentFund Ordinance, 1958;

(6) to create common tariffs for

(7)

(8) to ractify and give legal sanctionto the provisions of the Con-vention on the Settlement ofInvestment Disputes;

(9) to repeal the Laws of theStates of Kedah, Negri Sem-bilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis,Selangor and Trengganu relat-ing to suits against the RulingHouses of those States;

843 18 DECEMBER 1965

(10) to establish a corporate bodyby the name of the Maj lisAmanah Ra`ayat and for thepurposes connected therewith;

(11) to amend the Prevention ofCrime Ordinance, 1959;

(12) to consolidate the laws relatingto the possession and produc-tion of travel documents bypersons entering or leaving, ortravelling within, the Federa-tion and to provide for mattersconnected therewith ;

(13) to amend the ImmigrationOrdinance, 1959;

(14) to amend the Divorce Ordin-ance, 1952, of the States ofMalaya;

(15) to amend the Penal Code;(16) to provide for the reconstitution

of the Rubber Research Insti-tute of Malaya and for mattersincidental thereto;

(17) to amend the Pineapple In-dustry Ordinance, 1957, andthe Pineapple Industry (Amend-ment) Act, 1964;

(18) to establish the MalaysianTimber 'Export Industry Boardfor the purpose of regulatingand improving the timberexport industry and to providefor matters connected therewith;

(19) to repeal certain legislationrelating to Mui Tsai;

(20) to amend the EmploymentOrdinance, 1955;

(21) to amend the Co-operativeSocieties Ordinance, 1948;

(22) to incorporate the NationalLand Rehabilitation and Con-solidation Authority to becharged with the responsibilityfor the rehabilitation and de-velopment of any areas withinthe States of Malaya;

(23) to apply sums out of the Con-solidated Fund for additionalexpenditure for the service ofthe year 1965 and to appropri-ate such sums for certainpurposes;

(24) to apply a sum out of the Con-solidated Fund to the services

844

of the year 1966 and to appro-priate that sum and such othersums as have been authorisedto be issued for the service ofthat year;

(25) to provide for the appointmentof places of safety for thepurposes of the Laws in forcesin different parts of the Statesof Malaya for the Protection ofWomen and Girls;

(26) to amend and consolidate thelaw relating to the registrationof societies;

(27) to amend the Road TrafficOrdinance, 1958;

(28) to amend the Merchant Ship-ping Ordinance, 1952, in orderto give legal effect to an Inter-national Convention for theSafety of Life at Sea signed inLondon on 17th June, 1964,and to international Regula-tions for Preventing Collisionsat sea, 1960 and to enableMalaysian vessels exclusivelyemployed in the fishing industryto be exempted from the pro-visions of Part III of theOrdinance;

(29) to establish a body corporateto be called the National Pro-ductivity Council and to providefor matters connected therewith.

(sd.) Dato' Chik Mohamed Yusof binSheikh Abdul Rahman

(Mr Speaker)

15th December, 1965"

BUSINESS OF THE SENATE

Dato ' T. H. Tan : Mr President, Sir,I beg to give notice that I will movethe second and third readings of thefollowing Bills at this meeting of theSenate:

The Supply Bill, 1966.

The Ministers, Assistant Ministersand Parliamentary Secretaries (Re-munerations) (Amendment) Bill.

The Turnover Tax (Amendment) Bill.

The Income Tax Laws (Malaysia)(Amendment) (No. 2) Bill.

The Excise (Amendment) Bill.


The Supplementary Supply (No. 2)Bill.The Development Fund (Amend-ment) Bill.The Customs (Malaysian CommonTariffs) Bill.The Insurance (Amendment) Bill.The Convention on the Settlement ofInvestment Disputes Bill.The Federal Statute Law Revision(Suits against the Ruling Houses)Bill.The Majlis Amanah Ra`ayat Bill.The Prevention of Crime (Amend-ment) Bill.The Passports Bill.The Immigration (Amendment) (No.2) Bill.The Divorce (Amendment) Bill.The Penal Code (Amendment) (No.2) Bill.The Rubber Research Institute ofMalaya Bill.The Malaysian Timber ExportIndustry Board (Incorporation) Bill.The Pineapple Industry (Amend-ment) Bill.The Women and Girls (Appointmentof Places of Safety) Bill.The Mui Tsai (Repeat) Bill.The Employment (Amendment) Bill.The Co-operative Societies (Amend-ment) Bill.The National Land Rehabilitationand Consolidation Authority (Incor-poration) Bill.The Societies Bill.The Merchant Shipping (Amend-ment) Bill.The Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill.The National Productivity Council(Incorporation) Bill.

Mr President: So be it.

ORAL ANSWERS TOQUESTIONS

HOUSING LOAN TO TEACHERSIN 5ARAWAK

1. Enche' William Tan asks theMinister of Education to state whyteachers from Government schools who

846

obtain loan for building homes arecharged 3% interest but those fromAided Schools are charged 9%.

The Minister of Information andBroadcasting (Enche' Senu bin AbdulRahman): Mr President, Sir, teachersin Government Service in Sarawak areeligible for low interest loans underthe Sarawak Scheme of Service.Teachers in Aided Schools are notsubject to this Scheme of Service. TheGrant Code makes no provision forloan assistance for Aided Schoolteachers, who are not subject to postingin the same way as Government Schoolteachers.

Enche' William Tan : Mr President,Sir, can the Honourable Ministerkindly tell me why there is suchdiscrimination in treatment betweenaided and un-aided school teachers?

Enche' Senu bin Abdul Rahman:Well, that is the law at present.Nothing can be done about it now.

Enche' Abdul Samad bin Osman:Just now I heard from the HonourableMinister that Aided School teachersare not subject to posting in the sameway as Government school teachers.Cannot Aided School teachers inSarawak be posted to other schools?

Enche' Senu bin Abdul Rahman:At the moment they cannot.

Dato' Haji Mohamed Noah binOmar: Cannot the law be amended inorder to make these Aided Schoolteachers eligible for such an allowance?

Enche' Senu bin Abdul Rahman:This is to be considered by theMinister. Thank you.

ALLEVIATION OF CONDITIONOF UNFORTUNATE PEOPLE IN

THE FEDERAL CAPITAL(KUALA LUMPUR)

2. Enche' William Tan asks theMinister for Welfare Services to statewhat actions are being taken toalleviate the condition of unfortunatepeople including child-beggars in theFederal Capital of Kuala Lumpur.


. The Minister for Welfare Services(Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan): Sir,I do not quite know to whom the"unfortunate people" the HonourableMember refers to, but if theHonourable Member is referring tobeggars and vagrants, then I wouldsay that appropriate action has beentaken to provide for the care andrehabilitation of such people inaccordance with the provisions of theVagrants Act, 1965. A committeecomprising representatives of Policeand the Ministry has been formed todeal specifically with mendicity andvagrancy. This committee has beenentrusted with the task of reviewingthe problems of vagrancy in theFederal Capital and take appropriateaction to deal with them. Since thecoming into force of the Act, 187adult beggars and vagrants werearrested, of whom 34 have beenreceived into the Homes specificallyestablished for the purpose of the Act.The others were either bound over orcautioned and discharged. In additionto this, another 28 adult beggars andvagrants were received into the Homeson a voluntary basis.

Beggars who have been receivedinto the Homes will be given suchtraining in order to reclaim them toa state of self-respect, economicindependence and satisfying socialconditions. Among other things, theywill be taught a trade suitable to theircapabilities and wherever possible theywill be found employment on dis-charge. Those who are physicallyincapable of earning a livelihood willbe given custodial care.

In regard to child beggars requiringcare and protection, they will bereceived into the Children's Homesunder the provisions of the Childrenand Young Persons Ordinance. Alto-gether 28 children were caught beggingand of this one child has been receivedinto the Children's Home as in needof care and protection. The remainderwere cautioned and discharged.Children so received will be given care,training, education and such otherfacilities until they are ultimatelyrehabilitated.

848

Enche' William Tan : Mr President,Sir, I thank the Honourable Ministerfor his rather elaborate statement, butif the Federal Capital, Kuala Lumpur,is going to cater for tourist trade, I amafraid we have got to put a stop tothis nuisance. Well, I would like tocite one example. It was just lastnight that I saw one fellow sleepingon the five-foot-way of Bukit BintangRoad, near Malaysia Hotel, and......

Mr President: You are discussingthe reply, which you should not!

Enche' William Tan: I wonderwhether the Honourable Minister isaware of this.

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan: Sir,as I said in my speech in reply to theHonourable Member, every possiblecare had been taken to see that thesepeople are taken care of. As I said,a total of 366 persons had beenarrested and placed in the variousHomes and Police action had beentaken, and action will continue to betaken to see that these people do notbecome pests.

Enche' Lim Hee Hong: As far asI know, Sir, some of these beggars donot want to be taken care of. As faras my knowledge goes, they are makinga trade out of it.

Mr President: That is not a supple-mentary question !

Enche' Abdul Samad bin Osman:Sir, in the State of Kedah, and alsoin my place at Sungei Patani, adultbeggars of over sixty (not childbeggars) are still roaming the streetsbegging, but no action has been takenso far. What action and when thataction will be taken by the Ministry?

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan: AsI said earlier, Sir, action is being takenwithin the law. Unless a beggar can beproved to be a nuisance, then he can-not be arrested by the police.The police must have evidenceaccording to the law that that personis acting as a nuisance. If he just sitsin the five-foot-way, lifts his hand upwithout pestering anybody, he cannot

849 18 DECEMBER 1965 850

be arrested; and if he were arrested,he could say, "well, I just sat thereresting and thanking God that I havegot a good view to see around me",or something of that kind. As I said,every precaution and every action hasbeen taken and we will continue to doso.

Enche' Abdul Samad bin Osman:The Honourable Minister has statedjust now "sitting on the five-foot-way"-may I ask him whether this isone obstruction, a nuisance, or not.Sitting on the five-foot-way is anobstruction to traffic ! (Laughter).

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan: Ifit comes under the law of obstruction,then the Police will charge the manfor obstruction, but not if he were tojust sit somewhere where he is not anobstruction. Quite a number of peoplesit on the five-foot way or stand therealso, and probably the HonourableMember has had occasion during rainto stand on the five-foot-way forshelter (Laughter).

Enche' Abdul Samad bin Osman:In regard to the word "nuisance", whois going to charge a person for beinga nuisance? Is it going to be aMagistrate, or the Police, or theMinister himself?

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Well, the Police must be satisfied thatthey have a case before they bring itto Court, and it is for the judge todecide.

Enche' S. O. K. Ubaidulla : Sir, doesthe figure of arrest which he gaverepresent only Kuala Lumpur or wholeof Malaya?

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Whole of Malaya.

Enche' William Tan: Sir, may I askthe Honourable Minister whether hedeems a man sleeping on the five-foot-way as an obstruction?

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:"Nuisance" is one thing and "obstruc-tion" is another. If the HonourableMember is asking whether thatobstruction causes hindrance to the

public, that is for the Police to sayas they are the people who can bestjudge and they are the people whoimplement the law.

Dato' J. E. S. Crawford : Sir, on apoint of clarification -I think theMinister answered that the figure hegave was for the whole of Malaya.It is somewhat astonishing, Sir, becausethe question here specifically refers tothe Capital only, i.e. Kuala Lumpur.

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan: Wehave not got figures by individualtowns, but what we have are of thesepeople who have been arrested. If theHonourable Member is interested, thenhe could put up a separate questionand then we will be able to reply.

Dato' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: OurHonourable Minister has stated that"obstruction" is not a "nuisance". Butaccording to law, obstruction is apublic nuisance. Is it correct or notthat obstruction is a public nuisance.

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan: Itdepends, Sir, if it is obstruction and ifit becomes a nuisance to the public.then it is a public nuisance.

Dato' Haji Mohamed Noah: I amnot quite clear on this definition of"begging". It seems according to thedefinition given by the Minister, thatunless a beggar is a nuisance then hecannot be arrested. Now, if a man isbegging without causing nuisance, canhe be arrested or not?

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Well, according to the law, if he solicitsand he just comes round to theHonourable Member and says, "Canyou please give me something?", well,if the Honourable Member wishes togive him something, then there is amutual agreement between the two(Laughter). Then, Sir, the HonourableMember surely does not want the manto be charged because he wants togive him something for charity. Butif a person proves to be a nuisanceand if he keeps on tugging at theHonourable Member's coat, and thenthe Honourable Member does not like


it, then that is a nuisance. As I said,the people who are to implement thelaw are the Police, and they are thepeople who can judge best as to whenan action is a nuisance or not.

Dato' Wan Ibrahim bin Wan Tan-jong: Dato' Yang di-Pertua, saya sukamenambah satu soal lagi. Oleh keranabanyak anak2 yang di-bawah umor15 tahun di-bawa oleh peminta2sedekah, sama ada buta atau tepok,apa-kah langkah Kerajaan supaya initidak menjadi sa-orang yang bersusahpayah meminta sedekah?

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Anak2 ini boleh kita tempatkan dalamrumah2 di-mana ada di-tempatkananak2, di-mana tidak ada orang yangmenj aga-nya di-tempatkan di-Child-ren's Homes.

Dato ' Sheikh Abu Bakar bin Yahya:Apa-kah langkah2 yang Kerajaan akanambil atas anak2 yang sentiasa di-bawaoleh peminta2 sedekah sama ada buta,tepok dan sa-bagai-nya, supaya anak2ini tidak menjadi bertabi`at pemintasedekah.

°Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Jikalau peminta sedekah itu di-tangkapatau di-masokkan dalam rumah taha-nan, j adi anak2 ini boleh-lah di-ambiloleh Kerajaan di-tempatkan ka-rumahbudak2.

Enche' Yahya bin Haji Ahmad:Tuan Yang di-Pertua, baik-lah kalaupeminta2 sedekah membawa anak2-nya, orange yang minta sedekahitu ada keluarga dengan meminta-lah dia menanggong keluarga-nya.Kalau di-tangkap, bagaimana pulakeluarga-nya yang di-rumah. Apa-kah satu langkah yang Kerajaanbuat supaya orange yang memintasedekah ini yang tanggong- j awab-nyaada, kalau dia di-tangkap, bagaimanakeluarga-nya di-rumah? Biasa-nyabanyak di-tempat2 yang kita pernahlihat di-kampong2 datang-nya dia itubuta bawa anak2-nya, tiba2 di-tangkap.Bagaimana Pula isteri di-rumah?Apa-kah langkah yang patut Kerajaanambit dalam perkara ini?

852

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Jikalau dia ada tanggongan umpama-nya isteri, jadi dia itu boleh-lah di-timbangkan di-bawah orange mengang-gor atau pun orange yang tidak adasatu mata pencharian. Dia bolehmemohon kapada Pejabat KebajikanMasharakat untok di-bantu.

Enche' D. S. Dorairaj : Sir, beggingis a crime, and all beggars should bearrested. Well, I feel a different way.People who give them money shouldbe arrested first (Laughter). Peoplethink that by giving beggars money,they can wipe out their sins.

Mr President: This is becoming adiscussion now !

Enche' D. S. Dorairaj: So, MrPresident, Sir, I feel some people aremaking beggary as a business. It isvery hard for any Government to getrid of beggars. In certain countriesI know that they make it a rule thatbegging is a crime but even thenbeggars are there; and though they putup so many homes, nobody lives there.I think our Government is also havingthe same experience, taking them toHomes but nobody wants to remainthere.

Mr President : You are out of order,please sit down !

Enche ' William Tan: Mr President,Sir, may I point out to the HonourableMinister that one of the worst formsof nuisance is the jaga keretas in publicparks. Would the Police consider themas beggars who are imposing them-selves upon others?

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan: Thejaga keretas could be taken in underthe Minor Offences Ordinance.

ESTABLISHMENT OF EYE BANKFOR CORNEAL GRAFTING

3. Enche' William Tan asks theMinister of Health to state whenGovernment intends to introduce legis-lation to authorise the removal of eyesfrom the dead and depositing them in

853 18 DECEMBER 1965 854

any Eye Bank for corneal graftingfor the blind.

The Assistant Minister of Finance(Dr Ng Kam Poh): Mr President, Sir,a Bill on corneal grafting is beingdrafted and is now nearing its finalstage for consideration by the Govern-m ent.

Dato' Haji Mohamed Noah: Sir,have religious bodies been consultedwhen drafting this Bill especially theMuslims?

Dr Ng Kam Poh : Mr President, Sir,the religious bodies will, of course, beconsulted concerning this cornealgrafting. Where grafting will be done,of course, consent must be given bythe relatives of the person concerned.

CHADANGAN MENGADAKANLAG! SATU SALORAN BAG!

TALIVISHEN

4. Dato' Sheikh Abu Bakar binYahy a bertanya kapada MenteriPenerangan dan Penyiaran ada-kahKerajaan mempunyai apa2 chadanganhendak mengadakan satu saloran lagidalam talivishen kita, dan j ika ada,bila hendak di-mulakan.

The Minister of Information andBroadcasting (Enche ' Senu bin AbdulRahman): Tuan Yang di-Pertua,Kementerian saya memang ada ran-changan2 hendak mengadakan satu lagisaloran dalam Talivishen Malaysia,tetapi pada masa ini Jabatan yang ter-sebut sedang menumpukan segalatenaga-nya untok menambah danmeninggikan lagi mutu ranchangan2tempatan yang sedia ada supayachorak ranchangan2 itu dapat benar2memberikan atau mencherminkan ke-budayan kita. OIeh yang demikian,ranchangan hendak mengadakan satusaloran lagi itu terpaksa-lah di-tang-gohkan buat sementara waktu, perkaramengadakan satu saloran lagi itubukan-lah satu perkara yang sudah,jika ada banyak ranchangan2 tempatanyang sesuai untok di-tun j okkan, tetapitentu-lab tidak ada guna-nya jikasaloran itu di-gunakan sa-mata2 untokmenunjokkan kebudayaan2 asing.

TINDAKAN UNTOK MENGATASIKEKURANGAN PEGAWAI2UNDANGAN KERAJAAN

5. Dato' Sheikh Abu Bakar bertanyakapada Menteri Ke`adilan memandangbahawa beberapa orang pegawai per-khidmatan undangan telah meletakkanj awatan, ada-kah apa2 tindakan yangKerajaan telah j alankan atau bercha-dang hendak ambil untok mengatasikekurangan pegawai2 undangan ataumengisi jawatan2 kosong.

Menteri Ke`adilan (Dato' Dr Ismail):Tuan Yang di-Pertua, pada masa iniada lapan orang pegawai Kerajaanyang telah di-beri biasiswa undanganbagi mempelaj ari undang2 dalam Innsof Court, London, bagi mendapatkanijazah Barrister-at-Law. Tiga daripada-nya ada-lah dalam tingkatan pelaj aranyang terakhir, sa-orang lagi pegawaiakan berlepas ka-England dalam bukanini dan dua orang Iagi akan di-hantarpada awal tahun hadapan atas biasiswayang tersebut. Langkah2 telah jugadi-ambil bagi mengadakan 10 biasiswabagi pelajaran yang tersebut dalamtahun 1966.

Dato' Haji Mohamed Noah: TuanYang di-Pertua, soalan tambahan. Sayahendak bertanya, ada-kah betul bagai-mana yang di-sebutkan dalam soal ini,ramai daripada pegawai2 dalam per-khidmatan undangan yang telah ber-henti daripada jawatan Kerajaan danboleti-kah di-beri apa-kah sebab2-nyamereka berhenti. Ada-kah sa-tengahdaripada-nya orang yang sudah men-dapat scholarship daripada Kerajaanatau pun tidak?

Dato' Dr Ismail: Tuan Yang di-Pertua, saya tidak berani hendakmengatakan banyak tidak banyak,sebab apa, itu atas taksiran masing2,tetapi sebab2-nya mereka itu keluardaripada j awatan Kerajaan, itu ada-lahterpulang kapada fikiran masing2. Sayatidak tahu-lah fasal fikiran masing2 itu,apa-kah sebab-nya dia hendak keluardaripada menj adi pegawai Kerajaan,chuma ada sangkaan2 sahaja, yang diaitu ti_dak bersetuju dengan gaji yangdi-berikan, tetapi telah di-nafikan pulaada pegawai2 yang lain telah berhenti,


dia kata, bukan itu sebab-nya diaberhenti. Jadi ini perkara chuma Allahsahaja yang tahu apa sebab-nya diaberhenti.

MELEBEHKAN LAGI BIASISWA2DALAM UNDANG2

6. Dato' Sheikh Abu Bakar bertanyakapada Perdana Menteri ada-kahKeraj aan akan menawarkan lebehbanyak lagi biasiswa2 kapada penun-tut2 yang layak dan chenderong dalamlapangan Undang2.

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Tuan Yang di-Pertua, pemberian bia-siswa Persekutuan ada-lah berdasarkankapada keperluan Kementerian2, Jaba-tan2, akan pegawai2 yang telah terlatehuntok memenohi jawatan2 yang kosong.Oleh yang demikian bilangan biasiswaPersekutuan untok pelajaran undang2=ada-lah bergantong kapada bilanganjawatan yang kosong pada masa inidan masa hadapan dalam JabatanPerundangan dan Kehakiman.

ACTION BY THE MALAYSIANGOVERNMENT TO NULLIFYTHE ILLEGAL INDEPENDENTGOVERNMENT OF MR IAN

SMITH IN RHODESIA

7. Enche' Saidon bin Kechut asks theMinister of External Affairs to statewhether, as a member of the Com-monwealth and the United Nations, theMalaysian Government will seriouslyconsider using the maximum influenceon the British Government to takeimmediate and positive action to nullifythe illegal independence of Rhodesiaand to depose the rebel Prime MinisterIan Smith accordingly.

Than Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Sir, I would like to take this oppor-tunity to make a comprehensive state-ment on Rhodesia. The MalaysianGovernment's position has always beenthat Rhodesia, being a dependentterritory of Britain, is solely a Britishresponsibility. We had acknowledgedthat a solution of the Rhodesian pro-blem was one that Britain alone hadto meet. When it appeared that theSmith Government of Rhodesia was

856

seriously contemplating taking mattersinto their own hands and making aunilateral declaration of independence,on 20th October, made known publiclythat in the event of U.D.I.:

(a) Malaysia would not recognise theU.D.I. or the independent stateclaimed to exist thereafter;

(b) Malaysia would accord Rhodesiathe treatment she has accordedthe Republic of South Africa :namely, no relations of any kindincluding a total embargo ontrade;

(c) Malaysia would support anyaction resolved by the U.N.General Assembly of the SecurityCouncil; and

(d) Malaysia would give total moraldiplomatic support, and otherpossible forms of assistance at itsdisposal, to the British Govern-ment to re-assert its authority inRhodesia.

As Honourable Members will know,on 11th November, 1965, the Smithregime in Rhodesia, acting unilaterally,seized independence. The MalaysianGovernment does not recognise thisunilateral action nor the state the rebelregime claims to have come into being.Following from this, the MalaysianGovernment does not recognise pass-ports or visas issued by the rebel regime,and any letters, parcels or communica-tion arriving by post in this countrybearing postage stamps issued by therebel regime will be surcharged in thesame manner as letters bearing nostamps. The Malaysian Governmenthas also enforced exchange controlmeasures against Rhodesia. As aconsequence, Rhodesia has been ex-cluded from the sterling area, and allpayments to residents in Rhodesia andall financial transactions, which in anyway involve Rhodesian interests, arerestricted.

The Honourable Minister of Financehas also made an Order known as"The Custom Prohibition of Importsand Exports (Southern Rhodesia)Order, 1965" in respect of the Statesof Malaya and similar Orders in res-pect of Sabah and Sarawak, whereby

857 1 8 DECEMBER 1 965 858

the importation into and exportationfrom Malaysia of all goods which areconsigned trom or to Rhodesia or toany territory administered by Rhodesiais absolutely prohibited. The provisionsare Malaysia-wide and have the effectof a total trade ban with Rhodesia.Since the ill-conceived rebellion by theSmith regime, Malaysia has supportedall resolutions passed by the UnitedNations General Assembly and Secu-rity Council. Particularly on 20thNovember last, Malaysia subscribed toa resolution in the Security Councilwhich, among other things, calledupon all members to sever economicties with Rhodesia, including theimposition of an oil embargo andcalled upon Britain to implement allother measures to bring about an earlyend to this rebel regime. We are com-mitted to supporting any actionresolved by the United Nations tosettle the Rhodesian crisis and in thesame spirit we will, of course, carryout the provisions of any resolutionso passed.

