Parliamentary Questions for 2nd session beginning June 23

Parliamentary Questions for Oral Answers and Written Answers filed by YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong, MP For Wangsa Maju, 0