Honourable Members will havenoted that in our declaration of policyon 20th October, we slated thatMalaysia would give total moral anddiplomatic support to other possibleforms of assistance at its disposal to theBritish Government to re-assert itsauthority in Rhodesia. This stems fromour belief that the Rhodesia problemis primarily a British responsibility. Inthis respect, we have been in com-munication with the British PrimeMinister, and this Government con-tinues to be seized of the Rhodesianproblem. We have noted with seriousmisgivings the latest developments inthe Rhodesian crisis and the seriousrepercussions that they are having inAfrica and also in the rest of theworld. Commonwealth solidarity, andindeed world peace, is being threatened,and when the Prime Minister of Nigeriaproposed just over a week ago thatthere should be an emeruency meetingof Commonwealth Heads of Govern-ment on or about the 10th of nextmonth, our Prime Minister readilyagreed; and indeed the Prime Ministeris prepared to grasp at any otherpossible means to settle the crisis. The

Malaysian Government, fervently ad-heling to the principles of democracyand majority rule, cannot stand by andsee the rights of some four millionAfrican Rhodesians flaunted by awhite minority of some 200,000. TheMalaysian Government is not preparedto countenance rebellion. Our attitudeis unequivocal. We have exerted ourinfluence and we will continue to doso to wipe out the rebel regime ofRhodesia.

Enche' Saidvn bin Kechut: TuanYang di-Pertua, soalan tambahan.Boleti-kah saya mengatakan, denganmunchol-nya Kerajaan PenderhakaanIan Smith di-Rhodesia itu memangbenar di-dorongkan oleh KerajaanBritish, demi kepentingan Britishsendiri?

Than Haji Abdul Hamid Khan: Itusatu soalan yang lain; jadi saya tidak-lah dapat menj awab-nya.

Dato ' Haji Mohamed Noah: TuanYang di-Pertua, soalan tambahan. Sayahendak bertanya kapada Yang Ber-hormat Menteri yang berkenaan.Ada-kah Kerajaan Malaysia berfikirsegala tindakan yang telah di-buat olehKerajaan British, hingga hart ini,di-atas Kerajaan yang haram itu,chukup atau di-fikir tindakan itu tidakchukup keras?

Tuan Haji Abdul ..amid Khan:Tuan Yang di-Pertua, sa-bagaimanasaya telah terangkan dengan panj anglebar baharu sa-kej ap tadi, is-itutujuan dan hasrat kita supaya meng-gulingkan Kerajaan Rhodesia yangKaram itu. Jadi tentu-lah satu2 tin-dakan yang di-ambit oeh satu2 pehaktidak dapat menunjokkan kesan yangserta-merta. Jadi tunggu-lah dahulu.Jikalau tidak memberi kesan apa yangdi-jalankan oleh Kerajaan British itukita harus memikirkan apa chara pula.

Nik Hassan bin Haji Nik Yahya:Jadi jawapan Menteri tadi, ada suarauntok mengadakan satu persidanganCommonwealth bagi merundingkannerkara Rhodesia mi. Jadi sa-takat inibelum lagi di-dengar persidangan itudi-langsongkan. Jadi ada-kah KerajaanMalaysia ini akan menggunakan segala

859 1.8 DECEMBER 1965 860

pengaroh yang ada pada-nya untokmenegakkan Kerajaan British supayapersidangan itu di-adakan dengansa-berapa segera?

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:mi kita akan jalankan, jikalau di-pandang peru.

Dato ' J. E. S. Crawford: MrPresident, Sir, purely on a point ofclarification The Honourable Mem-ber, asking this question has asked ourGovernment to influence the BritishGovernment to take immediate andpositive action to nullify the Rhodesianindependence. Well, Sir, has not theBritish Government taken immediateand positive action? I think ourGovernment will agree to that, Sir.

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Memang, kita bertujuan dan berhajatbagitu-lah.

Enche ' Saidon bin Kechut : Ada-kahMalaysia berchadang mengikut lang-kah2 negara2 Asia-Africa yang lainmenarek diri darpada PersatuanCommonwealth?

Tuan Haji Abdul Hanid Khan:Kita akan memandangkan keadaan.Jadi kita tidak membuat satu2 danmenjalankan satu2 kerja dengan ter-buru2. Kita memik irkan.

Enche' S. O. K. Ubaidulia: May Iask the Honourable Minister whetherthe Government of Malaysia hasreceived any representation from theOrganisation of African Unity withregard to the question of Rhodesia?

Tuan Haji Abdul Harnid Khan:Sa-kejap tadi saya sudah beri t Chu.kita ada perhubongan dengan NigerianPrime Mini ter-sa-keiap todi ayasudah berchakap. Jadi jikalau ada per-kara ini maseh lagi dalam perundingan,belum tamat lagi.

Enche' S. 0. K. Cbaidulla: Soalsaya, ada-kah kitaa terima apa' utusandaripada pertubohan ini`.'

Tuan Haji Abdul ]amid Khan:flu soalan lain, Tuan Yang di-Pertua.

Enche' Abdul Samad bin O_xnan:Fuan Yang di-Pertua, o^eh sebab

Malaysia telah bersetuju denganNigeria untok mendesak KerajaanBritish mengadakan meshuarat Com-monwealth di-Lagos saya ingat, tidak-lah elok sa-kira-nya kalau Malayiaini mengambil "initiative" untok Per-dana Menteri kita memberi tahukapada Britain bahawa lebeh elok di-adakan Commonwealth meeting inidi-Kuala Lumpur ini? Kerana Lagositu satu negara daam Africa juga,hendak membinchangkan atas soalAfrica juga, Rhodesia. Tidak-kah &okjikalau Perdana Menteri kita memberitahu kapada Britain, lebeh baik kitamengadakan meshuarat Common-wealth itu di-Malaysia mi.

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Tuan Yang di-Pertua, tempat-nya itubelum lagi di-tentukan. Jika zau kitafikir perlu tempat lain tidy k mahumenerima menjadi tuan rumah danjikalau di-persetujul pula supaya di-ada-kan perjumpaan sa-umpama itukita suka-lah menjadi tuan runiah.

Enche' Abdul Samad bin Osman:Ma`ana-nya bi'a di-Nigeria itu jadi`bias' kerana Rhodesia pun Africa.Saya nampak Iebeh &ok di-Malaysia iiikerana kira Asia. Tidak-kah kira boletimemberi tahu sana, kira bersetuju?

T uan Haji Abdul Hamld Khan:Jawapan tadi, Titan. Yang di -Pertua,jadi kalau ada di-pandang perlu kitatirnbangkan.

Enche ' Saidon bin Kechut: TuanYang di-Pertua, dapat-kah saya m.enga-takan dengan sebab munchu _-nyaKerajaan penderhaka Ian Smith di-Rhodesia, moral Kerajaan British te'ahjatoh di-serata dunia. Dan anggota2kesatuan negara Commonwealth, kalautidak berhati2, anggota kesatuan darineggara Commonwealth juga akanmenjadi patong permam an KerajaanBritish itu.

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Tuan Yang di-Pertua, ini ada-lah situperkara yang lain, jadi panda.ngansatu2 pehak flu ada-lah tidak dapatkita hendak tentukan.

Dato' Dr Cheah 'l'oon Lok: MrPresident, Sir, as a matter of c'arifica-tion., may I ask the Minister concerned

861 18 DECEMBER 1965 862

whether the oil embargo on Rhode isannounced by the Briti h Governmentthis morning is due to the influence ofthe Malaysian Government or not?

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Jadi, ini ada- _ah de sakan daripadasemua negeri, bukan Malaysia sahaja.

MALAYSIAN'S SUPPORT FORAMERICA AGAINST VIETCONG

IN SO UTH VIETNA V1

8. Enche' Saidon bill Kezhut asks theMinister or External Affairs to statewhether, as a nation of the democraticbloc, Malaysia proposes to offer its fullsupport, in whatever form poLsib e, tothe Americans who are making greatsacrifices to thwart the influence ofCommunist Vietcong in South Vietnam.

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Tuan Yang di-Per tua, Malaysia me-mang ber: impati dengan VietnamSe^atan yang di-ancham oleh musohkominis da i Vietnam U t xra dan to :ahpun memberi perto ongan moral dankebendaan kerana Malaysia maseh iagiteringat masa dharurat dahulu, apabi.anegeri ini juga to .ah di-ancham olehkominis. Wa au pun bag^tu Malaysiasekarang ini sedang menghadapi kon-frantasi daripada Indonesia. Dan olehyang demikian be ntugas menjagakese'amatan negeri ini h.n tidak-lahbo`eh memberi sa-banvak2 bantuanyang di-kehendaki ka-Vietnam Selatan.

Enche' SIidan bin Kechut: Per-tanyaan tambahan. Benar-kah menurutlaporan2 is-itu ra-tiap ka'i pertemporanyang ber'a'cu di-antara America denganVietkong di-Vietnam, tenteMa Americasela1u menerima puku'an terok, men-dapat kerugian yang bear?

Tuan Hali Abdul H9m'd Khan:Pu ada-lab soal a n lain, Tuan Yangdi-Pertua, (Ketawa).

ORDER OF B STNESS(Motion)

THE SUPPLY BILL, 1966

Dato ' T. H. Tan : Mr President. Sir,under Standing Order 13 (2), I beg tomove:

That consideration by the Senate of theSupply Bill, 1966, set out on the OrderPaper today as item No. 2 be postponeduntil Monday, 20th December, 1965.

Dato' Y. T. Lee: Tuan Yang di-Pertua, saya menyokong.

Question put, and agreed to.Resolved,

That consideration by the Senate of theSupply Bill, 1966 set out on the OrderPaper today as item No. 2 be postponeduntil Monday, 20th December, 1965.

MOTION

THE PARLIAMENT (MEMBERS'REM UNERA'I ION) ACT, 16)

(Amendment to Schedule)

Dato' T. H. Tan : Mr President, Sir,I beg to move :

That this house pursuant to the pro-visions of Section 4 of the Parliament(Members' Remuneration) Act, 1960, resolvesthat the following amendments be made tothe Schedule to that Act-

Insert the following new items immedi-ately after item 10 of the chedu1e-

"I1. Death benefits applicable to members(other than Ministers, AssistantMinisters and Parliamentary Secreta-ries):

Where death is caused by an injurysustained in an accident occuring inthe course of or attributable to, thedischarge of his duties as a Memberof Parliament (hereinafter referred toas "an accident"), there shall be paidto his dependants or, if there are nodependants, to his legal personalrepresentatives, the sum of sixtythousand (60,000) dollars;

Proivded that where his dependantsor his legal personal representativesare entitled to receive benefits simi-lar to those provided in this itemunder any scheme operated by theGovernment of any State or underany State law, such dependants orlegal personal representatives shallbe entitled at their option to receiveone benefit only.

12. Permanent disablement benefits ap-pCcable to members (other thanMinisters, Assistant Ministers andParliamentary Secretaries) :

Where permanent disablement iscaused by an injury sustained in anaccident and such disablement occurswithin twelve calendar months ofthe said accident, there shall be paidto him one of the following sums-


(1) where the injury results in theloss of two or more limbs byactual separation at or above thewrist or ankle or the total andirrecoverable loss of all sight ofboth eyes or the loss of one limbaccompanied by the loss of sightof one eye, the sum of onehundred and twenty thousand(120,000) dollars;

(2) where the injury results in theloss of one limb by actualseparation at or above the wristor ankle or the total and irre-coverable loss of the sight of oneeye, the sum of sixty thousand(60,000) dollars;

(3) where injury results in permanentdisablements other than any ofthose specified in (1) and (2)above-(a) in the case of disablement

which totally prevents himfrom engaging in or givingattention to any profess:on oroccupation, the sum of onehundred and twenty thou-sand (120,000) dollars; or

(b) in the case of a disablementwhich partially prevents himfrom engaging in or givingattention to any professionor occupation, such sum asmay be arrived at by multi-plying the said sum of onehundred and twenty thousand(120,000) dollars with thepercentage of the degree ofdisablement which is to bedetermined by a MedicalBoard to be appointed for thepurpose by the Government:

Provided that where a member isentitled to receive benefits similar tothose provided in this item underany scheme operated by the Govern-ment of any State or under anyState law, such member shall beentitled at his option to receive onebenefit only.

13. Temporary disablement benefits ap-plicable to members (other thanMinisters, Assistant Ministers andParliamentary Secretaries);

(1) where an injury sustained in anaccident has caused temporarydisablement preventing him fromengaging in, or giving attentionto, his normal profess:on oroccupation, subject to paragraph(2) there shall be paid a tempo-rary disablement benefit calculate3in the manner following-

(a) in the case of total disable-ment, a sum equal to theamount which, but for thesaid total disablement, he

864

would have earned providedthat such sum shall notexceed the rate of fivehundred (500) dollars perweek; or

(b) in the case of partial disable-ment, a sum equal to two-fifths of the amount which,but for the said partial dis-ab'ement, he would haveearned provided that suchsum shall not exceed the rateof two hundred (200) dollarsper week.

(2) The said temporary disablementbenefit shall not become payableunless and until the sum men-tioned in paragraph (1) has beenascertained and agreed upon; andshall not be paid for a periodlonger than one hundred and four(104) weeks commencing fromthe date of the accident in whichthe injury causing the said tem-porary disablement was sustained:


Dato' Y. T. Lee: Mr President, Sir,I beg to second the motion.

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Mr President, Sir, with your permis ion,I wish to take this oppo ~tun:ty toexplain the object of the rero'ution onthe Order Paper moved by the Honour-able Dato' T. H. Tan just now.

The alowances and privileges ofMembers of Pariament are providedfor in the Scheduie to the Parliament(Members' Remuneration Act) 1960,and the object of this re-oufon is toamend that Schedu'e to p~ovide forpersonal accident benefits to Membersof the Parliament in care they areinjured, or to their dependants in casethey die in an accident in the coureof, or attributab'e to, the discharge oftheir duties as Members of theParliament.

Sir, Members of Parliament have todo a lot of traveling in the perfor-mance of their duties and obligationsand occasionally they have to travel byair. For theve reasons it is reason^b'ethat some benefits should be granted

865 18 DECEMBER 1965 866

to them if they suffer injuries whichcause permanent or temporary disable-ment . Similarly, security should also beprovided to their dependants in casethey die in an accident. The benefitsare payable only if the accident occursin the course of, or attributable to, thedischarge of duties as a Member ofParliament. This, I think, Sir, is a fairand reasonable provision. It is foresee-able that reasonable doubts may ariseas to whether a certain accident occursin the course of duties as a Member ofParliament. In such cases, the Govern-ment will give the benefit of the doubtin favour of the Member concerned.The resolution provides for differentrates for different degrees of injury anddisablement. Provision is also madefor payment of a percentage of theseamounts in the case of a permanentand partial injury, the percentagedepending on the degree of disable-ment as determined by a medical board.

Further, provision is also made forpayment of temporary benefits in thecase of temporary, total, and partialdisablement. There are two ways inwhich the Government can finance thescheme. One method is to pay anannual premium to an insurance com-pany to cover each individual Memberof the Parliament, and in the event ofan accident, payment will be made bythe Company concerned. However, itis the policy of the Government, andthis has proved cheaper in the longrun, to carry its own insurance, andthis is what the Government intends todo in this case.

Mr President, Sir, that is the clarifica-tion that I would give on the subject.

Datu' Sheikh Abu Bakar : Mr Pre-sident, Sir, I would like to support themotion moved by the HonourableDato' T. H. Tan just now. Eventhough the compensation seems to berather big, I hope Members of ourHonourable House will not injurethemselves, Sir, (Laughter) because ifthere was a death caused, what is theuse of getting. the money. -

Another thing on which I would liketo have clarification from the Honour-able Minister concerned is in regard

to the word "accident" in this motion.The word "accident", in so far as Icould gather, is not defined under thismotion. I would seek clarification fromthe Honourable Minister on the pointthat if an accident is caused by negli-gence and carelessness of the Memberconcerned whether the Government willpay the compensation; I raise thispoint because in such an incident oraccident, the Member concerned maybe charged in Court and if he is foundguilty, then he will be convicted andfined, or whatever it is, by the Court.Therefore, is it necessary for theGovernment to pay for his carelessnessand negligence? This is important, Sir,and it is not likely for the Governmentto pay for the carelessness of a man,who has been convicted and fined bythe Court. I would like to have aclarification, Sir.

Enche' Amaluddin bin Darus: TuanYang di-Pertua, usul yang di-kemuka-kan oleh Dato' T. H. Tan memangsangat menarek hati dan saya perchayaboleh jadi dia berkait dengan Bill yangmengenai Perdana Menteri, Menteri2Menteri2 Muda dan juga ParliamentarySecretaries. Boleh jadi ada perasaan inihati daripada Member of Parliament,jadi timbul usul ini yang memintabahagian juga sa-olah2 merupakan satuinsuran daripada Keraj aan sendirikapada tiap2 Ahli Yang Berhormat.Saya rasa saperti apa yang di-sebutkanoleh Dato' Sheikh Abu Bakar, sa-bentartadi pun satu daripada beberapa masa-aiah yang patut di-pertimbangkan olehkerana walau bagaimana pun jaminan,tetapi tiap2 satu kemalangan ataukatakan-llah kematian terus yang ter-libat dengan sifat yang di-katakankemalangan, sudah tentu perkara ituakan sampai ka-dalam mahkamah, danbenar atau salah di-tentukan di-dalammahkamah. Bagaimana Kerajaan akanmembayar kapada orang yang melaku.kan kesalahan yang membawa kechela-kaan kapada diri-nya sendiri, sa-kalipun dia Member of Parliament.

Tuan Yang di-Pertua, saya merasawalau pun ada negeri2 yang tertentumelakukan perkara yang saperti ini,barangk ali negeri2 itu telah j auh ma j udan tidak saperti negeri kita yang

867 18 . DECEMBER 1965 868

baharu hendak maj u; yang.. baharumenjalankan propaganda maàmortetapi pengemis2.: maseh, ;berkeliaran,di-Ibu Kota. Untok menchontoh sa-suatuyang baik kapada Ahli2 Yang Ber-hormat dari negeri2 yang telah maju,barangkali tidak tepat, sebab kita,kata saya-lah, harus sifatkan diri kitasemua lebeh daripada ;apa yang di-katakan sa-orang politician, tetapi kitasemua-nya is-lah struggle men (orangeperjuangan) untok :.membena negarakita hasil. daripada di-keroyok olehpenjajahan yang mengakibatkan, pen-deritaan dari kemiskinan dan penohkehinaan di-dalam negara kita mi.Sa-bagai orang perjuangan yang me-ngatakan diri-nya sedia berkhidmatuntok kepentingan negara, saya rasatidak munasabah peluang2 yang sapertiini balk sa-lekas2 kita chuba untokmendapatkan, pada hal raàyat yangkita. Bela maseh jauh terlalu jauhdaripada menchapai matalamat kebaha,-giaan di-dalam negara=nya sendiri:

Jadi, Tuan Yang d:i-Pertua, denganini saya rasa boleh j ad} menimbulkansatu keadaan dalam perjuanganpolitik negara kita bertambah hebatwalau pun betapa susah dan , berattanggong-jawab menjadi Ahli2 MajlisMeshuarat, akan tetapi banyak orang_ingin hendak menjadi Ahli2 MajlisMeshuarat dan sanggup berebut2kerana peluang2 dan jaminan- yangbagini baik telah di-sediakan olehKerajaan. Sa-benar-nya, Tuan Yangdi-Pertua, di-dalam negeri kita ini telahada sharikat2 insurance nyawa yangsaya perchaya anggota2 Dewan ini punada yang memasoki insuran2 itu danmereka sudah tentu berhak mendapatkerana kematian-nya, berhak mendapatkerana kemalangan-nya, berhak .Pulamendapat bahagian-nya dari segihospital, kalau sa-kira-nya dia terpaksaberada di-hospital untok sekian2minggu, sekian2 ratus, dan yang demi-kian saya tidak nampak mendapa usulini di-kemukakan, terutama sapertiyang telah saya. katakan ` tadi; di-saàtraàyat yang kita, beta, mereka itu-lahyang ..membayar chukai, belum men-dapat apa yang patut mereka dapat.Kalau ada yang mereka dapat is-lahsuara2 dari chorong radio dan surat2

khabar yang menyokong dan mendukong pernerentah yang meny uarakan.lagu2 yang sedap, kemaàmoran, shurga.dan sa-bagai-nya. Itu sahaja-lah yangdi-dapati oleh raàyat yang kita bela.

Saya . rasa sa-hingga keadaan negeriini berubah, j urang yang memisahkandi-antara raày. at yang miskin.denganraàyat yang kaya, jurang memisahkan``have not" dengan "have" dapat kitadekatkan. Saya tidak berkata ..dapatdi-hapuskan, sebab tidak boleh menghapuskan sa-kali pun dengan fahamkominis, tidak boleti menghapuskan.Maka kerana itu saya rasa lebeh balkkita _, berfikir sa-dalam2-nya sa-belummeluluskan usul ini. Apa kata pem-bayar2 chukai sa-kali pun sa-orangraàyat itu miskin, sa-kotak manchisapi dia membeli, dia membayar chukaidan daripada titek peloh raàyat yangmiskin itu-lah yang kita harap akanmendapat sa-bagai bayaran kapadaAhli2 Yang Berhormat sedangkanmereka belum dapat memakan dagingkambing, belum dapat makan mentega,b'elum dapat memakai lampu letrikbelum dapat macham2 yang telah k itadapat atau yang telah' kita rasa ni`matdengan kerana kebetulan kits menjadiAhli Yang Berhormat, kebetulan kitamempunyai kesempatan2 itu dan mi.

Jadi, Tuan Yang di-Pertua, sayaharap Dewan ini akan mempertim-bangkan betul2 perkara ini, timbang-kan bagi kepentingan raàyat kita yanghampir 10 juta, yang sa-bahagian besardaripada-nya is-lah miskin dan men-derita, yang mengharapkan Ahli2 YangBerhormat. AnQgota2 Parlimen bekerjabaini muslihat kebaikan nasib mereka,tarsi kita nampak-nya lebeh dahuluhekeria untok muslihat kebaikan nasibkita dan jaminan hidup kita sendiri.

Dato' G.. Shelley: < Mn President, Sir,I rise to support the -Bill.

Mr President: This is not a Bill; itis a motion.

Dato' G. Shelley: I am sorry, Sirthe motion. I agree with theHonourable Dato' Sheikh Abu Bakarthat there is some vagueness about theterm "accident". To me, "accident


means something that is done un-expectedly or something that is doneunintentionally. Now, if a Member ofParliament makes an address in publicand a section of the crowd does notlike what he says and flings a chair athim, or certain other missiles thusinjuring him, does that constitute anaccident? Members of Parliament havebeen threatened more than once inrespect of their lives for saying thingsthat others do not like. If the threatsare carried out and they are injured orkilled, would they be compensatedunder the motion before the House?

Enche' Saidon bin Kechut : Saya jugabangun menyokong usul yang di-kemukakan oleh Yang BerhormatDato' T. H. Tan dan sa-telah sayamendengar pendapat2 dan apa yangdi-terangkan oleh beberapa prangAhli2 Dewan ini tadi, saya rasa di-dalam soal untok memberikan apayang di-katakan, bayaran2 kapadaAhli2 Parlimen, bagaimana yang kitasemua tahu, tentu-lah dari pehakorange yang bertanggong-jawab ber-pendapat sa-telah mengkaji danmeneliti Ahli2 Yang Berhormat dari-pada Wakil2 Raàyat Ahli2 Parlimensekalian-nya ada-lah orange yangbetul2 menjalankan segala tanggong-jawab-nya dengan sa-chara yang tepatdan jujor yang mana mereka telahberikan sokongan yang sa-kuat2-nyadi-atas apa sahaja yang di-kehendakioleh Keraj aan bagi membena satunegara Malaysia yang aman maàmor.

Saya ingin menyatakan di-sini, di-antara pehak Kerajaan dan juga pehakPembangkang, Ahli2 Parlimen yangdua jurusan ini memang-lah, kalaudi-katakan sa-pendapat atau sa-bahagian sahaja Ahli2 Parlimen daripehak Keraj aan mungkin akan men-dapat keuntongan yang di-tetapkanmenurut apa yang di-usulkan tadi.Tetapi bagi pehak Pembangkang, ahli2meshuarat-nya saya perchaya men-danat dua keuntongan. Kalau ahh2pehak Kerajaan dapat satu keuntonganahli pehak Pembangkang dua ke-untongan. Satu keuntongan dia tabuusul itu walau bagaimana di-tentangsa-kali pun akan tetap di-luluskankerana dengan suara yang terbanyak

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dari pehak Keraj aan. Satu lagi pehakahli2 Pembangkang bermuka2 denganraàyat. Apa guna di-beri layanan yangistimewa kapada Ahli Parlimen,sedangkan raàyat hidup dalam ke-adaan mengemis, hidup dalam keadaanmelarat. Apa-kah dapat satu negeripun dalann dunia ini yang benar2 telahmaj a beratus2 tahun telah menghapus-kan anasir2 peminta sedekah atau punorang menderita di-dalam negeri-nya.Ini satu alasan yang tipis apa yangsaya katakan tadi, keuntongan pehakAhli Parlimen dari pehak Keraj aanhanya satu, tetapi daripada pehakPembangkang, dua satu untok kepen-tingan mendapat layanan yangistimewa sa-bagai Ahli Parlimen dansate lagi untok mendapat pengarohdaripada kalangan raàyat yang manaapabila mereka itu membuat pene-rangan2 nanti atau pun untok meng-gunakan kesempatan dalam pilehan2raga nanti, mereka akan mengatakan,tenok-lah, w ak il2 tuan dan_ ppada pehakPerikatan ada-lah orang2 yangmengej ar kepentingan mereka tetapimelupakan kepentingan raàyat. Sayarasa di-dalam keadaan tanggong-jawabyang harus di-perlukan kapada semuaAhli Yang Berhormat daripada DewanRaàyat dan Dewan Negara ini kitaharus-lah berlaku jujor. Jangan-lahchuba saperti kura2, bila terantokmasok kepala dalam kulit tetapi bilanamnak ada habuan di-hadapan-nya,meni ulor kepala-nya di-keluarkan.

Ini satu perkara yang patut kitafikir dan saya rasa tidak ada sebab,kerana apa, sa-bagai sa-orang AhliParlimen yang penoh bertangong-jawab, siang dan malam, tidak harusdi-berikan layanan2 untok merekalebeh kuat dan lebeh chergas bekerjademi kepentingan raàyat. Sekian.

Nik Hassan bin Haji Nik Yahya:Dato' Yang di-Pertua, saya menyokongusul yang di-bawa oleh Dato' T. H.Tan kita itu kerana ini ada-lah satuperkara yang sangat mustahak bagiAhli2 Parlimen kita apabila terkenakemalangan. Orange yang membang-kang usul ini ada-lah orang yangbelum kena kemalangan lagi. Pem-bangkang yang membangkang usulini belum tahu bagaimana rasa

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kemalangan, bagaimana kalau bijimata-nya keluar , bagaimana kalauanggota-nya sudah jadi chapek dengankerana kena kemalangan , di-langgarkereta . Dia tidak tahu rasa itu lagi.Ustaz Zulkiflee daripada Parti PAStelah mati tidak dapat memberi tahukapada pembangkang PAS ini, keranakena kemalangan itu dia terus mati,tidak dapat menerangkan rasa-nyabagaimana dahshat kemalangan itu.Jadi saya pun terkejut kerana dalamDewan ini di-bangkang, dalam DewanRaàyat ketua PAS sendiri menyokongserta memohon , meminta , supayaKerajaan berikan walau pun tidak adaundang2 berikan kapada family ataupurl anak Ustaz Zulkiflee itu. Jadisaya rasa Ahli2 Pembangkang daripadasatu Parti ini dia tidak berunding, diatidak berfakat yang satu mahu, yangsatu tidak mahu , nanti keluar Dewanbeliau bergadoh sama2 sendiri. Bagisaya perkara kemalangan ini sudahmenjadi perkara yang termesti kitabantu. Raàyat yang membayar wanghasil kapada negeri ini, walau dengantitek peloh pun, raàyat ini mengenalibagaimana dahshat kemalangan itu.Dia tahu menghargakan Ahli2 Parli-men ini . Dia tahu menghargakan kerja2yang di-jalankan oleh Ahli2 Parlimen.Kalau kerja Ahli2 Parlimen ini terkenakemalangan, sudah tentu ada peng-hargaan daripada raàyat . Pemikiranraàyat itu tidak-lah sa -rendah bagai-mana yang di-bentangkan di-Dewanini. Raàyat tahu menghargakan, bukanraàyat yang tidak tahu menghargakan.Jadi kita rasa lepas kita merdekaraàyat Malaysia ini lebeh cherdekdaripada Ahli Parlimen daripadaPembangkang ini dalam penghargaankapada Ahli2 Dewan , dalam hargamengenai kemalangan ini. Jadi itu-lahsaya rasa ada kesilapan sadikit, kira-nya kita bangkang usul ini , kira-nyaada Ahli2 Dewan yang membangkangusul yang sangat penting , yang sangattinggi harga-nya, yang sangat baikpenghargaan raàyat dan Kerajaankapada orang yang berkhidmat kapadanegara.

Dato ' Yang di-Pertua , tadi sa-orangdaripada Pembangkang ada menge-luarkan hujjah bangkangan di-atas

Rang Undang2 ini dengan membawa-kan perkara lain is-itu di-bawakanperkara chorong Radio dan sa-bagai-nya dengan mengatakan yang KerajaanPerikatan ini berj anj ikan shurga dansa-bagai-nya . Kita belum pernah ber-janjikan shurga, yang janji shurgaParti PAS sahaja (Tepok). Perikatanchuma berjanji kema àmoran, kebaha-giaan, kebaikan, keadilan , ini simbolkita. mi apa yang kita suarakan dari-pada suara kita sendiri, daripada suaraKerajaan kita, daripada suara pemim-pin kita, daripada suara parti kita dan=sa-terus-nya radio dan Talivishen, iniyang di-suarakan ; shurga kita tidaksebut, yang sebut shurga Parti Islamsa-Tanah Melayu yang memerentahKelantan yang belum jumpa shurgalagi (Tepok).

Saya ingat Parti Pembangkang talitersilap , dia sebut shurga . Jadi sayaterlupa, kerana lama sudah kita tidakmendengar shurga , hari ini kita m.en-dengar shurga. Jadi shurga ini tidakpayah-lah kita sebutkan di-sini sebabtidak ada orang yang boleh memberi-kan shurga, shurga ini di-berikan olehTuhan sahaja. Shurga ini bila kitamati , kalau kita buat baik baharudanat shurga , kalau atas dunia inikalau mahu membawa shurga, inibukan tempat shurga.

Jadi saya sokong usul ini dan soyaharap pehak Menteri yang membawausul ini menerangkan , menjelaskan,beberapa fasal yang patut yang di-suarakan oleh Dato ' Shelly kita danjuga beberapa hal yang lain yangboleh jadi berbangkit , mithal-nya, kataDato ' Shelly tadi, apabila satu orangAhli Parlimen, tidak kira Parti Pem-bangkang atau pun parti Kerajaan,apabila dia bersharah di-depan orangramai, orang benchi akan dia dan diadi-tembak , mithal-nya mati atau pundi-pukul mithal -nya. Jadi ini satuperkara yang tidak siapa yang boleti.kata, si-berchakap itu bekerja untokpekerj aan Parlimen , kerana dia ber-chakap di-depan orang ramai, dia ituAhli Parlimen dan dia menyuarakanchakapan -nya itu boleh jadi dia ber-chakap menentang Kerajaan atau punboleh jadi dia berchakap itu

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menyokong Kerajaan, boleh jadi diaberchakap itu menerangkan kerja2Parlimen atau boleh jadi dia berchakapitu tidak kena-mengena dengan kerjaParlimen. Jadi ini satu perkara yangpatut mendapat penjelasan atau punsatu Ahli Parlimen mithal=nya naikmotokar, dia hendak pergi tengokwayang gambar mithal-nya. Boleh jadigambar itu gambar yang boleh mem-ber pengetahuan yang lebeh kapa.da-nya untok menjadi Ahli Parlimen.Katakan-lah cherita wayang gambaritu boleh membawakan pengetahuan,yang boleh memberi khidmat-nyakapada Parlimen. mi pun satu masa-alah jugs. Jadi dia kena kemalangantengah jalan hendak pergi tengokwayang gambar, tetapi wayang gambaritu ada faedah untok-nya bagi perkhid-matan-nya dalam Parlimen atau punada juga Ahli Parlimen kita ini kalaudia penting sangat umpana-nya, diadi-churi oleh orang kidnap mithal-nya, ada-kah orang yang kena churiitu mithal-nya juga akan mendapatlayanan yang sama, di-cholek umpama-nya. Jadi ini pun satu daripada perkarayang patut di-jelaskan oleh pehakMenteri yang membawa usul ini, yangmemberi sokongan kapada usul ini dansatu lagi daripada perkara yang sayarasa terbuku, yang saya rasa patut-lahsaya sebutkan di-sini nerkataan2 yangdi•keluarkan oleh Ahli2 tadi berkenaandengan pengemis.

Kerajaan kita Kerajaan yangmaàmor, bahagia, tetapi pengemisramai Saya hendak beri tahu kapada.Ahli Dewan ini, saya sudah pergi ka-Amerika dalam tahun 1957 - negeriAmerika ini negeri yang termashhordalam dunia, kata negeri yangmaàmor yang tinggi darj at-nyatetapi saya pergi dalam satu negerisatu wilayah dalam Amerika sayaberjumpa dengan pengemis pemintasedekah. Itu negeri yang maàmorada juga pengemis. Jadi perkarapengemis ini bagaimana Ahli YangBerhormat tadi berkata, susah hendakhapuskan. Ada sa-tengah2-nya diamengemis kerana dia mahu mengemisbukan kerana dia tidak ada wanguntok belanja, tidak. Mahu chari

rumah besar, boleh jadi mahu berbinilebeh daripada satu, jadi dia mengemis(Ketawa). Itu ada. Jadi itu-lah sebab-nya menjadi kesusahan bagi Kerajaankita. Jadi Kerajaan maàmor, yangmaju saperti Amerika di-buatkanundang2 menahan daripada mengemissa-hingga yang mengemis terpaksamahu mengemis juga, dia jual pensil,itu tanda mengemis, itu dia tudongkanchara mengemis itu dengan menjualsatu pensil atau satu manchis api,tetapi kerja-nya mengemis. J adi dalamnegeri Amerika yang bagitu maju danmaàmor, tidak ada banding dalamdunia, tetapi ada pengemis. Jadimasaalah pengemis kita tutup buku-lahtidak usah bicharakan hal mi.

Itu-fah sahaja, Dato' Yang di-Pertua,di-atas sokongan saya kapada usulyang di-bawa oleh Dato' T. H. Tan.Sekian, terima kaseh.

Kato' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: MrPresident, Sir, m believe the heart ofthe motion lies in the phrase "sustainedin an accident". "Accident" is definedin the dictionary as an eventhappening by chance "by chance"means unexpectedly, and it is notdefined whether the accident is caused.by negligence of the , victim or causedby somebody else. Dato' Sheikh AbuBakar has asked whether negligence isconsidered as an accident. Sir, m thinkit would be better if we put in anotherprovision: we add "or by accident orin the performance of one's parliamen-tary duties"-e.g. in a rally you mightbe shot at, you might be injured, andso on. I suggest that if we add anothersentence to cover everything that aparliamentarian does in ` a rally, inmeetings, and so on, it will clear alldoubts. Here the words "in anaccident" do not cover the performanceof a parliamentarian's duties; and ifan M.P. suffers death, or injuries, suchincident might not be the result of anaccident, because it is a pre-meditatedact by an opponent, and cannot comeunder that definition. Sir, m would liketo have clarification on that point bythe Minister.


Enche' Abdul Samad bin Osman:Tuan Yang di-Pertua , saya bangunmenyokong usul mi. Saya sokongbukan kerana Wang banyak , itu t idak,is-lah kerana f aedah yang akan di-dapati kapada balu Ahli2 Parlimen danjuga kapada anak2 -nya, kerana kita sa-bagai Wakil di-sini kita sendiri tidakboleh dapat. Saya juga bersetujudengan Dato' Sheikh Abu Bakar tadimeminta-lah Menteri Yang Berhormatini mengulas lebeh panjang lagi ber-kenaan dengan hal accident, supayakita dapat tahu - lah apa yang termasokdalam accident itu.

Tuan Yang di-Pertua , dahulu apa-bila kita menimbangkan kenaikanelaun bagi Ahli2 Dewan Ra`ayat----dari-pada $500 .00 sampai $750.40 makaDewan ini juga telah meminta kapadaKerajaan supaya di-naikkan elaun,Ali Dewan ini bersama-lah besertadengan Dewan Ra`ayat supaya di-beridia satu taraf. Pada masa itu jawapanMenteri Kewangan znz, dia kata, tidakdapat di-jadikan bagitu oleh sebabParlimen kita menurut Undang2 sa-bagai Parlimen di-Britain is-lah adadua bangunan House of Commonsdan House of Lords . Jadi kata-nyakita ini is-lah House of Lords, jadikita ini macham Lords (Ketawa).Tetapi di-England , Lords di-sana adadua macham Lords satu itu Lordsturun -temurun , yang kedua itu CreatedLords yang di-berikan Lord . Kita di-sini chuma -nya ada Lord yang di-buat2"Created Lords" itu sa-orang berduadaripada Dato '2 sahaia , tetapi sa-orangTun pun tidak ada lagi . Sa-lain dari-pada ltu tidak ada apa-lah , ada yangdatar z ka-mari daripada sepak kertaspun ada , bermacham2-la.h yang keb.a.-nvakan-nya lagi, kita ambit daripadapegawai2 yang bersara dan lain2.

Sunggoh pun ada dalam Dewan iniorange yang kaya , beberapa orangmillionaire , atau sa-tengah millionaire,tetapi banyak-lah jugs orang yangmiskin , boleh di-katakan papa. Jadisaya ini salah sa-orang daripada-nyaAhli papa . Saya memandang denganada-nya benefit yang akan d i-beridengan sa-chara mati terkejut ini,maka kami Ahli2 yang miskin ini apa-

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bila kami berjalan dan keluar untokmembuat apa2 kerja, jadi _hati seronoksadikit-lah kerana ada jaminan, sa-kira-nya j ikalau terlanggar j adi apa2kapada kami esok , maka dapat-lahwang itu di -beri kapada anak isterikami supaya dapat-lah budak2 belajarsekolah sa-hingga dapat bekerja danjuga-lah barangkali kami dengan Wangitu dapat membayar motokar loan,barangkali sa-tengah boleh dapat membayar loan rumah.

Jadi oleh sebab itu-lah nampak-nyadapat juga sa-tengah dapat-lah baluada wang sadikit esok barangkali diapun tidak dudok lama sudah oranglain meminta, menikah orang lain, adapeluang dia re-married . Kalau tidakdengan duit itu harus -lah ramai balukami itu hidup bujang sampai tua.Kalau kedua2 Ahli wanita itu, sayaberasa-lah sadikit tidak sedap hati,kerana sa -kira-nya mereka terus kenaaccident dan mati, suami mereka ituboleh di -katakan macham orang dapatlottery $60 ,000 dengan itu harus-lahdapat mereka menikah muda (Ketawa).Sunggoh pun bagitu , saya perchaya,kedua2 wakil wanita kita ini tidakmerasa hendak marah -lah apa bolehbuat, kalau mereka sudah mati suamihendak menikah muda , nikah -lah buatmereka . Jadi kerana itu saya perchaya-lah kedua2 wakil wanita kita ini tidakakan membangkang usul ini sa-bagaimana Wakil PAS tadi membangkang.Tetapi sa-tahu saya kalau orang laki2membangkang usul ini, kerana usul iniis-lah yang sa-benar2 -nya macham lifeinsurance , kalau sa-saorang laki2 itutidak mahu life insurance, saya beraniberkata bahawa orang laki2 itu diacoati esok dia tidak mahu beri isteridia itu menikah orang lain dan diasuka balu-nya itu menjadi papa, jaditidak ada orang meminta-lah , dia takutkalau isteri menjadi kaya sebab oranglain meminta . Jadi oleh sebab itu, sayabagi pehak laki2 kalau siapa betul2tidak ber setuju dengan life insuranceatau bagini, saya sangat -lah tidakbersetuju dengan perbuatan machamitu dan saya sa-kali lagi merayukapada wanita kita kedua orang ini,Yang Berhormat, minta -lah jangan

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membangkang usul ini, tolong sokongsama. Sekian, terima kaseh.

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:Tuan Yang di-Pertua, saya mengu-chapkan berbanyak terima kasehkapada Ahli2 Yang Berhormat yangtelah menyokong usul ini dan bia sayadatang ka-Rumah ini saya tidaksangka yang usul ini akan di-tentangoleh sa-orang sa-kali pun, kerana di-Dewan Raàyat tdak ada sa-orang punyang menentang-nya termasok semuagulongan Ahli Yang Berhormat dari-pada PAS.

Bagaimana telah di-terangkan olehsa-orang Ahli di-sini is-itu dia punberasa hairan, kenapa fahaman di-antara sa-orang daripada PAS di-sinidengan PAS di-Dewan Raàyat adaberlainan. Nampak-nya perkara yangdi-bangkitkan, boleh di-katakan, keba-nya'aan Ahli2 Yang Berhormat di-siniada-lab di-atas tafsiran accident apayang di-sebut kemalangan. Jadi satu2accident itu ada-fah satu perkara yangterjadi dengan tidak di-sangka2 ataupun yang tidak di-harapkan atau di-beritahu lebeh dahulu. Ada Ahli YangBerhormat yang bertanya sa-kira-nyajikalau satu kemalangan itu terjadioleh kerana dengan kesalahan-nyasendiri, ada-kah dia itu patut di-beriwang atau bantuan mi.

Tuan Yang di-Pertua, saya suka-lahmenyatakan di-sini, kita membawa Billka-Rumah yang bertuah ini, bukan-lahuntok menggalakkan orang membunohdiri is-itu `We don't, it is not ourintention to encourage people tocommit suicide' ! Jadi sudah tentu-lahkemalangan yang datang ini kema-langan yang tidak di-sangka2.

Ada juga yang bertanya sa-kira-nya,bukan-lah orang itu jatoh motokaratau jatoh kanal terhann, umpama-nyadia pergi ka-Kelantan, di-mana banuakorang bermain kapak kech il. Olehkerana dia menyokong pehak Perka-tan, menyokong satu2 Marti yang laindia kena kapak kechil, oleh kema-langan itu mata-nya satu tersebok(Ketawa) atau pun tengkok-nya patch,Jadi ini pun satu accident jugga, boleh-lah sa-umpama itu Kerajaan memberi

bayaran mengikut tafsiran. Kerajaantidak akan memberi bantuan di-ataskemalangan ini, di-atas satu2 perkarayang di-sengajakan oleh Ahli2 YangBerhormat sendiri. As an act delibe-rately done by the Member, probablyhe knows that if he loses one eye, hewould get so much money, then hegoes to the Hospital and says, "pleasetake off one of my eyes" or something,and he can see through glass eyecosting $4,000 or $5,000, whereas heis go:ng to get tens of thousands ofdollars. Kejadian sa-umpama initentu-lah tdak akan mendapat ban-than atau ganti-rugi.

Hato' E. E. C. Thuraisingham: Siaparugi?

Tuan Haji Hamid Khan: Ya? .....

Hato' E. E. C. Thuraisingham: Siaparugi?

Tuan Haji Hamid Khan: Tidakdapat ganLi-rugi jlkalau dia korekmata-nya sendiri (Ketawa).

Jadi di-atas perkara2 maàna acci-dent itu ada-Iah satu perkara j ikalauada was2 perkara itu akan di-timbangoleh Kerajaan, ada-lah dia itu boletidi-tafsirkan sa-bagai accident atautidak. Jadi, kita ada-lah membagi satupandangan yang luas is-itu untokmenmbangkan apa2 bila satu2 kema-langan yang berlaku. Jadi rasa sayaitu sahaja-lah yang dapat saya jawabberkenaan dengan perkara2 mi.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House pursuant to the provisionsof section 4 of the Parliament (Members'Remuneration) Act, 1960, resolves that thefollowing amendments be made to theSchedule to that Act-

Insert the following new items immediatelyafter item 10 of the Schedule---

"11. Death benefits applicable to memhers (other than Ministers , AssistantMinisters and Parliamentary Secre-taries):

Where death is caused by an injurysustained in an accident , occurringin the course of, or attributable to,the discharge of his duties as aMember of Parliament (hereinafterreferred to as "an accident"), there

879 18 DECEMBER 1965 880

shall be paid to his dependants or,if there are no dependants, to hislegal personal representatives, thesum of sixty thousand (60,000)dollars :

Provided that where his dependantsor his legal personal representativesare entitled to receive benefits similarto those provided in this item underany scheme operated by the Govern-ment of any State or under anyState law, such dependants or legalpersonal representatives shall beentitled at their option to receiveone benefit only.

12. P e r m a n e n t disablement benefitsapplicable to members (other thanMinisters, Assistant Ministers andParliamentary Secretaries):

Where permanent disablement iscaused by an injury sustained in anaccident and such disablement occurswithin twelve calendar months of thesaid accident , there shall be paid tohim one of the following sums--

(1) where the injury results in theloss of two or more limbs byactual separation at or abovethe wrist or ankle or the totaland irrecoverable loss of allsight of both eyes or the lossof one limb accompanied bythe loss of sight of one eye,the sum of one hundred andt w e n t y thousand (120,000)dollars;

(2) where the injury results in theloss of one limb by actualseparation at or above thewrist or ankle or the total andirrecoverable loss of the sightof one eye , the sum of sixtythousand (60,000) dollars;

(3) where injury results in perma-nent disaoiements other thanany of those specified in (1)and (2) above--

(a) in the case of a disable-ment which totally preventshim from engaging in orgiving attention to anyprofession or occupation,the sum of one hundredand t w e n t y thousand(120,000) dollars; or

(b) in the case of a disable-ment which partially pre-vents him from engagingin or giving attention toany profession or occupa-tion , such sum as may bearrived at by multiplyingthe said sum of one hun-dred and twenty thousand(120,000) dollars with the

percentage of the degree ofdisablement which is to bedetermined by a MedicalBoard to be appointed forthe purpose by the Govern-ment :


13. Temporary disablement benefitsapplicable to members (other thanMinisters, Assistant Ministers andParliamentary Secretaries):

(1) where an injury sustained in anaccident has caused temporaryd:sablement preventing himfrom engaging in, or givingattention to, his normal profes-sion or occupation, subject toparagraph (2) there shall bepaid a temporary disablementbenefit calculated in the man-ner following---

(a) in the case of total disable-ment, a sum equal to theamount which, but for thesaid total disablement, hewould have earned pro-v:ded that such sum shallnot exceed the rate of fivehundred (500) dollars perweek; or

(b) in the case of partial dis-ablement , a sum equal totwo-fifths of the amountwhich, but for the saidpartial disablement, hewould have earned pro-vided that such sum shallnot exceed the rate of twohundred (200) dollars perweek.

(2) The said temporary disable-ment benefit shall not becomepayable unless and until thesum mentioned in paragraph(1) has been ascerta ' ned andagreed upon ; and shall not bepaid for a period longer thanone hundred and four (104)weeks commenc'ng from thedate of the accident in whi^hthe injury causing the saidtemporary disablement wassustained

Provided that where a member isentitled to receive benefits -similar tothose provided in this item underany scheme operated by the Govern-ment of any State or under any Statelaw, such member shall be entitled athis option to receive one benefitonly".

881 18 DECEMBER 1965 882

BILLS

THE MINISTERS, ASSISTANTMINISTERS, AND PARLIAMENT-ARY SECRETARIES (REMUNE-

RATION) (AMENDMENT) BILL

Second Reading

Dato' T. H. Tan: Mr President, Sir,I beg to move that a Bill intituled"an Act to amend the written lawsrelating to the remuneration of Minis-ters, Assistant Ministers and Parlia-mentary Secretaries" be read a secondtime.

Dato' Y. T. Lee: Sir, I beg to secondthe motion.

Enche' Tan Siew Sin: Mr President,Sir, the terms and conditions of serviceof Ministers, Assistant Ministers andParliamentary Secretaries are providedfor in the Ministers (Remuneration)Ordinance, 1957, the Assistant Minis-ters Act, 1960, and the ParliamentarySecretaries (Remuneration) Act, 1965,respective'y and the object of thepresent Bill is to amend these laws forthe purpose, firstly, of providing apension for life for a Prime Minister,when he retires, secondly, of providingmedical facilities for Ministers andAssistant Ministers and, thirdly, ofproviding personal accident benefitsfor Ministers, Assistant Mini:tens andParliamentary Secretaries, or theirdependants, in case they die in anaccident. The manner in which thevarious laws are to be amended is setout in the three Schedules to thepresent Bill.

I think Honourable Members willagree that it is desirable that a manwho has reached the highest politicaloffice in the land should not have toworry about his future in the matter offinancial security and that no ex-PrimeMinister of this country should, whenhe ceases to ho'_d pubic office, be putin the position of having to look for ajob in order to earn a living. This isthe on'y consideration behind the pro-posal to provide an ex-Prime Ministerwith a pension for life. Perhaps, Ishould a' co add that a pension i> paidto an ex-Prime Minister of the UnitedKingdom and to an ex-President of the

United States of America and thepractice is quite common in otherdemocratic countries.

The Bill provides for varying ratesof pension depending on the length oftime a person has occupied the officeof Prime Minister. The rates are $1,000per month for a person who has servedless than three years; $1,500 permensem for a person who has servedbetween three and five years; and$2,000 per mensem for a person whohas served for five years or more.

In regard to the proposal to providefacilities for Ministers, and AssistantMinisters, I should explain that similarfacilities have not only been providedfor Parliamentary Secretaries and Mem-bers of the Parliament but they havealso been given the force of law in sofar as these two categories of M.Psare concerned. In other words, thesefacilities are also enjoyed by Ministersand Assistant Ministers by virtue ofthe fact that they are Members of theParliament. Any payment for such pur-pose has hitherto been made from theappropriate vote. It is, therefore, rightthat the position should be regularisedby law for such Members of theGovernment.

Mr President, Sir, I now come tothe proposal to provide personalaccident benefits for Ministers, Assis-tant Ministers and ParliamentarySecretaries. As Honourable Membersare aware, these Members of theGovernment have to do a great dealof travelling in the performance oftheir duties and very often travellingby air is involved. The risk of anaccident is always present, thoughhappily remote. In addition, we arenow facing Indonesian confrontation,which increases further the risk to lifeand limb. For these reasons, it isconsidered desirable that some securityto dependants shou^d be afforded inthe case of death of a person whoholds the office of Minister, AssistantMinister or Parliamentary Secretaries.Similarly, in the case of injury, somerelief should be granted to theincumbent.

There are two ways in which theGovernment can finance this scheme.


The first method is to pay an annualpremium to an insurance company tocover each individual and, in theevent of an accident, payment will bemade by the company concerned, How-ever, it is the policy of the Government,and this has proved cheaper in thelong run, to carry its own insurance,and this is what we intend to do.

The Bill provides for various ratesfor Ministers, Assistant Ministers andParliamentary Secretaries. The ratesfor death are different from that forinjuries as should be the case. Thescale for benefits should death occurby accident is $250,000 for a Minister;$160,000 for an Assistant Minister, and$60,000 for a Parliamentary Secretary.

The benefits payable in the event ofinjury, on the other hand, dependupon the degree of the injury. For theloss of two limbs, the total loss ofsight or similarly permanent and totalinjury, Ministers will be paid $500,000,Assistant Ministers $320,000 andParliamentary Secretaries $120,000.Provision is also made for the paymentof a percentage of these amounts inthe case of a permanent or partialinjury, the percentage depending on thedegree of disablement as determinedby a Medical Board. For the loss ofone limb or the sight of one eye, apayment of $250,000 will be made toMinisters $160,000 to Assistant Minis-ters, and $60,000 to ParliamentarySecretaries.

As Honourable Members are aware,a similar scheme has just beenapproved by this House to cover Mem-bers of Parliament who meet with anaccident in the performance of Govern-ment or Parliamentary duties. Anadministrative arrangement will beintroduced to provide a similar coverfor Political Secretaries and privateindividuals who are called upon tocarry out Government duties.

Dato' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: MrPresident, Sir, this Bill, which is to bepassed, is almost similar to the motionthat was passed regarding Members ofParliament. I raised an issue in respectof the last motion, because in thatmotion the phrase "sustained in an

884

accident" regarding Members of Parlia-ment is not so comprehensive as theBill that will be passed, because insection 9 of this Bill it is stated,"Where permanent disablement iscaused by an injury sustained in anaccident ..." but in the other onethere is a limitation, i.e. "occurringin the course or attributable to thedischarge ... .

Enche' Tan Siew Sin : Sir, There isno section 9 in this Bill.

Dato ' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: I wantto amend section 9 in this Bill.

Enche' Tan Slew Sin: There is nosection 9. I think you are looking at thewrong Bill.

Dato ' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: In theSchedule.

Enche' Tan Siew Sin: There arethree Schedules. Which Schedule areyou referring to?

Dato' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: Page 3,section 9.

Enche' Tan Siew Sin : There arethree Schedules First Schedule, SecondSchedule and Third Schedule. WhichSchedule are you referring to?

Dato ' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: SecondSchedule, section 9, page 3. Becauseof this, I suggest that there is a limita-tion regarding one and no limitationregarding the other. Here, in respect ofour Members of Parliament, is alimitation which says "occurring in thecourse or attributable to the dischargeof his duties as a Member of Parlia-ment". So, if the accident occurs whenhe is not discharging his duties as aMember of Parliament, then theMember is not entitled to damagesaccording to the motion that waspassed in regard to the Members ofParliament. But, here the thing iscaused by an accident. An accident isan event occurring by chance. Besides,"Ministers" are receiving a broaderdefinition in the accident. They aregetting more than what the Membersof Parliament are getting. But, if youwant to be fair, an amendment shouldbe introduced saying that "sustainedin an accident or (the word "or")

885 18 DECEMBER 1965 886

occurring in the course or attributableto the discharge of his duties as aMinister", then it covers both bothfor us and for the Ministers. As it is,there is a difference. The Ministers arecovered more than we are as Membersof the Parliament, because we arelimited by a section saying that onlyin the discharge of duties when accidentoccurs, then we are subject to thisenactment, otherwise we are not. So, Isuggest that this should be altered.In the words of the Law it should befor both Member of Parliament andfor Minister: therefore, add anothersection "sustained in an accident oroccurring in the course of attributableto the discharge of his duties as aMinister" If you put like that, it willbe fair for both sides.

Dato ' Sheikh Abu Bakar: MrPresident, Sir, before I ask for aclarification I would like to ask theMinister concerned, Sir, whether theFirst Schedule is amended with regardto medical facilities. I have got thisamendment here, Sir, but I do notknow whether this has been included bythe Minister just now.

Mr President: This amendment hasalready been included, and passed bythe Lower House.

Dato' Sheikh Abu Bakar: Withregard to medical facilities, Sir, I would• like to read the second part of theamendment, viz :

"Where by reason of an emergency aMinister is forced to obtain treatment(other:- than dental treatment) at a hospitalnot being a Government hospital, thereshall be reimbursed to the Minister anysum paid by him to the said hospital inrespect of the treatment".

.I would like to ask the HonourableMinister, whether in the case ofMembers of Parliament, other thanMinisters, they will be entitled torecover the same amount becauseMinisters, Assistant Ministers andParliamentary Secretaries are alsoMembers of Parliament.

Enche' Amaluddin bin Darus: TuanYang di-Pertua, di-hadapan kita is-lahBakal Undang2 mengenai apa yang:di-katakan Remuneration untok Men-teri2, Menteri2 Muda dan Setiausaha2

Parlimen. Saya faham, saperti yangdi-terangkan di-dalam penjelasan Billini, bahawa banyak atau ada negeri2yang telah membuat saperti yang kitsbuat. Tetapi, Tuan Yang di-Pertua,sa-kali lagi saya menarek perhatianDewan ini kapada apa yang telah sayasebutkan tadi dalam membicharakanusul Yang Berhormat Dato' T. H. Tan,saya rasa tidak saperti sa-tengah orangberpendapat sudah terlambat, tetapisaya rasa terlalu awal bagi kita mem-•buat Undang2 yang saperti ini bagimaksud memberi j aminan kapadaPerdana Menteri di-satu pehak danlain2 lagi Menteri2, dan Menteri2Muda serta Setiausaha Parlimen.

Di-dalam Bill ini, telah di-tetapkantentang membalas jasa kapada PerdanaMenteri, is-itu sesiapa yang menj adiPerdana Menteri sa-lama lima tahun,akan mendapat sekian2. Sa-hinggakapada bayaran bulanan sa-bagaipenchen, $2,000 sa-bulan, kalau men-jadi Perdana Menteri tiga tahun ka-atasatau tiga tahun ka-bawah, bolehmendapat sekian2. Ini merupakan satupenchen atau pembayaran bersarakapada sa-orang ra`ayat negeri ini yangpada mula-nya menyatakan dia sediaberkhidmat, sedia memikul beban,memasoki parti2 politik, berjuangmengikut saloran politik dan demok-rasi bagi menchapai kedudokanmenjadi Ahli Dewan Ra`ayat men-jadi Ahli Parlimen dan kemudiandaripada itu, dia telah terpileh men--j adi Perdana Menteri. Semua-nyabermula daripada perasaan ingin ber-khidmat kapada negara dan untokkhidmat itu negara telah memberibayaran sampai $7,000 sa-bulan, sa-lain daripada kemudahan2 lain yangboleh di-dapati. Apabila beliau ber-khidmat, sa-orang anggota itu berkhid-mat sa-bagai Perdana Menteri, enambulan mithal-nya kurang daripada tigatahun, dia boleh mendapat sa-jumlahWang tiap2 bulan, boleh di-ertikansa-lama2, sa-bagai bayaran bersarakapada sa-orang yang , telah memberikhidmat kapada negara.` Ini hanyakapada Perdana Menteri, tidak kapadaMenteri2, tidak kapada Member ofParliament yang lain. Pada hat sa-orangyang menjadi Perdana Menteri, diajuga Ahli Parlimen. Tidak boleh


menjadi Perdana Menteri melainkanapabila menjadi _Anggota Parlimen.

Saya kadang2 terfikir, barangkalipehak Kerajaan -- parti yang memeren-tah-merasa sangat terhutang budikapada Yang Teramat Mulia TengkuAbdul Rahman Putra Alhaj, yangdi-gelar sa-bagai Bapa Kemerdekaan,Bapa Malaysia, dan baps itu, bapa mi.Maka, ini-lah barangkali di-bawa,di-adakan Undang2 akan memberisudah tentu-lah lebeh lima tahunkhidmat-nya akan mendapat $2,000sa-bulan sa-bagai satu bayaran penchendi-atas khidmat sa-bagai Perdana Men-teri bagi negara kita ini. Saya fikirbarangkali tidak lama lagi Yang Ter-amat Mulia Tengku akan meletakkanjawatan. Ini-lah sebab-nya Bill inidi-bawa dengan satu chara yang ter-istimewa. Tentang hal pertukaran, itutidak-lah soal, tetapi soal-nya kita akanmembayar kapada sa-orang yang taditelah saya katakan dari mina-nya telahmenyatakan kesediaan berkhidmatuntok negara dan saga katakan terlaluawal untok kita membuat yang sapertiini, kerana kita maseh jauh daripadaapa yang sa-patut-nya khidmat kita berikapada raàyat dan negara ini kita.maseh jauh ! Qleh kerana kita masehdalam memberi khidmat kapada raàyatdan negara, maka terlalu awal-lah pulakita memikirkan soal memberi bayaranbersara kapada sa-orang yang menjadiPerdana Menteri yang belum pun,dalam masa-nya, dapat membuat sa-suatu khidmat yang dapat di-katakansatu khidmat yang benar2 saperti yangdi-harapkan oleh raàyat dan negara.Saya tidak menafikan siapa yang men-j adi Perdana Menteri telah memberikhidmat tetapi saya katakan sa-kalilagi, biar pun berulang2, khidmat yangdi-beri hasil daripada kemahuan hatiingin memberi khidmat kapada negarami. Kalau khidmat yang akan di-jadi-kan ukoran, Tuan Yang di-Pertua.

Nik. Hassan bin Haji Nik Yahya:Tuan Yang di-Pertua, saya mintytaàrif khidmat yang sa-benar2-nya itu,tolong huraikan.

Enche' Amaluddin bin Darus: TuanYang di-Pertua, khidmat sudah kalaukita hendak adakan definition atau puntaàrif, sebab tiap2 orang memberi

888

khidmat-nya masing2 dengan charakebolehan atau kemampuan-nya ataukeadaan-nya. Buroh memberi khidmat,kalau sa-kira-nya bandar ......

Nik Hassan bin Nik Yahya: TuanYang di-Pertua, untok penjelasan, apayang says soal pagi ini khidmat yangdi-beri oleh Ahli Parlimen, PerdanaMenteri, yang di-katakan belum sampaidi-katakan khidmat. Jadi sempadandan had khidmat, sampai ka-mana-kahkhidmat yang di-taàrif kan oleh AhliYang Berhormat tadi. Bagaimana chon-toh-nya khidmat yang di-kehendaki.Katakan-lah sa-orang Jadi PerdanaMenteri, belum chukup khidmat, bagai-mana khidmat yang di-katakan chukup,bagaimana taàrif yang di-kehendakoleh Ahli Pembangkang tali. Bagai=mana khidmat-nya yang di-katakanchukup? Tolong berikan butir2 khidmatyang chukup sebab kita mengkajikanundang2, jadi kalau chakap umumsahaja tidak chukup, tidak chukupapa? Apa yang di-katakan tidakchukup itu?

Enche' Amaluddin bin Darns: TuanYang di-Pertua, suka saya memberifaham kapada Ahli Yang Berhormatitu. Dalam soal khidmat tidak-lahdapat hendak di-tetapkan, oleh keranadia tidak ada batas dan tidak adahujong. Sa-lama hidup kita dapatmemberi khidmat sampai kita ter-baring di-tikar. Sa-orang manusia dapatmemberi khidmat dengan memberinasihat kapada orange muda. Jadiperkara Batas khidmat itu tidak men-jadi soap. Apa yang saya katakan,bukan kita tidak berkhidmat, bukanPerdana Menteri kita tidak berkhidmat,tetapi kita terlalu awal memikirkanhal penchen, hal bayaran bersara,kapada siapa2 atau kapada PerdanaMenteri kita sedangkan nasib raàyatyang kita bela, yang kita perjuangkan,yang kita ingin berkhidmat kapadamereka belum sampai kapada matala-mat, memang j auh daripada sampaisambong menyambong.

Nik Hassan bin Haji Nik Yahya:(Bangun).

Enche' Amaluddin bin Darns: TuanYang di-Pertua, saya tidak beri j alan.


Yang demikian, Tuan Yang di-Pertua, tentu-lah akan menimbulkansa-suatu yang saya bimbangkan.Negara kita ini ada kegiatan2 kominisdi-bawah tanah, ini tidak dapat di-nafikan dan tentu mereka akanmemasokkan j arum terus menerusdi-dalam negara kita ini maseh banyakorange miskin, orange tani yang masehberchorak primitive yang belum dapatberfikir jauh. Bagi orange yang berjalanchara kominis, kegiatan2 mereka men-jalankan propaganda boleh menimbul-kan kebenchian kapada Kerajaan,kapada orange yang tertentu dansa-bagai raàyat, orange tani yangprimitive, mungkin mereka tidak dapatberfikir panj ang, tidak sampai dengkidan hasad, tidak sampai untok meng-guling, untok menjatoh, untok menga-chau, tetapi rasa hiba dan sedeh ituakan menj elma dalam j iwa mereka.Sebab orange yang mereka hargakan,yang mereka pileh untok memberikhidmat kerana janji2 lebeh men-dahulukan kepentingan diri sendiridaripada kepentingan orang lain. Iniyang saya katakan pandangan terlaluawal. Kita memikirkan, bukan menafi-kan khidmat.

Terlanj or dalam perkara ini, TuanYang di-Pertua, saya tahu Bill ini akandi-luluskan. Kalau sa-kira-nya khidmatPerdana Menteri akan di-bayarsa-sudah tamat tempoh khidmat-nya,anggota2 Parlimen juga memberikhidmat dan berhak untok di-pilehmenjadi Perdana Menteri tidak Puladi-tetapkan, mendapat sekian2 bayaransa-sudah dia berkhidmat sa-lama limatahun umpama-nya, sa-kurang2-nya,dia berhak mendapat bayaran sampaimati saperti Perdana Menteri walaupun kechil. Ini, Tuan Yang di-Pertua,tentu akan menambah rumit, dan sayatidak-lah mengeshorkan yang sapertiitu, chuma saya ingin Kerajaan memi-kirkan sa-dalam2-nya dalam menge-mukakan sa-suatu untok menjaga hatimanusia, raàyat negara kita inisendiri.

Pehak Polis, mithal-nya, memberikhidmat menggadaikan nyawa, tenteramemberi khidmat menggadaikan nya-wa, dan banyak gulongan raàyat yangberkhidmat dan semua tidak dapat

890

di-elak daripada perkataan berkhidmatkapada negara ini dengan memberinyawa. Kalau sa-kira-nya orange yangsaperti ini dapat di-perhatikan jugaoleh Keraj aan ada-kah insurance peri-badi mereka, tiap2 orang yang membuatkerj a sa-bagai berkhidmat kapadanegara di-beri insurance ada pulaj aminan mereka tetapi Keraj aan tidakmemikirkan nasib mereka, kita lebehdahulu memikirkan nasib orange atas,kita melupakan kepentingan orangebawah. Ini yang saya rasa kesal.

Jadi, Tuan Yang di-Pertua, sayaminta Kerajaan yang telah menunjok-kan bukti mengambil berat nasiborange atas mengambil perhatian danmengambil berat pula kapada nasiborange bawah, j aminan kapada orangebawah dan sa-bagai-nya. Jadi, TuanYang di-Pertua, dengan j clan itu kitaakan dapat timbang rasa dan peng-hargaan yang talus ikhlas daripadaraàyat yang tahu, bahawa merekatelah memberi penghargaan kapadaorange yang betul2 berkhidmat untokkepentingan mereka, yang mereka jugamendapat hasil daripada khidmatorange yang mereka hargakan. Sekian.

Dato ' Haji Mohamed Noah: Dato'Yang di-Pertua, saya pada mula-nyatidak hendak berchakap atas RangUndang2 yang ada di-hadapan Majlisini yang saya sokong pada dasar-nya,tetapi apakala mendengar huj j ah2 yangpanjang lebar yang di-datangkan olehpehak Pembangkang sa-bagai mem-bangkang usul Rang Undang2 bagibachaan kedua ini, saga rasa terpaksajuga-lah saya bangun menerangkansadikit sa-banyak pendapat saya atashuj j ah2 yang di-keluarkan oleh pehakPembangkang baharu sa-bentar mi.Saya rasa terharu hati bila dia menga-takan Rang Undang2 yang adadi-hadapan Maj lis ini, sa-olah2 di-buatoleh pehak Perikatan sa-mata2 keranaperibadi Yang Teramat Mulia TengkuPerdana Menteri yang ada pada harimi. Jikalau dia membacha betul2Rang Undang2 ini tentu-lah nampaksatu undang2 yang luas yang meliputibukan-nya kapada Perdana Menteriyang ada pada hari ini, bahkan kapadabeberana orang lagi Perdana Menteriyang akan datang yang akan menjadi


Perdana Menteri. Boleh jadi haruspada satu masa saudara pembangkangkita itu Pula menjadi Perdana Menteridi-dalam Malaysia kita yang akandatang mi. Ini satu tudohan yang beratyang di-datangkan oleh pehak pem-bangkang bila dia mengatakan, si-polanchakap-nya sa-olah2 undang2 inisengaja di-buat oleh pehak Perikatankhas kerana peribadi Yang TeramatMulia Tengku dan di-buat ini keranaYang Teramat Mulia Tengku itu tidaklama lagi akan bersara daripadamenjadi Perdana Menteri. Ini satutudohan yang berat yang rasa sayatidak patut di-diamkan dengan tidakdi-jawab di-dalam Dewan yang ber-bahagia mi. Hujjah2 yang di-bawa-nyatidak-lah bagitu tepat bila dia mengata-kan Rang Undang2 ini di-bawa ka-siniterlalu awal.

Saya pula mengatakan undang2 inibukan sahaja di-bawa pada masa initerlalu awal bahkan patut lebeh dahulusudah ada undang2 yang sa-umpamami. Bila masa kita mendapat kemer-dekaan patut-lah Rang Undang2umpama ini di-luluskan oleh Dewanini supaya benda ini berjalan mengikutbagaimana perjalanan yang ada di-dalam negeri2 yang demokrasi.

Di-dalam Rang Undang2 ini adamengatakan supaya di-beri penchenkapada Perdana Menteri dan mengikuthujjah yang di-bawa oleh pehak pem-bangkang, apa khidmat yang di-buntoleh Perdana Menteri yang bolehmelayakkan diri-nya mendapat penchenitu.

Enche ' Amaluddin bin Darus: TuanYang di-Pertua, untok penjelasan. Sayatidak bermaksud saperti yang di-kata-kan oleh Yang Berhormat Dato' itu,apa kelayakan itu tidak timbol. Sayatidak menafikan khidmat, tetapi Sayakatakan terlalu awal, kerana sebab2yang saya terangkan panjang.

Dato ' Haji Mohamed Noah: Ma`ana"terlalu awal" itu berma`ana tidak adahormat juga-lah. Masaalah khidmatkapada sa-suatu bangsa dan negaraitu kalau kita hendak berchakap dalamMajlis ini, tentu-lah mengambil masayang panjang tetapi mithal-nya sa-orang di-dalam Dewan ini ada mem-buat khidmat, termasok-lah saudara

892

kita daripada pehak Pembangkang inijuga dengan sebab itu dia ada di-beribeberapa kesenangan (privileges) yangdia dapat kerana khidmat dia kapadabangsa dan negara. Pada sa-orangPerdana Menteri sa-sabuah negara yangnegeri-nya lebeh besar tentu-lahkhidmat itu lebeh banyak dengansebab berat "tanggongan". Ada-lahperkhidmatan sa-saorang itu padasatu2 kerja yang di-tanggong-nya itubergantong kapada perkhidmatan diakapada bangsa dan negara.

Saya perchaya-lah perkara yangsa-macham ini tidak boleh di-katatelah terlalu awal, kerana chuba kitatengok jikalau undang2 ini di-luluskandan di-jalankan beberapa tahun dahulutentu-fah sa-orang daripada Ahli PASyang telah mendapat kemalangan tidakdia tinggal bagitu sahaja, melainkanwaris-nya akan mendapat saguhatidaripada pehak Kerajaan dengan sebabkemalangan yang menimpa-nya. Tetapidengan tidak ada-nya undang2 machamini hanya-lah yang dapat Kerajaankatakan pada hari ini "akan di-tim-bangkan".

Saya rasa tiap2 Ahli Yang Berhor-mat yang ada di-dalam Dewan yangberbahagia ini mesti menyokong satuRang Undang2 yang saya fikir patutdi-luluskan dalam Majlis ini dengansebab rasa saya jikalau tidak adaundang2 yang sa-umpama ini, saya bim-bang kalau2 ada daripada pehak2 YangBerhormat bila di-tawarkan menjadiMenteri dan Menteri Muda atau Par-liamentary Secretary, akan menolakmemegang jawatan2 itu. Apa akanterjadi pada sa-buah negara yang tidakada mempunyai Menteri2 yang bolehmenj alankan kerj a2, yang sangguphendak memikul tanggongan2 yangbagitu begat, khas-nya saperti PerdanaMenteri. Jadi saya rasa tidak faham-lah bagaimana lojik-nya yang di-bawaoleh pehak Pembangkang atas menen-tang Rang Undang2 yang di-hadapanMajlis mi.

Dato ' T. H. Tan : Mr President, Sir,I rise to give my fullest support to theprinciples and to the provisions ofthis Bill. The payment of pension isnothing new in this country. We paypensions to Government Servants and


we . pay pensions. to the Members ofthe Armed. Forces,• in recognition.. oftheir- services to the Country,. particu-larly services.. rendered during • . the bestpart. of their lives. I think, that is thet.east: the nation Gan' do..: .With regardto_ the provisions: _ for - the. PrimeMinister,., we . have examples,. both inthe United.: Kingdom and also in theUnited States, where pensions are paidto a former Prime Minister ofEngland and a former President of theUnited States. My only quarrel withthe provisions of this Bill is that thesum of. $2.,000 seems to me so veryniggardly, because after all $2,000 .atthe present time is not a big sum ofmoney.. After all the sacrifices that thePrime Minister makes, after all theloads of worries and responsibilities thathe carries, I think this sum could wellbe increased; and I sincerely hope thata day will come when an amendmentto this part of the provisions will comebefore this House and that all Mem-bers= of the Senate would heartilyagree to that amendment.

I was somewhat perturbed at thestatements made by the Member fromP.M.I.P His statement shows the heart-lessness of some people who wish tomake themselves out to be crusadersof religion. May be this heartlessnessstems from 'the fact that no P.M.I.P.or P.A. S. Member of Parliament willever be a Prime Minister of thiscountry (Applause).

Enche' Tan Siew Sin: Mr President,Sir, it is unfortunate that the Honour-able Member from the P.M.I.P. hasturned this issue of providing pensionfor ex-Prime Ministers into a politicalissue. When this Measure came beforethe Dewan Ra`ayat, it was passedunanimously by all sections of theHouse, including the HonourableMembers from the P.M.I.P. benches,and I am, therefore, at a loss to under-stand why the lone Member -I believethere is only one member in theP.M.I.P. section of this Houseshould suddenly protest against whatis a very common-place practice.As a member of Honourable Senatorshave pointed out, the Measure that weare introducing in this House is not

894

something new, novel or revolutionary.It.. is an accepted practice in the oldestablished democracies of the freeworld, and I am, therefore, at a lossto understand why - the HonourableMember, who spoke against this,should get so hot under the collar.

In fact, when this Bill came beforethe Lower House, an HonourableMember from the Socialist Frontactually said that wehave not gonefar enough. He proposed that weshould not only give pensions to anex Prime Minister, but we should 'givepension to all Members of Parlram^nt,(Laughter). This suggestion came froman Honourable Member from 'theSocialist Front. As I" pointed outalready, it' is, I think, very undesir-able T think every fair minded personin this country would subscribe "ta thisbelief for a person, who his wfeldedsuch enormous power, who has' hadgreat responsibilities thrust upon 'himin performing the office of 'PrimeMinister of Malaysia, havirig to worry,in case he is not a man of substantialprivate means, about his economicfuture should he have to retire oneday; and even Prime Ministers haveto retire one day unless, of course,they die in harness. I should "think,therefore, this principle is ver`y' non-controversial because, as I hive said,it is nothing new or novel, and Iam inclined to agree with the :lastHonourable Member who spoke that,perhaps, the P.M.I.P. people are takinga very short and narrow view in thebelief that no member of that Partyis ever likely to reach this high office.

Any way I am glad to see that thisMeasure is welcomed by every section,all Members of this House except thatparticular Member, and I think it isalso clear that this Measure has ;beenkaccepted by the whole country.

I should add, probably, a note- ofconfidence, if I may say so, that thisproposal, in fact, originally came fromme in the Treasury. When I' draftedthis Bill and nut it before the Cabinetfor the first time. the Prime Minister;in fact, instructed that it should notgo forward because he felt that it mightbe misconstrued by his political


opponents any way it has been mis-construed by one Honourable Memberof this House . However, the Cabinetfelt that this not only, as the Honour-able Member, Dato' Haji MohamedNoah has pointed out, is meant for aparticular person, but is meant for allthe Prime Ministers who would succeedthe present Prime Minister. This is nota temporary measure. It should be apermanent feature of the political lifeof this country, and the Cabinet,therefore, felt that this Measure shouldgo forward, because it was not meantfor any particular individual butbecause it was right in itself.

The Honourable Dato' Dr CheahToon Lok has asked why we havedifferentiated in our treatment betweenmembers of the Government likeMinisters, Assistant Ministers andParliamentary Secretaries on the onehand and the other M.Ps. on the otherin the matter of the provision ofmedical facilities. I agree that thereis this differentiation, but I think theHonourable Member will also appre-ciate that there is a difference betweenthe Members of the Government andthe M.Ps. who are backbenchers. Mem-bers of the Government are full-timeofficers of the Government in the sensethat they are on duty 24 hours a day.To quote a little instance: it ispossible, for example, for a Minister,or an Assistant Minister, or a Parlia-mentary Secretary to, say, take aholiday in Port Dickson, and in thecourse of his holiday he could beassasinated. Well, if we have thislimitation that such death benefitswould only be paid in the course ofparliamentary duties, it is open toquestion whether in such a case thebenefit should be paid; it is clear underany laws of equity that such a benefitshould be paid. In the case of Membersof Parliament who are after all ' onlypart-time members of the Government.I think ' the circumstances are quitedifferent. They attend to parliamentaryduties for only part of their time and,therefore, we felt that, althoughoriginally it was the intention, in sofar. as ordinary Members of Parlia-ment are concerned, benefits shouldonly be payable if death or injury were

896

to occur in the course of official orparliamentary work. This is a deliberatedecision, but I think it is a fair oneunder all these circumstances. I thinkDato' Dr Cheah Toon Lok also askedwhy we should make this differentia-tion not only in the matter of medicalfacilities, but also in the matter ofpayment of death benefits or injurybenefits and ......

Dato ' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: Notme Dato' Sheikh Abu Bakar.

Dato ' Sheikh Abu Bakar : My pointis with regard to these medical facili-ties. I have said that because of anemergency, the same remarks applic-able to a Minister may apply toMembers of Parliament in case ofemergency, not otherwise that is mypoint, Sir.

Enche' Tan Siew Sin: I do not think,Mr President, Sir, that Members ofParliament are exactly in the same cate-gory as Members of the Government.

I think that although there may becases in which Members of Parliamentcould justifiably be entitled to medicalfacilities, even though they are not inthe course of duty, such contingenciesare happily very remote, and I thinkthe Ministers are in a differentcategory, because they are full-timemembers of the Government; and thesame thing, of course, applies to theother facility of death or injury benefits.


Bill accordingly read a second timeand committed to a Committee of thewhole House.

House immediately resolved itselfinto a Committee on the Bill.

'Bill considered in Commi^tee'.


Clauses I and 2 ordered to standpart of the Bill.

First Schedule ordered to stand partof the Bill.

Second Schedule

Dato' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: MrChairman,' Sir, after hearipg theexplanation of the Minister concerned,I think the 'Ministers should be fully,

897. 18 DECEM BER 1965 898

protected by law. Now, as it is in thisBill, they are not fully protected bylaw from the legal point of view. Inevery one of these death benefits, thephrase "sustained in an accident"occurs. That phrase has its limitationsbecause "accident" is an event hap-pening by chance. Supposing there ispremeditation, which this Scheduledoes not cover, then the Ministerconcerned does not get the benefit,because premeditation is not by chance.So, I thought just now of suggesting,and I now do suggest that we work outanother phrasing to cover pre-medita-tion, so that Ministers, if they aremurdered, could be covered becausethey are always on duty. So, I wouldlike to add the words "or occurring inthe course of, or attributable to, thedischarge of his duties as a Minister",because the Minister is on duty twenty-four hours a day. So, if you havethe word "or" then it coverspre-meditation.

As it is, it does not, and itis liable to legal interpretation of"Chance" only and not pre-meditation.I do not know what is the view of thelegal experts on this, but I do suggest,if we want to protect our Ministerswe must do better than having thisphrase "sustained in an accident". Wehave got to rephrase it in such a wayit covers pre-meditation. Thank you,Sir.

Enche' Tan Siew Sin : Mr Chairman,Sir, first of all, I take it that theHonourable Dato' Dr Cheah Toon Loktalks of pre-meditation. It does excludepre-meditation on the part of themember of the Government concerned.In other words, it excludes suicide, and.I agree that in the case of suicide, thedependants will not be entitled to thebenefit of this payment. But, if aMinister or a member of the Govern-ment referred to in this Bill is assas-sinated, there is no, question that hisdependants would be entitled to thesedeath benefits there is no questionat all.

Kato' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: MrChairman, Sir, may T ask then, there-fore, the word "chance".. be defined

Enche' Tan Siew Sin : Mr- Chairman,Sir, according to our legal advisers;this wording is adequate, and 1 thinkit will be safe to abide by the adviceof the legal advisers.


Second Schedule ordered to standpart of the Bill.

Third Schedule ordered to standpart of the Bill.

Bill reported without amendmentread the third time and passed.

THE TURNOVER TAX

(AMENDMENT) BILL

Second Reading

Dato' T. H. Tan: Mr President, SireI beg to move that a Bill intituled"an Act to amend the Turnover TaxAct, 1965" be read a second time.


Enche' Tan Siew Sin: Mr President,Sir, in my Budget speech of 17thNovember, l stated that the Govern-ment had decided to convert the exist-ing turnover tax from a multi-stage toa single stage tax with effect from1st January, 1966, by limiting thescope of the tax to the sale of importedgoods only. The purpose of this Bill_is, therefore, to amend the TurnoverTax Act, 1965, in order to implementthis proposal.

The various amendments proposedare contained in the Schedule to theBill and, as these amendments appearto be somewhat complicated. I shalltouch upon the salient points of thissingle stage tax, so that such amend-ments may be more easily understood.The tax will be levied on moneysreceivable from the sale of goodsimported into Malaysia, but wheresuch goods are not immediatelysold but are processed or manufacturedin Malaysia for subsequent sale, thetax will apply only to . that part of thesale proceeds which relate to theimported content of the goods; andthis liability to tax also includes theimported contents of goods going intothe manufacture of pioneer products

899 18 DECEMBER, 1965

Where goods imported into thecountry are subsequently exported toanother country, no tax will be leviedon such sales. The sales of goodsmanufactured in one component partof Malaysia and imported directly orindirectly, e.g. via Singapore, intoanother component will be exemptedfrom tax in the hands of the importerin that other component. Proceedsfrom other activities, which are charge-able to turnover tax under the existingmulti-stage tax, will no longer be liableto this tax from the year of assessment1966 onwards.

Under the existing multi-stage tax,the rate of charge is % of the taxableturnover, but under the single stagetax the rate has been increased to2% thereon. Where any goods aremanufactured or processed in Malaysia,and such manufactured goods sold.consist partly of imported goods, it isnecessary to determine that part of thesale moneys appropriate to the imported content of the goods, and to levyon those moneys only and not onthe entire sale price.

The moneys chargeable shall be suchproportion of the total sale price asthe c.i.f. value (including customs andexcise duty) of the imported part bearsto the total cost (including such duty).In other words, if an article costs$10.00 and the c.i.f. value of theimported part was $5.00 then if thetotal sale price was $16.00, the taxableturnover would be 5/10 of 16, i;e. $8.00

Under the multi-stages tax, a: turn-over of $36,000 or less a year isexempted from tax, but since the tax.is only on the moneys receivable fromthe sale of imported goods, and sincemost of these importers are generallylarge businesses, it is :unlikely that theturnover will be less than $36,000 ° ayear. The exemption is therefore beingrepealed.

The other amendments are conse-quential in nature, in view of thechange in the scope of the tax, andothers arise from the separation ofSingapore. Details of the tax can alsobe found in the Explanatory State-fnent at the end of the Bill, and I neednot therefore elaborate further on them`.

900

Dato ' T. H. Tan : Mr President, Sir,as Chairman of the Chinese Chambersof Commerce, I would like to say,first of all, that the Chinese commercialcommunity supports in principle thisform of taxation. The Chinese Cham-bers fully realise the Government'sneed of finding additional revenue tccope with the enormous spending onaccount of the Indonesian Confronta-tion and on account of the Develop-ment Plans. The Chinese Chambers,however, only ask for a patient hearingof the difficulties which beset thecommercial community arising- fromthe interpretation of the provisions ofthis Bill. In the first place, the ChineseChambers feel that there are goodreasons for the Government to givefurther earnest consideration to theirsuggestion that it is inequitable tocollect this tax on the basis of theprevious year's turnover. In the firstplace, the merchant might well haveincurred a loss in respect of his pre-vious year's turnover.

Secondly, importers in particularoften work on a margin of much lessthan 2%. If the basis of assessment ison previous year's turnover, then theimporter has to pay tax at a rate higherthan his margin of profit with theadditional possibility of having incurred a loss. I believe, Sir, it is a generallyaccepted principle not to apply taxa-tion with restrospective effect. Couldthe Government then not apply thisturnover tax from 1966 onwardscollecting the tax on the basis ofactual import prices after the paymentof duty to the Customs and afteradding the generally accepted formulato provide the margin of profit? Sir,I believe it is not the intention of theGovernment to impose any unduehardship through taxation. Sir, I plead,on behalf of the Chinese Chambers,that patient and careful hearing begiven to their representations. I saymain that the Chambers are alwayswilling to pay tax. May the Govern-ment make the process of payment assimple and as painless as possib'e.

Enche' S. U. K. Ubaidnllah: MrPresident, Sir, I would like to pay atribute to the Honourable the Minister

901 18 DECEMBER 1965 902

of Finance. He has won the admirationof all, when in his Budget proposalshe dropped, with the same boldnesswith which he announced the crowncork duty, capital gain tax and broughtthe turnover tax from % multi-stage to2% single stage. These tax changesreaffirm people's faith in his ever-willingness to listen to reasonable andworkable suggestions. Indeed, theHonourable Minister gave such assur-ances, when he announced these taxesand he kept them well.

Sir, in the same spirit and hope, thecommercial and manufacturing com-munity have a few constructivesuggestions to offer with regard toturnover tax. My Honourable friend,Dato' T. H. Tan, has just now putthem very ably. As he has said, thetrading and manufacturing communityhas accepted 2% turnover tax at singlestage as a fair share of their nationalburden. What now makes one unhappyis the technique of collecting this 2%turnover tax. The good principle oftaxation would be that any taxationshould be equitable, easily understoodand easily administered.

The proposed method of collecting2% turnover tax on sale point is con-sidered by and large a measure thatwould cause some hardship. Whatgreatly concerns us is the basis ofassessment. This is not a tax on profit,but a tax on sales and the implementa-tion of the assessment of liability on apreceding year basis at a high rate of2% is not equitable. As a tax on sales,we contend that this should be leviedon a current-year basis, This is theonly basis on which fluctuations in therate of tax can be recovered and it isour belief that it is the intention ofthe Honourable Minister that the taxbe passed on by an increase in theultimate sale price. Sir, we would pre-fer to see this levied at the point ofentry and collected by Customs on avaluation applied by the Customs inthe normal way in assessing uplift toarrive at the open market value. Sucha tax would, of course, only be leviedon goods imported for sale and not ongoods imported by non-traders fortheir own use, or by traders for use in

fixed assets in their trade. To differen-tiate is not impracticable, as has beensuggested. We think it is fair to saythat the Customs have built up overthe years a fairly comprehensive know-ledge of the trading activities of mostimporters and could clearly differen-tiate between imports for sale and otherimports.

Sir, the United Chambers of Com-merce have never suggested thatimports not for sale should be subjectto tax. Sir, if this proposal is notacceptable, then we urge that the taxbe collected monthly, quarterly, orhalf-yearly, in arrears, on a currentyear basis of actual sales.

Sir, much play has been made thatthis would place a mormidable burdenon the trader in the maintenance ofextra records and the possible expensesof dealing in accounts to extract figures.This is not so, as the majority oftraders, on whom the burden of thistax will fall, already maintain monthlyrecords of sales; and if. the current yearbasis is introduced it will present noproblem for them to maintain thenecessary records which will allowprompt submission of their returns forassessment of turnover tax. Any adjust-ment for bad debts could quite easilybe made annually in the return forthe period ending December or evenat a later date.

Sir, the adoption of this current yearbais will allow collection throughoutthe year, and, while ensuring a steadyincome to the Treasury, will also allowthe importer to spread his paymentsover the year even with this spread,in many cases, he will be paying taxbefore he has in fact been paid by thebuyer for the goods.

Sir, it is a more formidable job todig into the past and extract over oneyear the breakdown of sales ofimported goods as distinct from thoseof Malayan manufacture as in the pastand it is highly unlikely that anydifferentiation between imported goodsand Malaysian manufactured hoods hasbeen maintained in the trading com-munity. This is indeed a burden andwill lead to expenses which can readilybe avoided if the current year basis is

903 18 DECEMBER 1965 904

accepted now. Sir, if it is consideredutterly unreasonable to saddle tradersand their accounts with a vast amountof extra work of compiling monthlyand quarterly returns, then it is evenmore unreasonable to saddle them withthe vast amount of work involved inresearch over the past years' accounts.

Finally, Sir, as Dato' T. H. Tan hasmade an appeal, I would like to joinwith him and also say that we wouldlike to thank Mr Varty, the Comp-troller-General of Income Tax, for hiskindness in taking time off to explainto the commercial and manufacturingcommunity the various points withregard to the turnover tax. The UnitedChambers of Commerce, which is thenational body of the country, hasreceived representations from all itsconstituent Chambers to appeal againto Mr Varty, the Comptroller-Generalof Income Tax, and through him to theHonourable Minister of Finance, toreconsider some of the points whichthey would like to discuss with them. Ihope fervently that, as a result, a veryacceptable form of levying this tax willbe arrived at and the commercialcommunity would be happy to pay thetwo per cent. turnover tax.

Mr President : Persidangan ini di-tempohkan sa-hingga pukul 2.15petang.

Sitting suspended at 1.00 p.m.

Sitting resumed at 2.15 p.m.


THE TURNOVER TAX(AMENDMENT) BILL

Second Reading

Debate resumed

Dato ' Y.. T. Lee: Mr President, Sir,I agree wholeheartedly with what wassaid by my colleague Dato' T. H. Tan.

At an emergency meeting of theSelangor - Chinese Chamber of Com-merce held on the 17th December,1965, the members were unanimous intheir support of your 2% turnover taxat source. All of them hailed suchnew tax as fair and that this moneyis necessary for . the defence of thecountry.

They are prepared to pay the 2%tax levied on all imported goods atthe point of entry using the servicesof the Customs Department for collec-tion even if they could not eventuallydispose of all their imported goods andeven if there might be bad debts lateron.

Sir, you may say that this is notpossible since you have internationalobligations and regulations on thecollection of customs duties.

But surely Sir, a way can be foundto allow easy collection of this tax atsource.

The merchants are apprehensive ofthe method of collecting the 2% turn-over tax as proposed.

For instance, some rice dealers willhave to pay about $400,000 on the2% tax based on the importation for1965. All these rice dealers do notmake 2 % profit on the overall ricedealings. All rice dealers are compelledby law to purchase a certain percentof local rice in relation to theirimported rice and these were purchasedat a loss. Also there will be confusionof accounts between dealers anddealers.

Another illustration is of manufac-ture of local sauce. In the process ofmanufacturing, part of the raw ingre-dients required is imported directly,others are imported goods purchasedlocally and there are also thoseproduced locally.

All these compounds are required toproduce the sauce.

Before the announcement of theimplementation of the single tax atsource, they believe that no firms haveever recorded these charges separatelyfor the portion of goods imported northose purchased locally.

If the method of implementation asprescribed by the Government, isadopted to levy tax according to the1965 trading accounts, great difficultiesmay ensue.

I therefore, appeal to the Honour-able the Minister of Finance that thetax as from the 1st January, 1966, be

905 18 DECEMBER 1965 906

levied at source i.e. that the tax becollected at the point of entry.

Dato ' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: Mrpresident, Sir, I rise to support thisTurnover Tax (Amendment) Bill. I amproud that our democratic Govern-ment has listened to the voice of thepeople. After all, democracy is anacceptance of the majority will of thepeople, and the Government hasheeded the request and the multi-stageturnover tax has been amended to asingle stage tax at source. Fromreading this Bill, I understand that itshall come into force on the 1st day ofJanuary, 1966. I think it fair that if itshall come into force on the 1st day ofJanuary, 1966, taxation should alsocome into effect on that day 1stJanuary. After all, Sir, if you want themilk, you must look at the cow andsee what the cow is fed on, what typeor quality of milk you can get fromthat cow, and whether you can lookafter the cow well enough. If you area farmer, and if you want only yourfruits and never take care of the trees,your trees will not be producing thetype of fruits that you require: or ifyou are an apiarist and you only thinkof the honey and not of the bees, thenyou will not be getting the productthat you want very badly. I think ourGovernment is wise in heeding thevoice of the people, and, in thisinstance, I think it is fair that taxationshould begin on January 1st, 1966,because it will be fair to the traders,so that they could put up properaccounts to the Government in respectof their trading. The tax could becollected on a month-to-month basis,so that taxation will be very easy.The text of the speech which wasgiven by the Minister of Finance reads:

"This tax will now be levied on theactual value of sales of imported goodsother than those re-exported. In case animporter does not immediately sell suchgoods but processes or manufactures suchgoods for subsequent sale, the tax willapply only to that part the sale proceedswhich relate to imported content of thegoods. All other business transactions willtherefore, cease to be liable to turnovertax from next year."

From this, we can see that theFinance Minister has great sympathy

for the trader he is right to have thissympathy because he is a democraticMinister of Finance. He says that thetax will only apply to that part ofsales proceeds which relate to thecontent of the goods. But it must beremembered that we pay tax onimportation, then we pay a tariff tax onimportation, and then we pay a taxat source, i.e. a sales tax: first you payimportation tax; then you pay a tarifftax; and then again you pay a salestax, which means that there are threetaxations there. It is difficult for thebusinessman to pay so much at a time.So, I implore the Government and theMinister of Finance to see whether thisGovernment could find a way to lightenthe burden of the businessmen inrespect of the payment of this typeof taxation, because the businessmanhas got to pay three times importa-tion tax, tariff tax, and sales tax. If hecould do it, I think it will be of benefitto the country in that we will havemore businessmen trading, we will getmore taxation, turnover would bebetter, and we get more money.(Applause). I hope that the Ministerof Finance will think over this mattercarefully. Thank you Sir.

Dato' J. E. S. Crawford : Mr Presi-dent, Sir, in rising to support the Billto amend the Turnover Tax Act, 1965,I must say that I am most astonishedto hear what is said by manyHonourable Members, who formerlyin this House strongly urged theHonourable the Minister of Finance tochange the turnover tax from a multi-stage tax at the rate of % to a singlestage tax on import at a higher rate -Ibelieve the rate of 2% was mentioned..Now, Sir, that the Minister of Financehas introduced an amendment on theTurnover Tax Act, 1965, on the linessuggested, many Honourable Membersappear to foresee as many difficultiesas they did when the original TurnoverTax was introduced. Therefore, Sir,my sympathies lie with the HonourableMinister of Finance, and I have greatpleasure in lending my full support tothe present Amendment Bill nowbefore the House. Thank you, Sir.

907 18 DECEMBER 1965 908

Enche' Tan Siew Sin : Mr President,Sir, the last Honourable Member, infact, has put the point very well. AsHonourable Members of this Housewill recall, when the original multi-stage turnover tax was proposed, nearlyevery Chamber in this country sug-gested that the Government shouldinstead levy a single stage turnovertax at a higher rate. That is exactlywhat the Government has now done.Now, the same businessmen areproposing that we should do some-thing else, and I am sure if we are tofall in with the wishes at the nextBudget, they will say that this is notdesireable and we should do somethingelse instead. I think the trouble withthis tax is not so much that it is in-convenient but that those businessmendo not want to pay any taxation at all.I have come to this conclusion because,otherwise, I cannot understand whythey should object to the very proposalwhich they suggested only some timeago.

Dato ' Dr Cheah Toon Loll: MrPresident, Sir, it has been stated thatthey are willing to pay tax, and notunwilling to pay tax.

Enche' Tan Siew Sin : Mr President,Sir, it is a strange sort of willingnessto object to the very proposal whichyou yourself proposed only a few shortmonths ago. It is not a factor, as issuggested by one or two HonourableMembers to levy tax on a currentyear basis, because it is obvious thatif the tax is collected in 1966 theremust be a standard of measurement,and the standard of measurement mustbe imports made in 1965, becauseotherwise, Honourable Members willappreciate, no tax will be payable in1966 at all, and the Government willhave to wait until 1967 before it couldcollect the tax. It will, therefore, beseen that it is not really practicableto levy the tax on a current yearbasis. This is not an import duty, itis a turnover tax, and a turnover taxcan only be levied on sales. The otherdisadvantage of a straight import sur-charge, or an import duty, is that itwould be applicable to all imports,

that is to imports which are not soldimports for example which are madeand meant for the personal consump-tion of the importer himself. Now, theadvantage of this particular tax isthat it will only be levied or will onlybe applied to imports which are soldas well. I think that is a very bigdifference there, and this tax willtherefore exempt those who import fortheir own use or for their own con-sumption. Also I am not sure that allthe businessmen in this country wantstraight import surcharge. For example,a few days ago I received a deputationfrom the National Association ofManufacturers and they were honestenough to admit to me that opinion intheir Chamber was evenly divided.Some people preferred the presentmeasure, some people preferred ameasure based on import. It will, there-fore, be seen that whatever we do,there will be advantages and disadvan-tages, and I am sure that if the Govern-ment were to switch to the proposalwhich has been made in this House bya number of Honourable Members,other objections will be put forward,other disadvantages will be seen to beapparent, and then they will suggestthat we should do something elseinstead. I therefore, suggest to Honour-able Members that they should givethis Measure a trial and, if there areany minor points of implementationabout which they are unhappy, theycan always have a chat with the Comp-troller-General of Inland Revenue.




Bill considered in Committee.

(Mr President in the chair)

Clauses 1 and 2 . ordered to standpart of the Bill.

Schedule ordered to stand part ofthe Bill.

Bill reported without amendment :read the third time and passed.


THE INCOME TAX LAWS(MALAYSIA) (AMENDMENT)

(No. 2) BILLSecond Reading

Dato' T. H. Tan : Mr President, Sir,I beg to move that a Bill intituled"an Act to amend further the lawsrelating to income tax of Sabah,Sarawak and the States of Malaya"be now read a second time.

Dato ' Y. T. Lee: Mr President, Sir,I beg to second the motion.

Enche' Tan Siew Sin : Mr President,Sir, the purpose of this Bill is to amendfurther the Income Tax Ordinance,1947, of the States of Malaya, theIncome Tax Ordinance, 1956, ofSabah and the Inland Revenue Ordin-ance, 1960, of Sarawak, in order toimplement the proposals announced inmy Budget speech of 17th November,1965 relating to income tax.

The opportunity is also taken tomake minor amendments to streamlinethe operation of the existing legislation.In my Budget speech, I stated that theabatement of the rates of tax inrespect of the first $50,000 of charge-able income derived in Sarawak andSabah would be reduced from 40 percent. to 30 per cent. with effect from1st January, 1966, in respect ofSarawak and 1st July, 1966, in respectof Sabah. In order to give effect to thisproposal, the respective income taxlaws of Sabah and Sarawak have to beamended, and this has been done inparagraph 3 of the First Schedule ofthe Bill in respect of Sabah and inparagraph 2 of the Second Schedulein respect of Sarawak.

I also stated that, in order toencourage investment in new plantingin Sabah, the existing provision relatingto capital depreciation in Sabah wouldbe amended to bring it into line withthe existing provisions in the States ofMalaya. In Sabah, capital expenditureincurred on new planting may bewritten off in ten years, whereas in theStates of Malaya such capital expendi-ture may be written off in two years.The ten-year depreciation period inSabah will now be reduced_ to twoyears with effect from 1st January,

910

1965. Paragraph 1 of the First Scheduleto the Bill effects this amendment.

The opportunity is also taken in thisBill to transfer the power of exemptingany person or class of persons fromincome tax from the Dewan Raàyatto the Minister of Finance. Suchexemption will be made by the Ministerof Finance by means of an order whichwill have to be laid before the DewanRaàyat. The latter will have the powerto revoke the order, wholly or in part,at a meeting of the Dewan Raàyat atwhich the order is laid or at its nextmeeting. The transfer of this poweris considered reasonable as in mostcases these exemptions are purelyroutine in nature and considerableadministrative delay is experienced atthe moment in waiting for the DewanRaàyat to convene before any exemp-tion can be approved. I shouldemphasise that if the Dewan Raàyatconsiders that any decision of theMinister should be revoked, it still hasthe power to do so, when the order islaid before it.

The other amendments incorporatedin the Bill are minor and technical innature and are designed to redefineFederal tax as excluding tax paid inSingapore after 1965 and to make clearthe position of companies becomingresident or ceasing to be resident in theStates of Malaya during the year.

Dato' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: MrPresident, Sir, I rise to support thisBill. However, Sir, my intention is toencourage the growth of Sabah andSarawak by the employment of womenin the services, because Sabah andSarawak are short of manpower/womanpower. If you have this incometax, you would tax the incomes of thewife and the husband together and thehusband has got to pay more incometax on it. However, if you tax themseparately and thus allow the wife topay her own income tax and thehusband to pay his own income tax,you would encourage the women tocome forward to do public service andto be employed, so that Sabah wouldhave more of the female populationdoing work for the good of theGovernment. In that way it would


encourage the Sabah people, thewomen folk especially, to come outand work, so that they can help theGovernment to function. As it is,following Malaysia, you would tax thehusband and the wife together andthey have got to pay more income taxon it. So, I think that in the case ofSabah and Sarawak the Governmentshould consider whether they shouldhave separate income tax for the wifeand the husband. Thank you, Sir.

Enche' Tan Siew Sin: Mr President,Sir, I do not know what prompted theHonourable Dato' Dr Cheah Toon Lok(Laughter) to make this requestbecause, if he had been attentive towhat was reported in the press latelyabout Sabah and Sarawak, he wouldhave noticed that the Chief Minister ofSarawak told the Budget Meeting ofhis State Legislative Assembly that butfor Malaysia the Sarawak Governmentwould have to tax the people ofSarawak 20 times greater than whatthey are paying now. I therefore, feelthat the Borneo States have beenextremely generously treated not onlyin the matter of Development Fundsbut also in the matter of taxation. Sir,it will be appreciated that even withthis amendment the people in Sarawakand Sabah would still be paying 30%less income tax than the people of theStates of Malaya.

In the matter of indirect taxation,i.e. the import duties and rates ofCustoms duties in the Borneo States,they have still not been fully harmo-nised with those in Malaya. I therefore,feel and I am sure-that every fairminded person in this House and out-side will agree that the people in theBorneo States are getting an extremelyfair, if not generous deal from Malaya.

Question put, and agreed to.Bill accordingly read a second time

and committed to a Committee of thewhole House.


Bill considered in Committee.(Mr President in the Chair)


912

First Schedule ordered to stand partof the Bill.

Second Schedule ordered to standpart of the Bill.

Third Schedule ordered to stand partof the Bill.


THE EXCISE (AMENDMENT) BILL

Second Reading

Dato' T. H. Tan : Mr President, Sir,I beg to move that a Bill intituled"an Act to amend The Excise Act,1961" be now read a second time.

Dato ' Y. T. Lee: Sir, I beg to second.

Enche ' Tan Siew Sin : Mr President,Sir, Honourable Members will recallthat in my Budget Speech of 17thNovember, 1965, I stated that, in orderto give more freedom of action to ourown tobacco growers, who are nowhandicapped, in that they can sell theirproduce to only licensed dealers, it wasintended to remove such restriction, sothat growers could secure the bestprices possible by selling to the highestbidder. I also mentioned at that timethat when the appropriate legislationhas been amended to this effect, thepresent licence fee of $240 per annumcharged for a dealer's licence will beabolished.

The Bill before this House seeks toamend the Excise Act, 1961 accord-ingly, so that tobacco grown in theFederation will no longer be subject tothe payment of excise duty. Themanufacture of tobacco will continueto be licensed as usual and the ExciseAct is amended to confer power on theMinister to impose excise dutieson cigarettes manufactured in theFederation. The amendments relate inparticular to Part VI of the existingExcise Act, 1961, pertaining to thecollection of excise duty on tobaccoand dealings in tobacco grown in theFederaion.

Honourable Members will note fromClause 5 of the Bill that Part VI of theExcise Act, 1961, is to be removedin tow. The other amendments to the


Bill are consequential to the decisionnot to restrict tobacco growers in thesale of their products and the abolitionof the excise hitherto imposed on home-grown tobacco and uncured leaftobacco.






Clauses 1 to 8 inclusive ordered tostand part of the Bill.


THE SUPPLEMENTARY SUPPLY(1965) (No. 2) BILL

Second Reading

Dato ' T. H. Tao : Mr President, Sir,I beg to move that a Bill intituled"an Act to apply sums out of theConsolidated Fund for additionalexpenditure for the service of the year1965 and to appropriate such sums forcertain purposes" be now read a secondtime.

Dato ' Y. T. Lee: Sir, I beg to secondthe motion.

Dr Ng Kam Poh : Mr President, Sir,Clause 2 of the Bill seeks authority foradditional expenditure of $35,557,365for the service of the year 1965, andthis is shown in the Schedule to theBill and also in the supply expendituresection of the Second SupplementaryEstimates of Expenditure 1965, tabledas Command Paper No. 36 of 1965.Of the sum required, as additionalexpenditure an amount of $20,542,012had been advanced from the Contingen-cies Fund to meet urgent expenditureand this has now to be recouped. Itwill be observed that out of the totalsum of $58,823,069 included in thissupplement, a sum of $23,265,704 isrequired to meet the cost of financingcharged expenditure services which arenot, of course, included in the Supple-mentary Supply Bill. The items of

914

charged expenditure are fully explainedon pages 4, 5 and 6 of the TreasuryMemorandum tabled as CommandPaper No. 37 of 1965.

In the Supply Section of this Supple-ment, the biggest item of expenditureis in respect of Head S. 19, EducationGrants and Subventions, under whicha sum of $12 million is required as acontribution towards recurrent expendi-ture in respect of the States of Malayastudents studying in the University ofSingapore for the years 1962-1964.

Head S. 25, Contributions to Statu-tory Funds, requires a supplement of$7.8 million of which $4.8 million isrequired for increasing the amount inthe State Reserve Fund, so that pay-ment could be made to certain Stateswhich were in deficit during the years1961-1964. Another sum of $3 millionis required for increasing the amountin the Supplies Department TradingAccount to $68 million since theexisting amount, has proved to beinsufficient in view of the larger stockthat has to be held on account ofMalaysia and the prevailing securitysituation. With this amount, theAccount's limit will be raised from$65 million to $68 million.

Head S. 34, Royal Malaysia Police,requires a sum of $3.8 million of which$1.8 million is for supplementing theSecret Service Vote and $1.7 millionfor Personal Emoluments and Allow-ances for the Sarawak AuxiliaryConstabulary, the cost of emergencyworks and equipment and the cost ofsecurity fencing and lighting of policestations.

Head S. 33, Ministry of HomeAffairs, requires a sum of $2.8 million,of which $2.5 million is required foremergency regrouping in Sarawak, and$0.2 million for providing financialassistance to fishermen affected bycurfew orders.

Head S. 24, Treasury GeneralServices, requires a sum of $2.8 million,of which $2.7 million is meant to coverthe cost of miscellaneous servicesrendered by the Singapore Governmenton behalf of the Federal Governmentfor the period 16th September, `1963to 31st December, 1964. a<<

915 18 DECEMBER 1965 916

Head S. 39, Commissioner ofNational Registration, requires a sumof $1 million to supplement the existingvotes under Personal Emoluments,Other Charges Annually Recurrent andOther Charges Special Expenditure asa consequence of carrying out a re-registration scheme in Sarawak and tomeet the payment of arrears of salariesand allowances arising from therevision of salary scales and housingallowances for permanent and tem-porary clerks.

Head S. 7, Prime Minister, requiresa sum of $0.6 million to meet, amongother things, the additional cost ofofficial presentations consequent uponthe overseas visits made by HisMajesty, the Prime Minister and theDeputy Prime Minister, rental andmaintenance charges of Rumah Per-sekutuan in Jesselton, expenses inconnection with the birthday celebra-tion of His Majesty, the celebration ofthe second anniversary of Malaysia,expenditure on the National Memorial,National Mosque, and reimbursementto the International Bank for Recon-struction and Development for expensesincurred by the Rueff Mission.

Head S. 12, Overseas Service AidScheme, requires a sum of $0.5 millionsince the provision in the originalestimate has been under-estimated.This item is recoverable from theBritish Government.

Head S. 14, Ministry of Commerceand Industry, requires a sum of $0.4million for subsidising the cost ofelectricity supplied to new villagesfor the year 1964. Three token votesare also required under this Head forthe purpose of establishing a StandardsInstitute for Malaysia, a Trade Com-missioners' Service, and for meetingexpenses of Government representativeswho attended the Management Meetingof the International Rubber StudyGroup in April/May, 1965.

Head S. 47 requires a sum of$88,323 to supplement Sub-head"Legal expenses, fees and retainers" asthe existing provision to meet the feesincurred by Government is found to beinadequate to cover the legal fees of

the then Honourable Minister ofHealth, Enche' Abdul Rahman binTaiib, in his case against the Honour-able Enche' D. R. Seenivasagam andEnche' Abu Bakar bin Ismail.

The other items of expenditure inthe second supplement, which have notbeen singled out by me, are relativelysmall in amount and these are des-cribed in the Treasury Memorandummentioned before.

Dato ' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: MrPresident, Sir, it is indeed a greatsurprise that the Lower House gavesanction to the expenditure of $35million, in excess of the expendituresanctioned by the Supply Act, 1965,because we have spent more than wehave estimated. In other words, wehave lost interest on the $35 millionwhich otherwise would be in ourTreasury. At the same time, I se fromHead S. 42, Radio Services, that theycannot make up their mind as to howmuch is required to improve our RadioService they have put only $10.Now, how could we account for this?Is the Minister going to come to theHouse with another Bill in 1966 to askfor the sanction of the House for $5million for Radio Services? TheMinister should make up his mind asto how much is required for the RadioServices at least, he could put upthe estimates and not put $10, so thathe need not come to the House oftento ask for more money. I do not thinkthat is properly done. I hope theGovernment would not be spending somuch now, because after all the moneycomes from the taxpayers. The moreyou spend, the more tax you want;and then you tax us without consideringwhether we can afford to pay such taxor not. At least, the Government shouldgive us a chance to say, "Now, we canpay this tax, but let us pay it in thisway, or in that way", so that ourpeople could be satisfied that theyhave the money to pay. If the Govern-ment does it like this, I do not knowhow much we are being asked to paymore. Sir. I hope that the Governmentwill consider how to use this moneyproperly, and I urge that the Den art-ment of Information and Radio

917 18 DECEMBER 1 965

Services should make up its mind asto how much it is going to spend. Ithas put down only $10 here. I hopethe Minister could make up his mind.

Dr Ng Kam Poh : Mr President, Sir,I agree with the Honourable Dato' DrCheah Toon Lok that we should livewithin our means -I fully agree withhim. However, Mr President, Sir, wesometimes meet with contingencies,which we do not foresee and, as suchwe sometimes have to put a token voteof $10, the reason being that, if wehave a token vote, we can spend fromthe Contingencies Reserve for thatpurpose. It is not the intention of theGovernment, Mr President, Sir, towaste the taxpayers' money nor to taxthe taxpayers harshly, nor to levy atax so burdensome on the taxpayers ofthis country that they cannot bear itand might turn communists. I canassure the Honourable Dato' Dr Cheahthat we will not be so. We will neverturn our country into such a statewhere each and everyone would wantto turn communist. We have confronta-tion to face, and that is why, to acertain degree, higher taxation isnecessary.

I have already explained why thesum of over $35 million in excess ofwhat was applied for in the SupplyAct, 1965 is required Sir, conditionsare not of our own making. I regretthat we have to come to the Houseeach and every time to ask for supple-mentary supply estimates, because wefind that in the running of the Govern-ment, estimates do not actually providefor the actual running expenditure ofGovernment in that sense.


Bill accordingly read a second time.

Third Reading

Dato' T. H. Tan: Mr President, Sir,beg to move that the' Supplementary

Supply (1965). (No 2)' Bill, 1965 beread the third` time ` and passed.

.5

Dato ' YT. Lee: Mr President, Sir,I beg. to ••.secondd the motion.. .

Question put; and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read the third time

and passed.

918

THE DEVELOPMENT FUND(AMENDMENT) BILL

Second Reading

Dato ' T. H. Tan: Mr President, Sir,I beg to move that a Bill intituled"an Act to amend the DevelopmentFund Ordinance, 1958" be read asecond time.


Dr Ng Kam Poh : Mr President, Sir,the Development Fund Ordinance,1958, provides, inter alia, that themoneys in the Development Fundshould be applied only for the purposes,or any one or more thereof, specified inthe First Schedule to the Ordinance. Asthe First Schedule stands at present,such moneys cannot be used to providecapital for a commercial undertaking inwhich Government may wish to acquirean interest. In this connection, Honour-able Members will be aware that it hasbeen publicly announced by Govern-ment previously that it would initiateaction to establish a Bank to be knownas Bank Bumiputera' along the lines ofthe resolution of the Kongress EkonomiBumiputera Malaysia and that theinitial capital outlay of $5 million forthis Bank would be provided byGovernment. Such an outlay will beregarded as Government's equity invest-ment in the authorised capital of theBank.

The Bank has already been registeredas a Company known as BankBumiputera (Malaysia) Ltd, and it willoperate as a commercial bank to belicensed as such under the BankingOrdinance, 1958.

In order that Government may beable to implement its policy decisionto invest $5 million in Bank Bumi-putera, it is necessary that the FirstSchedule to the Development FundOrdinance be amended by insertingimmediately after paragraph 6 thereofa provision to the effect that theDevelopment Fund may be used for thepayment of any sum subscribed by theGovernment as equity investment in.the authorised capital of Bank Bumi-putera licensed under the :. BankingOrdinance, 1958.

919 18 "DECEMBER 1965 920

Dato' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: MrPresident, Sir, may I ask the AssistantMinister of Finance what is themeaning of "equity investment?"

Dr Ng Kam Poh : Mr President, Sir,"equity" means "fair". So equityinvestment means a fair investment,which we think can bring profits tothe Government.

Question put, and agreed to.Bill accordingly read a second time


House immediately resolved itselfinto a committee on the Bill.

Bill considered in Committee.(Mr President in the Chair)


Bill reported without amendment:read the third time and paned.

THE CUSTOMS (MALAYSIANCOMMON TARIFFS) BILL

Second Reading

Dato ' T. H. Tan : Mr President, Sir,) beg to move that a Bill intituied"an Act to create Common Tariffs forMalaysia and to provide for mattersincidental thereto" be now read asecond time.

Dato' Y. T. Lee: Mr President, Sir•! beg to second the motion.

Dr Ng Kam Poh: Mr President, Sir•as Honourable Members are aware,there are five different customs regionsin Malaysia at present; namely, thePrincipal Customs area of the Statesof Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, Penangand Labuan. The last two are adjunctsto their relative principal customsareas and are freeport areas. So longas these customs regions remainseparate as they are at present, thefree movement of goods, even of thosemanufactured within Malaysia, is notpossible except under authority of anExemption. Order under the relevantCustoms legislation in force.. It still beremembered in this context that eachof the component of Malaysia willretains its own Customs legislationpending the enactment of a unifiedCustoms Ordinance to cover the wholeof the Malaysia.

In these circumstances, it will beevident that it is not possible toimpose, for instances a common levelof protective duty to cover all partsof Malaysia in the interest of Malaysianmanufactures and industry wheresuch protection is required, unless thevarious Customs laws are invoked.This, in effect, means the issue ofCustoms Orders under the MalayanCustoms Ordinance, 1952, the SabahCustoms Ordinance and the SarawakCustoms Ordinance, should it bedecided to subject a particular com-modity in Malaysia to a uniform levelof tariff.

This procedure involves unnecessarypaper work and can lead to confusionas the business community will haveto refer to multiple Customs Ordersunder the respective laws in force todetermine the level of common tariffin the various components of Malaysia.In the light of the increasing tempo ofindustrial development in this countryand the growing consciousness thathome-produced goods should be boughtin preference to the imported article, itis clearly necessary that where suchdomestic products are protected bytariffs they should be able to movefrom one part of the country to theother with the minimum of administra-tive delay.

In these circumstances, the Customs(Malaysian Common Tariffs) Bill hasbeen drawn up to provide the Ministerof Finance with statutory powers tolevy common tariffs in Malaysia ongoods imported into Malaysia. TheBill also provides for the revocation ofduties levied under the Customs lawsin force in the States of Malaya,Sabah and Sarawak, when such goodsbecome subject to a common tariff.Imported goods will thus be subjecteither to common tariffs after which nofurther duties will be imnosed on themwhen they are moved from one partof Malaysia to another, or if nocommon tariffs have been imposed onsuch goods, they will then be subjectto whatever tariffs may have beenlevied under the separate Customs lawsin the three components of Malaysia.

921 1 8 DECEMBER 1965 922

Perhaps, the most forward lookingfeature in this Bill is the provisionrelating to the present free port areasof Penang and Labuan. Hitherto, theMinister of Finance could not levy dutyon any goods entering Penang andLabuan without effecting an amend-ment to the appropriate Customslegislation. This is obviously highlyunsatisfactory, as an amendment Billtakes time to be passed, and it issometimes necessary to impose dutieswithout any delay, and without anyadvance publicity, for revenue, pro-tective or anti-smuggling purposes.The Bill before this House wouldrender this outdated procedure un-necessary as the Minister of Financewould then be empowered to extend toPenang and Labuan any commontariffs that may be applicable to therest of Malaysia.

Honourable Members may recall thata substantial range of domestic pro-ducts were accorded additional pro-tection with effect from 9th October,1965 and a majority of these wereallowed free movement within Malay-sia. It has not been possible, however,to accord this treatment to industriesin Penang and Labuan because of theirfree port status and their special posi-tion in the respective Customs laws ofthe States of Malaya and Sabah.Industries in Penang therefore mayfind that they have to compete in theMalaysian market on the same termsas foreign manufacturers while at thesame time they will not be able tobenefit from the protection accordedto similar industries in the rest ofMalaysia. This is, of course, one of thedisadvantages of siting industries in afree port area.

A situation may arise where it isnecessary for tariffs to be imposed, inPenang and Labuan despite their pre-sent free port status, and HonourableMembers will note that Clause 2 (2) ofthe Bill will empower the Minister ofFinance to extend common tariffs toPenang and Labuan. I would like toassure Honourable Members, however,particularly those from Penang, thatbefore any such extension of tariffs

takes place, there will be consultationbetween the Central and State Govern-ments concerned.

I would like to mention again atthis juncture that this Bill may be onlya temporary measure, as the ultimateobjective of the Government is to framea unified Customs Act for all thecomponents of Malaysia. The fiat stepin such an exercise would be theharmonisation of as many tariff itemsas is possible at this juncture, havingdue regard to the differing needs of theseveral components of this country.Until the overwhelming majority of theduties are harmonised, it is still a littleearly in the day to have such unifiedlegislation, and this Bill should there-fore, serve the immediate purpose forwhich it is framed.

Nik Hassan bin Haji Nik Yahya:Dato' Yang di-Pertua, saya menyokongRang Undang2 di-hadapan kita ini,kerana banyak kesulitan2 yang di-tanggong oleh ahli2 di-pasarandi-Sabah dan Sarawak, umpama-nyadari negeri dalam Malaysia mi. Jadi,saya harap apabila Rang Undang2 inidi-luluskan, masa menentukan barang2yang hendak di-beri kebebasan dalam1'cara kita ini jangan-lah Pula Menteriyang berkenaan itu lupakan barang2yang di-usahakan oleh anak2 negeri ini,terutama sa-kali daripada perusahaanyang kechil2. Saya suka mengingatkankanada Menteri supaya mengambil per-hatian kapada barang2 saperti barang2perusahaan tangan yang ada di-PahtaiTimor yang many j uga mustahakdi-pasarkan ka-negeri2 saperti Sabahdan Sarawak. Pada masa ini barang2perusahaan ini terpaksa di-tahan diKastam di-Sarawak atau pun di-Sabahdengan kerana terpaksa di-kehendakikebenasan khan untok membawabarang2 itu masok ka-negeri2 itu, padahal negeri itu ada-lah negeri dalam.Malaysia kita ini j uga. J a di, sagaharap dengan kelulusan Undang2 ini,barang2 saperti barang2 perusahaantangan_ kain batek tenon, barang2nerak dan sa-bagai-nya yang di-keluar-kan o?eh anak negeri sa-charabersendirian, sa-chara kechil, di-PantaiTimor itu juga di-masokkan dalamsenarai kebebasan barang2 itu untok


di-pasarkan di-seluroh Malaysia inisa-lain daripada barang pengeluaranyang di-xeiuarxan oieti kilang2 di-dalam Tanah Melayu kita ini is-itukilang2 yang besar.

Satu lagi, saya suka hendak bertanyakapada Menteri yang berkenaan, apa-bila Undang2 ini berjalan, machambarang kita saperti kain batek daripadaKelantan, apabila di-hantarkan ka-Sabah atau pun Sarawak, ada-kahdi-maksudkan mesti ada surat yangmengesahkan barang itu di-buat di-Tanah Melayu ini atau pun bplehdi-hantar terus dengan tidak payahmengadakan surat pengesahan keluaranbarang itu daripada negeri Tanah Me-layu ini, atau pun macham mana-kahchara-nya hendak menentukan, sebabada sa-tengah2 barang umpama-nyayang datang daripada negeri2 lainmenerusi Singapore atau pun negeri2lain yang di-tuj ukan kapada Sabah danSarawak, pada hal barang itu berasaldaripada negeri lain tetapi sama jenis-nya dengan barang yang di-hantarka-Sarawak dan ka-Sabah. Bagaimanapehak kastam hendak membezakanyang barang itu berasal daripada Tanah.Melayu dan terus di-hantarkan ka-Sabah dan Sarawak. Jadi apa yangsaya kehendaki is-lah supaya barang2daripada Tanah Melayu ini yang di-hantar terus ka-Sarawak dan Sabahitu di-bebaskan dan dapat di-berikebebasan dengan tidak payah, kalauboleh, di-adakan permit khas bagibarang2 itu memada-lah dengan akuan2,kita katakan asal-nya barang itudi-buat di-Tanah Melayu itu akuandaripada Kerajaan Negeri atau punakuan daripada Chamber of Commerce,atau pun macham many chara-nya.Jadi saya hendak minta penjelasandaripada Menteri bagaimana perkaraitu hendak di-atorkan. Sekian, terimakaseh.

Dato' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: MrPresident, Sir, I rise to support thisBill and to say that I agree with thesuggestions made by my Honourablecolleague, Nik Hassan. Sir, the creationof tariff is a protection for our growingindustries, but yet this protection is adouble-edged sword, because there arearticles manufactured outside which

924

are better than those manufactured inour country, and even if you levy atariff twice the price of an article out-side, people will still insist on buyingthe better article instead of buying thecheaper article. I have been to shopsand I can see that in many shops thereare enamel wares which are manu-factured in Malaysia, but they do notcome up to the standard of importedproducts. We are protecting ourselves-yes-but it is a double-edged sword.The manufacturer thinks that, as heis already protected, he need notmanufacture a product which isequivalent in quality to that of animported product here, we are losingmoney and at the same time we allowimportation to come in even at a higherprice. I suggest that in order to remedythat defect we must have a Board ofStandards, which will say to the manu-facturer, "Your article is not up tothis standard; we want it to be up tothis standard, or your licence, and soon, will be refused." By this we canget a better product in place of thebad product that we are producingtoday and there are so many things,like tyres, enamel wares, etc., whichare produced but which are not up tothe quality that is internationallyknown. So, I suggest again to theGovernment that it should have aBoard of Standards to examine ourproducts to see whether they can comeup to the quality of imported goods.If our own products cannot do so,then I think people will still insist, inspite of the lower price, on buying abetter product, and I hope the Govern-ment will set up a Board of Standardsto look into the matter of protection.Sir, this Act is to create common tariffsfor Malaysia, and as tariff is a pro-tection for our manufacturers, I hopethat the Government will also see to itthat for the protection afforded ourmanufacturers produce goods that cancome up to international standard.

Dr Ng Kam Poh : Mr President, Sir,I shall reply to the Honourable Dato'Dr Cheah Toon Lok first. I believethat in my speech just now on theSecond Supplementary Supply Bill, Isaid that a Standards Institute for

925 18 DECEMBER 1965 926

Malaysia is to be instituted. We aregoing to establish a Standards Institute,because goods manufactured in thiscountry have come under a viciouscampaign, as was mentioned by theHonourable Minister of Commerce andIndustry in the Lower House. Sir, avicious campaign has been going onagainst goods manufactured in thiscountry, and in order to wipe out suchmalicious and vicious propaganda, weare going to set up a Standards Insti-tute by which we can gauge whetherproduct produced locally are equivalentto or if not better than the goodsimported. Again, Sir, it is no use sayingthat the goods produced here are nogood, unless we know what our locallymanufactured goods are. I contend, Sir,that the Government, or the manufac-turers as a whole, did not advertiseenough and did not let the peopleknow enough that there are so manyvarious types of locally producedgoods. If one would only go to oneof the Trade Fairs in an aroundMalaysia and there was one in KualaLumpur recently one could see foroneself that the locally produced goodsare of good quality. However, it takestime for the people of Malaysia toaccept that what is locally made isgood and comparable to, if not betterthan what is imported and this isbecause we have been under 140 yearsof colonialism, during which there wasno manufacturing in this sector but wehad to import goods from countrieslike Britain, United States, Europeancountries, Australia, even China. Nowis the time for our young anddeveloping nation to manufacture ourown goods and show to the worldthat our goods can be equal to, if notbetter than any type of goods imported.So, I hope Honourable Members ofthis Senate will feel the same as I dotowards goods that are manufacturedin this country.

Now, I shall reply to the HonourableSenator Nik Hassan. I agree with himthat at the present moment things likekain son gket, kain batek, are exportedto Sabah and Sarawak, and they needa certificate of origin. Unless they dothat then they will be subject to cus-toms duty. Other things being equal,

they will be subject to customs dutiesfor the time being for revenue purposes.But once the . Malaysian CommonTariffs Act comes into force and, lateron the unified Malaysian CustomsOrdinance is set, then goods, as I havesaid before in my speech, can movefreely from one component State ofMalaysia to the other without tariffs.Goods manufactured in Sabah or inSarawak can come to Malaysia withouttariffs and goods manufactured inMalaya can go to Sabah and Sarawakwithout tariffs. That is the main objectof this exercise. I hope I have satisfiedthe Senate in all aspects of argument.Thank you very much.








THE INSURANCE (AMENDMENT)BILL

Second Reading

Dato' T. H. Tan: Mr President, Sir,I beg to move that a Bill intituled"an Act to amend the Insurance Act,1963" be read a second time.

Che' Aishah binti Haji Abdul Ghani:Tuan Yang di-Pertua, saya menyokong.

The Assistant Minister of Finance(Dr Ng Kam Poh): Mr President, Sir,after two years of administration ofthe Insurance Act, 1963, experience hasshown that a few amendments areadvisable.

At present the Insurance Com-missioner has no power to refuseregistration of an applicant companyif it complies with all the technicalrequirements. Clauses 2 and 3 of theBill allow the Minister discretion torefuse registration to insurance com-panies on other than technical grounds.


The applicant would retain the rightof appeal against the decision of theCommissioner but not against that ofthe Minister . The relatively smallinsurance market in Malaysia is alreadycrowded with 95 insurers operating.Competition which is too intense -, tendsto induce a high cost factor, which isnot in the best interests of the insuringpublic. The proposed ministerial dis-cretion provides a flexibility ofapproach to varying circumstances asthey arise.

In the second Schedule to the Insu-rance Act, - 1963, a wide range ofsecurities is authorised for insurancefunds and deposits. There is insufficientdegree of selection for securities per-•mitted as statutory deposits. Clause 4of the Bill is designed to permit ahigher degree of selection of securitiesused as statutory deposits . Governmentloans, loans to statutory bodies, fixeddeposits with banks or cash would beaccepted automatically. Shares, deben-tures of companies mortgages on land,etc., would be subjected to carefulscrutiny.

The Insurance Commissioner- in hisSecond Annual Report drew attentionto the extent to which general insurershave allowed credit for premiums andthe serious effect this can have on thefinancial stability of the Malaysianinsurance funds of these companies.The extent of this credit was unknownwhen the Act was drafted. From thereturns received during 1964 twenty-three general insurers disclosed thattheir States of Malaya insurance fundcomprised assets of which 30% or morewere outstanding or un-collected pre-miums . There even exceeded 98 %. Inthe event of a winding up of the fund,these assets will be of little value asthe cost of securing payment wouldmost likely be too high . Clause 5 ofthe Bill aims to limit the amount ofoutstanding premiums and agents,balances which may be claimed as anassets of the insurance fund . Provision•to phase the limitations over a periodof years has been made in order toavoid undue embarrassment to thecompanies concerned.

928

An alternative method would be tolegislate for payment of premiumbefore commencement of risk allowinga bank guarantee or monthly settlementin lieu of a cash payment. The Govern-ment has not chosen this methodbecause, given reasonable protectionfor policy owners,. the companiesshould. be allowed to manage their ownaffairs in the atmosphere of free enter-, prise. This system of control wouldentail Government inspection of com-pany offices which is an added costand for which trained staff would notbe readily available.

Clause 6 of the Bill seeks to rectifyan oversight in the Insurance Act andensure that reports and accounts ofinsurance companies as a whole areavailable for public inspection.

Section 44 of the Insurance Actmakes provision for the early paymentof death claims where the proceedsof the policies do not in the aggregateexceed $1.0,000. This is a usual type ofprovision to allow ready money to beavailable for the next-of-kin. However,until evidence is produced that estateduty has been paid or that the estate isexempted from duty, 10% of the claimmonies must be withheld. If this 10%is not claimed within 12 months, theinsurance company concerned is re-quired to deposit the amount with theTreasury. Clause 8 of the Bill requiresa certification of compliance to appearon the balance sheet.

Nik Hassan bin Haji Nik Yahya:Tuan Yang di-Pertua, saya bertanyakapada Menteri yang berkenaandengan perjalanan Sharikat2 Insurancemi. Ada-kah Kerajaan mempunyalsatu badan yang tertentu yangmengawasi di-atas perjalanan Sharikat2Insurance ini ? Sebab, umpama-nyakita kata, kalau bank, bank2 itu sen-tiasa di-awasi, di-jaga oleh BankNegara, tetapi, Sharikat2 Insurance iniada-kah di-jaga atau di-kawal olehsatu badan yang boleh mengawal,menjaga, supaya tidak-lah sharikat iniberjalan mengikut suka hati-nya,yang boleh menyebabkan kesusahankapada Kerajaan. Itu sahaja per-tanyaan says.

929 18 DECEMBER 1965 930

Dr Ng Kam Poh: Sir, in answer tothe Honourable Senator Nik Hassan, Iwould like to say that the InsuranceAct of 1963 is the body or measure toprotect the insurees of Malaysia whowish to insure for life insurance, forgeneral insurance and so forth. TheBill before the House is an amendmentto the Insurance Act of 1963; it limitsinsurance companies in respect ofdeclaring unclaimed 'liabilities, out-standing premiums, etc., as assets whichis a dangerous practice in the caseof unpaid premiums if there aredeclared as assets, then you have noassets at all. This Bill is primarilyaimed at preventing such an occasionarising.

Nik Hassan: Tuan Yang di-Pertua,saya suka hendak bertanya, ada-kahKeraj aan mempunyai satu badan yangtertentu untok mengawalkan perjalananSharikat2 Insurance ini? BagaimanaMenteri kata tadi, Undang2 ini-lah yangmengawalkan. Itu saya f aham. Samajuga macham bank2, Undang2 BangNegara itu untok mengawal bank yangada ini. Tetapi, Bank Negara, dia adapegawai2-nya yang boleh mengawasi,memereksa, dan menjaga supaya bankitu tidak terkeluar daripada Undang2Bank itu. Jadi, sekarang saya bertanyakira-nya kita sudah ada satu undang2insurance, kemudian undang2 ini siapayang menjalankan, pegawai yang meng-awasi, satu badan yang mengawasiperjalanan itu. Sebab saya bertanyaitu kerana bagini, kita sudah banyakmenempoh kesusahan berkenaan Sha-rikat Insurance ini. Berapa banyakSharikat2 ini telah di-bubarkan olehKerajaan dengan kerana tidak betulperjalanan-nya dan boleh di-jalankandengan menyusahkan orang ramai danberbagai2 perkara yang berlaku yangmana terpaksa Kerajaan mengambiltindakan. Jadi, sa-lepas kita mengambiltindakan itu, tidak-lah Keraj aan memi-kirkan Sharikat Insurance ini satuperkara yang besar yang banyakraàyat yang terlibat di-dalam-nya.Kira-nya di-fikirkan bagitu, tidak-kahKeraj aan berfikir patut ada satubadan yang boleh menjaga, meng-

awasi di-atas perjalanan SharikatInsurance ini, saperti Watch DogCommittee atau apa-kah, badanyang menjaga, mengawal, supayaSharikat2 itu berjalan dengan betul.Sebab, banyak raàyat yang terlibatdalam sharikat ini dia boleh buatmacham2 perkara. Jadi, kalau kitatinggalkan sa-orang pegawai sahaja,barangkali kesalahan itu berjalan ber-tahun2, baharu-lah hendak kita tahuh al itu.

Sa-bagaimana yang telah berlakubanyak company Insurance di-tuboh-kan dengan chara haram, machamkurap sahaja dia naik. KemudianKerajaan tidak tahu apa yang berlaku.Aleh2 Keraj aan ambil tindakan mem-bubarkan. Mengambil tindakan yangmenakutkan raàyat umum ini dalamperkara mengambil insurance ini. Jadidaripada perkara itu berlaku, tidak-kahkita fikirkan baik kalau kita adakansatu badan mengawasi supaya j anganperkara itu berlaku. Maàna-nya kalaukita j aga2 penyakit itu j angan-lah j adiada-nya penyakit, j aga dahulu. Inikalau sudah sakit, habis, baru-lah kitahendak ubat, itu satu perkara yangberat juga. Jadi pada pendapat saya,patut juga Kerajaan mengadakan satubadan, badan yang boleh mengawal,sebab ada kala-nya sharikat Insuranceyang kechil2 dia boleh memainkanwang orang kampong itu. Ada sa-tengah2 Sharikat Insurance dia ambilwang dengan tidak mengeluarkanreceipt, macham2-lah perkara. yang ber-laku yang mana, boleh jadi, Companyitu sendiri tidak buat bagitu, tetapikaki-nya, wakil-nya yang berbuatbagitu. Jadi perkara ini yang banyakterlibat is-lah orange kampong yangmiskin dan sa-bagai-nya yang patut di-kawal oleh Kerajaan dan pengawalanitu kita buat dengan j alan undang2 mi.Tetapi undang2 ini tidak chukup,mesti kita adakan satu badan, badanyang boleh menjaga mana2 InsuranceCompany yang berjalan tidak betulbarangkali badan itu boleh mengambiltindakan dengan serta merta. Jadi itu-lah maksud saya bertanya akan badanyang sa-umpama itu.

931 18 DECEMBER 1965 932

Dr Ng Kam Poh : Mr President, Sir,I understand what he means. Therehas been since 1963 a Division in theMinistry of Finance itu is-lah suatuBahagian di-dalam Kementerian Ke-wangan) called the Insurance Divisionheaded by the Insurance Commissioner.He is in charge of all insurance com-panies throughout the whole ofMalaysia. Every year insurance com-panies must by law produce to theinsurance Commissioner a report of alltheir activities throughout the year, andthe insurance Division under thecharge of the Insurance Commissionergoes through all these reports.This is one of the reports whichis tabled yearly in the Dewan.Ra`ayat I do not know whether it istabled in the Dewan Negara for theperusal of all Members of Parliament.So you see, from this, we find outthe mistakes, if any, of the companies,and we amend the law accordingly tocontrol them.

What the Honourable Senator NikHassan is probably afraid of was theformation of the mushroom companies,if I am not mistaken; however, thishas been done away with the publica-tion of the Insurance Act of 1963.Even there we find that there arecertain loopholes, and that is why weput an amendment to this Act, so thatthere would not be any more loopholesleft and if we should find any more,we will still plug them. (Laughter).

Therefore, Sir, there is a body, aDivision, the Insurance Division, in theMinistry of Finance I hope I wouldnot need to explain any further.






Clauses I to 8 inclusive ordered tostand part of the Bill.

Bill reported without amendment:read the third time and passed-

THE CONVENTION ON THESETTLEMENT OF INVESTMENT

DISPUTES BILL

Second Reading

Dato' T. H. Tan: Mr President, Sir,I beg to move that a Bill intituled"an Act to ratify and give legalsanction to the provisions of the Con-vention on the Settlement of InvestmentDisputes" be now read a second time.

Dr Ng Kam Poh: Mr President, Sir,as Honourable Members are aware,one of the major obstacles to privateforeign investment in developing coun-tries has been the problem of thesettlement of disputes between Govern-ments and private parties. Hitherto, aninvestor who wished to contest theaction of a Government had to invokethe diplomatic protection of his ownGovernment or request his Governmentto forward his case to an internationaltribunal. Neither remedy has beenfound to be satisfactory. The absenceof adequate machinery for internationalconciliation and arbitration has oftenfrustrated attempts to agree on anappropriate mode of settlement of suchdisputes.

Hence the World Bank has suggestedthe establishment of an institution tobe called "The Arbitration and Recon-ciliation Centre" as an answer to theproblem. This centre would be spon-sored by the Bank, but its relationshipto the Bank would in no way impairits independence in the exercise of itsquasi-judicial function.

The Convention on the Settlementof Investment Disputes has beensponsored by the World Bank as ameans of strengthening the partnershipbetween countries in the cause ofeconomic development. The Conventionprovides for the establishment of aninternational centre for the settlementof investment disputes. This can be amajor step towards promoting anatmosphere of mutual confidence whichwould stimulate a greater flow ofinternational capital into those countrieswith which it contracts.

The Convention will establish anorganisation which will provide bothconciliation and arbitration facilities at

933 18 DECEMBER 1965 934

international level. The organisationwill comprise an administrative council,a secretariat, and panels of conciliatorsand arbitrators. The administrativecouncil will consist of one memberfrom each of the contracting Govern-ments. Each member shall have onevote. Each State designate four personseach to the panel of conciliators andthe panel of arbitrators.

In accordance with Article 25 (4) ofthe Convention, "a Contracting Partycan notify the Centre at the time ofratification, acceptance and approvalof this Convention, or at any timethereafter, the class or classes ofdisputes which it would or would notconsider submitting to the jurisdictionof the Centre." It is proposed thatMalaysia should refrain from com-mitting itself in advance to refer anyparticular class or classes of disputesto the Centre. In accordance withArticle 26, it is proposed that thisGovernment should insist on theexhaustion of domestic, administrativeand judicial remedies as a condition ofits consent.

I would like to draw the attentionof Honourable Members to the factthat adherence to the agreement wouldnot by itself, legally or morally, obligateany State to submit itself to thejurisdiction of the Centre. The use ofthe Centre would be entirely voluntary.Jurisdiction can be conferred on theCentre, either by a unilateral declara-tion of a State agreeing in advance tothe submission of particular types ofdisputes for arbitration or conciliationby the Centre or by agreement betweena State and a particular investor. Inorder to ensure that the Centre wouldnot be meaningless, the Conventionprovides that once a State has volun-tarily agreed to submit a particularclass of disputes to the jurisdiction ofthe Centre, this agreement would be abinding international obligation.

Honourable Members may wish tonote that as at 22nd October, 1965,twenty-five member countries of theWorld Bank, including Malaysia, hassigned the Convention. The signatoriesinclude a number of Afro-Asiancountries, such as, Cameroon, Central

African Republic, Dahomey, Ethiopia,Gabon, Ivory Coast, Japan, Liberia,Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Nepal,Sierra Leone, Somalia, Morocco,Tunisia, and Upper Volta.

It would be very much in keepingwith our policy of encouraging foreigncapital to invest in Malaysia for us tolend our support to this Convention.The proposed Bill will enable Malaysiato ratify and give legal sanction to theprovisions of the Convention on theSettlement of Investment Disputes.

Dato ' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: MrPresident, Sir, from the reading of thisBill, it is stated that there should beconciliation, there should be arbitration.It mentions about the award, but itdoes not say anytthing aboutpenalty. For instance, if a State doesnot agree to this conciliation, tothis award, what is going to happen?Have you got another provision? Whatpenalty could be awarded? It has neverstated anything about the penalty.There is, first, the conciliation, arbitra-tion and award, but if a State doesnot agree, if a manufacturer invokesthe power of his State to protect him,what power have we got? As far as Iknow this Convention has no powerto impose a penalty. There is none atall! It is a matter of conciliation only,and on arbitration award, I believe theBill does not go far enough. Thereshould be a caveat attached to it.

Dr Ng Kam Poh : Mr President, Sir,in reply to the Honourable Dato' DrCheah Toon Lok, I think I have statedin my speech that neither party will bebound by any legal means within theCentre, if they do not submit to theCentre for arbitration or conciliation.Therefore, there is no such thingas penalty or award. However, ifMalaysia should agree to submit toone class of disputes to the Centre, thenit is internationally an obligation forthe award or penalty to be issued bythe Centre and that is what I under-stand. I have mentioned in myspeech and I repeat it: "In accordancewith Article 26, it is proposed that thisGovernment" that means our Govern-ment-"should insist on the exhaustionof domestic, administrative and judicial

935 18 DECEMBER 1965 936

remedies as a condition of its consent".In other words, Sir, Malaysia, eventhough we pass this Bill through theLower House and the Upper House toratify that we agree to such a thingas a Centre do exist, we insist thatthe contracting parties and Malaysiamust exhaust all their domestic, admin-istrative and judical remedies beforethe contracting States and us can cometo an agreement to settle the class ofdispute in the Centre; and if we do so,then their decision is final and theaward is made, or the penalty is made,whichever way it may be. We use thequestion of award. If money is givenit is an award and penalty is equivalentto an award in a sense. However, wehave protected ourselves to such anextent that we need not go to theCentre unless we so wish. That isprimarily our purpose. However, wegive the investors a chance to come inhere and invest and a chance for themto seek remedies if they so wish,because nobody is going to invest inyour country, if he sees no way ofredress, no way of pulling out themoney from your country, but he justpours millions of dollars and you say,"That's that, you can go home". Nocontracting party, no individual, or nocountry, will ever do such a thing. So,this is one means by which we allowthem a way of redress. I hope that isclear to all the Honourable Members,particularly to Dato' Dr Cheah ToonLok. Thank you, Mr President, Sir.

Dato ' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: MrPresident, Sir, as a matter of clarifica-tion, I would like to say this. In anycourt of law there is, what we call, anenforcing agency, somebody to enforcethe administration of that law oraward. Here, there is a defect in thisBill. The defect is that there is noenforcing policy. For instance, acriminal is arrested and the judge passesa sentence. The enforcing agency, orthe Police puts him in jail the Policeis the enforcing power. Now, in this,I suggest that the enforcing agencyshould be the court of the countryconcerned. For instance if the memberis Mr "A", then the court of Mr "A's"country should enforce the judgement,

because if they come to an agreement,you can have a special clause on that,so that you can enforce the award. Asit is, if they do not want to agree,then it goes on forever, and there isno enforcing agency. If the court says,"well, if you don't accept the decisionof the court in which you are a citizen,then you have got to be subject tosuch and such a penalty". That is anenforcing agency. An enforcing agentmust be here according to the law, butit is not here. So, I ask whether theGovernment will consider that pointwith its legal adviser to see whetherit is suitable to have that point insidethis Bill.

Dato' Sheikh Abu Bakar: May Ibe allowed to interrupt regarding themeanings that have been dealt with bythe Member just now? With regard tothe question asked by the HonourableDato' Cheah Toon Lok just now, Sir,under section 3, I think, if I am notmistaken, it says that "an awardmade by an arbitrator under the Con-vention shall be binding and may beenforced in the same manner as if itis a decree judgement or order of thecourt". In other words, Sir, if I amnot mistaken, when you got a decree,you have to execute it and you canexecute it in court. Therefore, if ajudgement is given by the arbitrationand it is not fulfilled by the defeatedparty, then that order can be made bythe court, Sir, and the court will givejudgement accordingly if I am notmistaken. It is for the HonourableMinister to answer, Sir, I think.

Dr Ng Kam Fob : Mr President, Sir,the enforcing body, the enforcing agent,is always there. As I said, there areour domestic, our administrative, aswell as our judicial remedies; they arethe enforcing bodies, but the enforce-ment comes from the Centre. If andwhen we submit a particular class ofdisputes or a dispute between twopersons the country of Malaysia andanother person to the Centre, whenthat is submitted to the Centre and anarbitration is going on and an awardis made, that enforcement is carriedout by the Courts of law in Malaysia.Article 3 makes it quite clear about

937 18 DECEMBER 1965 938

this, Sir. But if Malaysia would notsubmit, or the other person would notsubmit, then it goes through theoriginal courts of law. That is as simpleas all that, Sir.

Dato ' Dr Cheah Toon Lok: On apoint of clarification, Sir, what doesHigh Court mean? This is aninternational agreement. I would liketo know what "High Court" means?Is it a Malaysian Court, is it a courtof the country of the citizen concernedor an international court? I do notknow which court is meant.

Dr Ng Kam Poh: Mr President, Sir,the High Court evidently means theHigh Court of Malaysia.









THE FEDERAL STATUTE LAWREVISION (SUITS AGAINST THE

RULING HOUSES) BILL

Second Reading

Dato ' T. H. Tan : Mr President, Sir,I beg to move that a Bill intituled"an Act to repeal the laws of the Statesof Kedah, Negri Sembilan, Pahang,Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Trengganurelating to suits against the RulingHouses of those States" be now read asecond time.


Dato ' T. H. Tan : Sir, Article 181(2)of the Constitution provides that noproceedings whatsoever shall be broughtin any court against the Ruler of theState in his own personal capacity.

However, certain State laws restrictcivil suits being brought in the Stateconcerned against not only the Rulerbut also his consort and other mem-bers of his family. These State lawsare unconstitutional because they arecontrary to Article 8 of the Constitu-tion. There is no provision in theFederal Constitution which authorisesthe restriction or prohibition of civilproceedings against the family or con-sort of a Ruler of a State. The Lawsprotecting the consort and othermembers of the families of the Rulerswere enacted in the States of Kedah,Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis,Selangor and Trengganu. No suchlegislation exists in Johore andKelantan. This Bill will remove fromthe various Statute Books and lawsconcerned so as to bring those StatuteBooks into line with the Federal Con-stitution. I must add, Mr President,Sir, that the proposals to repeal thelaws protecting the consort and othermembers of a Ruler's family havebeen submitted to the Conference ofRulers and the Conference has agreedto the suggestion.

Sir, I beg to move.Question put, and agreed to.Bill accordingly read a second time







Bill reported without amendment:read the third time and passed.

THE MAJLIS AMANAH RA`AYATBILL

Second Reading

Dato ' T. H. Tan : Mr President, Sir,I beg to move that the Bill intituled"an Act to establish a corporate bodyby the name of the Majlis AmanahRa`ayat and for the purposes connectedtherewith" be now read a second time.



Dato ' T H. Tan : Mr President, Sir,this Bill seeks the repeal the Ruraland Industrial Development AuthorityOrdinance , 1953, and thereby replacesthe Rural and Industrial DevelopmentAuthority established under that Ordi-nance by a new corporate body to becalled the Majlis Amanah Raàyat.

Most of the provisions of theOrdinance are re -enacted in this Billexcept that they are arranged in adifferent numerical order.

The establishment of Majlis AmanahRaàyat is provided in section 3, andit is composed of a Chairman andfourteen other members.

Section 7 makes the Chairman to bethe principal officer responsible for thepreparation of programmes , schemes ofprojects for the consideration of theMajlis Amanah Raàyat, and also forthe issue of policy guidance and forthe supervision of the implementationof decisions made by the MajlisAmanah Raàyat.

For the purpose of executing thesedecisions, section 8 empowers theMajlis Amanah Raàyat to set upseveral divisions, each division beingplaced under the responsibility of anexecutive officer to be styled as "thedirector". Each director is to executeand implement the decisions of theMajlis Amanah Raàyat pertaining tothe divisions under his control andalso to participate , but without theright to vote, in any meetings of theMajlis Amanah Raàyat, in whichmatters pertaining to his division arebeing discussed or considered. Thedirector is also the administrative headof his division whereby other officersin the division come directly underhis administrative jurisdiction.

Section 10 empowers the MajlisAmanah Raàyat to appoint otherofficers and servants . Section 12 givespower to the Majlis Amanah Raàyatto make rules with the approval of theMinister in respect of salaries , allow-ances and conditions of service of hisofficers and servants generally, includingthe power to create a contributory pro-vident fund of its own.

940

Section 9 empowers the MajlisAmanah Raàyat to appoint Com-mittees for the purpose of exercisingfunctions which may be dedicated tothose Committees, while Section 11gives powers to the Majlis AmanahRaàyat to delegate its functions,powers or duties generally.

Apart from the changes made on thecomposition and organisation of theMajlis Amanah Raàyat vis -a-vis theRural and Industrial DevelopmentAuthority under the Ordinance , Section6 has to promote and improve func-tions and duties of the Majlis AmanahRaàyat.

Enche' S. O. K. Ubaidulla : The Billbefore us is a very important one. I amglad that after the winding up ofRIDA, Government has plans toinaugurate MARA and Bank Bumi-putera. These two bodies will fulfil thefunctions of RIDA.

Sir, in the Lower House there wassome allegation that sounded like thatRIDA had failed . As far as I know,and I have had long association withRIDA, RIDA had never failed. Itserved well the purpose for which itwas set up. But for RIDA, a lot ofthe Malays would have been furtherbehind than where they are now.

Sir, some even went to the extentof calling RIDA a colonial inheritance.Though it was started in the colonialdays, it was not created by the colonialGovernment . Indeed , the lamentedbeloved late Dato' Ònn was the fatherof RIDA. It was his brain child. Wediscussed this in a small Committeebefore meeting this idea to the thenGovernment . Later the baby wasadopted by our Deputy Prime Minister,Tun Abdul Razak , and he nourishedthe baby to its boyhood. Sir, RIDAcreated self-consciousness among therural people of this country, and itinstilled a hope in their minds. RIDA'sassistance was a success with one whohad the skill and the will to betterhis lot . RIDA, among many otherthings, built shophouses , latex factories,bridges, roads and canals. RIDAtaught boat building , batek printing,mengkuang weaving , book -keeping and

941 18 DECEMBER 1965 942

commercial subjects. R1DA gave newbuses and routes, rehabilitated crum-pling companies, and indeed there aremany more functions that RIDA veryusefully fulfiied and it brought successto some of the rural people-theachievements of RIDA are toonumerous to mention here.

Before 1 conclude, Sir, 1 would liketo make one or two observations thatmay be useful to its successor, MARA.Experience in RIDA has shown a lotof new aspects. 1 hope these thingswould be useful to MARA. Sir, muchrests with the head of MARA. TheChairman of MARA should be onewith versatile experience. He need notbe a bumiputera. Sir, to say thisrequires a lot of courage on my part,but I do say that he can even be anexpatriate. Malayanisation can neverbe a substitute for experience. Whatwe need is the success of MARA andnot the sentiment of having one Malaybumiputera or a Malaysian as the headof MARA. For the time being, wemust have an experienced man withknowledge in all aspects of MARA'sactivities. Secondly, Sir, MARA officersshould not be seconded officers. Thiswas one thing that plagued the efficientworking of RIDA. All secondedofficers are by and large birds ofpassage to that Department. Thirdly,Sir, terms of service to MARA officersshould be second to none. If they aregiven a term of service on the pull ofpaternalism, I am sure they will notput their heart and soul to their work.Finally, Sir. MARA should be runstrictly on business lines. Perhaps, itis the intention of the Government toleave all lending policies to BankBumiputera. If it is so, I here standand say MARA is a body that isdestined to progress and to serve thepeople.

Dato ' Sheikh Abu Bakar bin Yahya:Yang Berhormat Dato' Yang di-Pertua,di-sini saya bangun mengambil kesem-natan iuga menyokong Rang Undang2MARA mi. Memang-lah sa-patut-nyaKerajaan kita Kerajaan Perikatanheramal dengan sentiasa-nva meng-ambil langkah bagi memaiu danmenaikkan mutu serta murtabat ra`ayat

kita daripada segala bangsa yangmen.dudoki Persekutuan Tanah Melayuini yang ta`at serta kapada Kerajaankita. Sa-lain daripada mengalu^kanRang Undnag2 ini, Yang BerhormatDato' Yang di-Pertua, saya j uga ber-pengalaman bahawasa-nya denganada-nya Rang Undang2 in apabiladi-ishtiharkan oleh Kerajaan kita, makabesar-lah harapan orange bumiputeraakan mendapat beberapa faedah yangtertentu dan yang memberi keuntonganyang besar kapada mereka itu. Undang2ini, saperti yang kita tabu, is-lahbangkit-nya atau pun telah di-tuboh-kan daripada MARA yang telah di-tubohkan pada bulan June yang laludan yang di-ketuai oleh Yang AmatBerhormat Tun. Abdul Razak sendiri.

Yang Berhormat Dato' Yang di-Putera, sunggoh pun jika di-amat-amatidengan sempurna-nya, nampak-lahsa-bahagian besar daripada bangsakita orang Melayu pada masa iniis-lah di-dalam keadaan yang tidakmendapat banyak kesenangan dalamsegi ikhtisad dan lain2 j uga danmemang sudah di-ketahui oleh sekalianbangsa dalam negara kita ini,bahawasa-nya bumiputera ini sudahtentu dalam keadaan miskin dan ada-nya pula di-hadapan mereka itusangat-lah merosot di-dalam kemis-kinan itu.

Oleh sebab itu saya merasai banggadan besar hati apabila saya melihatkandi-dalam Rang Undang2 ini akan di-adakan satu peruntokan wang keranamemberi pinjaman kapada bumiputerak ita yang ben are berkeh endakkankemajuan mereka itu sendiri. Makadengan ini dapat-fah mereka menjalan-kan segala hal ehwal yang bersangkutandengan ikhtisad mereka supaya men-dapat kesenangan dan kemajuan yangterutama-nva kapada bangsa, kapadaorange Melayu di-kampong2 dan jugayang jauh2 daripada bandar kita.

Saperti yang telah di-rekakan olehRIDA. saperti yang di-sebutkan olehYang Berhormat Enche' Ubaidulla taliYang Berhormat Dato', ada-lah RIDAini saperti yang kita tahu is-itu "RuralIndustrial and Development Authority"satu badan yang telah di-tubohkan olehKerajaan yang dahulu pada masa kita

943 18 DECEMBER 1965 944

belttm •lagi mendapat kemerdekaan.Saya berpenga i aman, sunggoh punRIDA itu memang-iah saw baeianyang baik, tetapi saya dukachita jugamenyatakan atoran dan peratoran yangtelah di-keluarkan berkenaan denganRIDA itu tidak sesuai dengan per-jalanan kita Bangsa Melayu; hinggamenjadikan tidak maju orange yangmendudoki di-kampong2 saperti yangdi-kehendaki oleh RIDA itu. Yangdemikian saya berharap atoran danperatoran yang akan di-perbuat olehbadan MARA ini pada masa ka-hadapan kelak dapat-lah mempertahan-kan segaia kechewaan2 yang terjadidahulu-nya pada masa RIDA itu adadi-dalam masa mi.

Yang pertama sa-kali saya sukamenyatakan di-sini supaya MARA inimempertahankan kejayaan yang telahtertiridas kapada kapitalis. Pada halorang bumiputera kita ini yang tertentuiktisad mereka itu di-dalam keadaanmerusut.

Sa-lain daripada itu, Yang Berhor-mat Dato' Yang di-Pertua; sayaberkata pada masa ini orange kita,bumiputera memang-lah mereka itutelah sedar kerana iktisad itu is-lahmesti mereka itu memperbuat-nya,supaya mendapat kesenangan padamasa ini dan juga pada masa yangakan datang. Dengan sebab itu sayamerayu dan berharap kapada Kerajaandan juga kapada ketua2 yang berkenaansupaya bumiputera kita ini, terutama-nya, bangsa Melayu, di-beri utamasadkit dalam pekerjaan sapertikontrek2 yang di-edarkan ol_eh Govern-ment dan juga pejabat2 dalamGovernment kita mi. Jika tidaa di-beripertolongan neschaya mereka itu,sa-bagai yang saya sebutkan, bolehmenjadikan lebeh2 merosot daripadamasa sekarang. Saya merayukapada nehak yang berkuasa, walaupun tender mereka itu teriebeh sadikitdaripada yang kechil sa-kali, makaharap-lah saya. sa-hagai pehak yangberkuasa itu, memberi kontrek2 itukapada bumiputera mi.

Saya tahu, Yang Berhormat Dato'Yang di-Pertua, pada masa sayabekerj a di-ba wah Kerajaan, saya

mengetahu bahawasa-nya gerak-geribangsa yang lain daripada Melayu,saperti Iionghua atau pun orangChina dan juga orang India, merekaitu memang-lah sentiasa menolongbangsa kita, bangsa bumiputera ataupun orange Melayu. 1 etapi j ikasa-kira-nya pehak2 yang berkuasa tidakmahu dan tidak boleh mengendorkansadikit2 per jalanan ikhtisad di-atasorang Melayu ini, maka saya berfikirdan saya berpengalaman, MARA itutinggai-lah dengan nama .MARAsahaja. Kemaraan di-atas orang Melayuitu tidak boleh di-dapati. Yang demi-kian susah-lah saya berchakap dalamkehidupan bumiputera ini, saperti,Yang Berhormat Dato' sendiri puntabu. Saya sokong dengan sa-kuat2-nyaundang2 MARA ini, Terima kaseh.

Mr President: Ahli2 Yang Berhormat,persidangan ini di-tanggohkan hinggapada pukul 10.00 pagi hari Isnin20hb Disember mi.

Adjourned at 4.25 p.m.

WRITTEN ANSWERS TOQUESTIONS

MINISTRY OF COMMERCE ANDINDUSTRY

Companies Act

1. Dato ' Sheikh Abu Bakar bin Yahyabertanya kapada Menteri Perdagangandan Perusahaan:

(a) bila-kah Kerajaan berchadanghendak menguat-kuasakan Com-panies Act yang telah di-luluskanoleh Parlimen pada meshuaratyang lepas;

(b) apa-kah yang menyebabkan ke-lewatan pada menguat-kuasakanUndang2 tersebut itu.

Menteri Perdagangan dan Per-usahaan (Dr Lim Swee Aun): Ada-lahdi-jangka bahawa Undang2 Sharikatyang baharu itu akan di-kuat-kuasakantidak berapa lama lagi.

The Minister of Commerce andIndustry (Dr Lim Swee Aun): It isexpected that the new Companies Actwill be enforced in the near future.

945 18 DECEMBER 1965.946

MINISTRY OF EDUCATIONHousing Allowance

2: Enche' William Tan asks the Minis-ter . of Education to state whetherteachers in aided schools are in receiptof housing allowances.

The Minister of Education (Enche'Mohd. Khir Johari): Under the GrantCode Regulations, 1956 made underthe provision of section 29 of the(Sarawak) Education Ordinance, 1950,aided school teachers are not eligiblefor housing allowance. However, it is:known that in some instances localauthorities in Sarawak do pay rentallowance to aided school teachers outof their own funds.

Free Primary Education

3. Enche ' William Tan asks the Minis-ter of Education to state when freeprimary education in Sarawak will beimplemented.

Enche' Mohd . Khir Johari: Free• primary education will be introducedin Government and Government AidedSchools in Sarawak from the beginningof 1966.

National Language Examination

4. Enche' William Tan asks the Minis-ter of Education to state why Sarawakcitizens are allowed to sit for theNational Language examination onlyin Perengkat One, but not. Two orThree.

Enche' Mohd. Khir Johari : Sarawakcitizens are allowed to sit for theNational Language Examination StagesII or III and are even permitted to takethis examination before passing theNational: Language Examination Stage•1.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

New Sarawak General Hospital

5. Enche' William Tan asks the Minis-ter of Health to state

(a) when the first phase building ofthe new General Hospital inKuching will be completed;

(b) the estimated cost of equipmentfor this Hospital.

The Minister of Health (Enche'Bahaman bin Samsudin):

(a) The first phase of the newSarawak General • Hospital, is ex-pected to be completed 33 monthsafter the commencement of site-work which should be by the endof this year.

(b) A sum of $1,000,000 is availablefor the. purchase of medicalequipment for the new hospital.

MINISTRY OF LOCAL GOVERN-MENT AND HOUSING

Squatters

6. Enche' William Tan asks the Minis-ter for Local Government and Housingto state whether he would considerre-settling the squatters in front of theA.I.A. Building in Kuala Lumpur andconverting this area into a: publicgarden, and if so, when appropriateaction will be taken.

The Minister for Local Governmentand Housing (Enche' Khaw Kai-Boh):The Ministry for Local Governmentand Housing is unable to consider re-settling these squatters as they are onprivate land. As the area is privateland, he is further unable to considerconverting it into a public garden.

PRIME MINISTER'SDEPARTMENT

Stenographers

7. Dato ' Sheikh Abu Bakar bin Yahyabertanya kapada Perdana Menteribagaimana-kah kedudokan Juru-trengkas2 Bahasa Inggeris Tetap danSementara yang sedang berkhidmatdalam Perj awatan2 Persekutuan apa-bila Bahasa ,Kebangsaan jadi Bahasarasmi yang tunggal pada tahun 1967kelak.

Perdana Menteri : Perlembagaanmensharatkan bahawa bagi tempoh sa-lama 10 tahun sa-lepas Hari Merdeka,dan sa-terus-nya sa=lepas itu sa-hinggaParlimen mensharatkan sa-balek-nya,maka Bahasa Inggeris boleh di-guna-kan dalam kedua-dua Dewan Parlimen,dalam Dewan Undangan tiap2 Negeri,dan untok semua perkara2 rasmi yanglain.


Sa-kira-nya Parlimen dalam tahun1567 mensharatkan penggunaan BahasaKebangsaan, kedudokan Jurutrengkas2Bahasa Inggeris Tetap tidak akan ber-ubah. Mereka sedang di-galakkan untokmendapat kelulusan Trengkas BahasaMelayu dengan di-beri elaun ta' ber-penchen jika lulus Pepereksaan Juru-trengkas Bahasa Melayu Kerajaansa-pantas 80 p.s.m. Jurutrengkas2Bahasa Inggeris Sementara ada-fah di-kehendaki layak dalam TrengkasBahasa Melayu dengan mendapatkelulusan Pepereksaan Trengkas Ba-hasa Melayu Kerajaan sa-pantas 60p.s.m. di-dalam satu2 tempoh yang di-tentukan. Kedudokan mereka akan di-kaji sa-mula sa-lepas akhir tempoh mi.

Jurutrengkas2 Tetap dan Sementaraitu sekarang ini ada-lah juga di-berielaun jurutrengkas jika mereka menggu-nakan Trengkas Bahasa Melayu dalamkerja2 pejabat mereka.

The Prime Minister: The Constitu-tion provides that for a period of 10years after Merdeka Day, and there-after until Parliament otherwise pro-vides, the English Language may beused in both Houses of Parliament, inthe Legislative Assembly of everyState, and for all other officialpurposes.

Should Parliament in 1967 provideaccordingly, the position of PermanentEnglish Language Stenographers willremain unchanged. They are now beinggiven encouragement to qualify inMalay Stenography by being grantednon-pensionable allowance for passingthe 80 w.p.m. Government MalayLanguage Stenography Examination.Temporary English Language Steno-graphers are required to qualify inMalay Language Stenography bypassing the 60 w.p.m. GovernmentMalay Language Stenography Exami-nation within a specified period. Theirposition will be reviewed after theexpiry of this period.

Both Permanent and TemporaryStenographers are at present alsogranted stenography allowance if theyuse Malay Language Stenography intheir official work.

948

8. Dato' Sheikh Abu Bakar bin Yahyabertanya kapada Perdana Menteriberapa-kah jumlah bilangan jurutreng-kas Bahasa kebangsaan yang berkhid-mat dalam Perj awatan Persekutuanpada masa ini, dan berapa ramaidi-antara mereka daripada bangsaMelayu.

Perdana Menteri: Bilangan Juru-trengkas2 Bahasa Melayu Tetap danSementara dalam Perjawatan Perse-kutuan is-lah 54 orang dan angka initidak menunjokkan jumlah mengikutbangsa. Bilangan ini akan di-tambahapabila Surohanjaya Perkhidmatan`Awam selesai menj alankan kerj amengambil pekerja2 tidak berapa lamaagi.

The Prime Minister: The number ofPermanent and Temporary MalayLanguage Stenographers on the FederalEstablishment is 54 and the figure isnot classified by race. This numberwill be increased when the PublicServices Commission has completed arecruitment exercise shortly.

MINISTRY OF WELFARESERVICES

Regrouped Centres

9. Enche' William Tan asks the Minis-ter for Welfare Services to state whenwelfare services can be provided forRegrouped Centres which have over8,000 people, half of whom arechildren, along the Simanggang Road,Kuching.

The Minister of Welfare Services(Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan):Provision of welfare services in theRegrouped Centres is a State respon-sibility and it is therefore suggestedthat the Honourable Member raise thematter with the Sarawak Government.

Malaysian Students in England

10. Dato ' Sheikh Abu Bakar bihYahya bertanya kapada MenteriKebajikan `Am:

(a) apa-kah jadi-nya suatu Penyia-satan di-atas masaalah2 yangdi-hadapi oleh Penuntut2 Malay-sia yang berada di-England pada

949 18 DECEMBER 1965.

masa ini, yang telah di-seleng-garakan oleh Enche' ColinAbraham, sa-orang PegawaiKementerian Kebajikan `Am; dan

(b) boleh-kah Penyata Penyelidekanitu di-bentangkan dalam Parli-men, jika telah lengkap.

Tuan Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:(a) Penyiasatan yang di-sebutkan

oleh Yang Berhormat Ahli ituada-lah di-jalankan oleh Enche'Colin Abraham dengan chara ber-sendirian sa-bagai memenohisa-bahagian daripada sharat2Kursus Dasar Kemasharakatanyang sedang di-ambil oleh-nyadi-Maktab Pengajian Kemasha-rakatan, di-Bandar Hague, Hol-land dengan Hadiah BiasiswaKeraj aan Belanda. Ada-lah di-fahamkan bahawa penyata pen-yiasatan itu belum lagi siap.

r(b) Oleh sebab penyata itu bukanlaporan rasmi, tidak-lah dapat di-bentangkan-nya dalam Parlimen.

'Than Haji Abdul Hamid Khan:(a) The Survey referred to by the

Honourable Member was carriedout by Enche' Colin Abraham inhis private capacity as partrequirement of the Social PolicyCourse which he is undertakingat the Hague on a Fellowshipawarded by the NetherlandsGovernment. It is understoodthat the Report on the Surveyhas yet to be completed.

(b) The Report, being unofficial willtherefore, not be presented toParliament.

PRIME MINISTER'SDEPARTMENT

1.1. Dato ' J. A. Angian Andulag asksthe Prime Minister whether he wouldincrease the salary of Governmentservants in Sabah in view of the highcost of living in that State.

The Prime Minister : Civil Servantsin Sabah are employees of the StateGovernment. Any revision of salarytherefore will have to be consideredby that Government. In this connectionit may interest the Honourable Member

950

to know that the State Governmenthad already received representationsfrom all divisions of GovernmentServants in Sabah for increase insalaries. These representations hadalready been submitted to the SalariesCommission for consideration.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

Posting of Teachers

12. Dato ' J. A. Angian Andulag asksthe Minister of Education whether hewould arrange for Sabah teachers whohave been trained in the NationalLanguage, in Kuala Lumpur, to beposted to national schools in the ruralareas in Sabah to teach the NationalLanguage in view of the fact thatstudents in those areas do not haveadequate knowledge of the NationalLanguage.

Enche ' Mohd . Khir Johari: Sabahteachers who have been trained in theNational Language in Kuala Lumpurwill be posted back to the GovernmentPrimary Schools from which they came,or to other Government PrimarySchools in the same area, at the dis-cretion of the Divisional EducationOfficers. The medium of instruction inthese schools in Malay. They willbe responsible for the organisation ofthe teaching of the Malay language inthese Government Primary Schoolsand, at the discretion of the EducationOfficer, in assisting the National Lan-guage Teaching programme in schoolswhere the medium of instruction is notMalay.

MINISTRY OF WORKS, POSTSAND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Bridges across Sungai Bayayo

13. Dato ' J. A. Angian Andulag asksthe Minister of Works, Posts andTelecommunications whether Govern-ment will construct a bridge across the170 feet wide Sungai Bayayo, Sabah,in order to assist traffic across thisriver in time of flood.

The Minister of Works , Posts andTelecommunications (Dato' V. T.Sambanthan): I understand from theState Government that it is anticipated

951 18 DECEM BER 1965 952

that this bridge will be constructed latein the development plan period. Thecost will likely be high and low priorityis being given on current economicgrounds. Efforts will be made to effectimprovements in the near future.

14. Dato ' J. A. Angian Andulag asksthe Minister for Local Government andHousing whether Government wouldconsider constructing quarters forGovernment servants in Sabah.

The Minister for Local Governmentand Housing (Enche' Khaw Kai-Boh):In so far as Federal Officers in Sabahare concerned, it is not the policy ofthe Federal Government to build.quarters for them.

As for State Officers serving theGovernment of Sabah it is a matterfor the State Government to considerconstructing quarters for them.

210-415-13.5.67-JCK l.

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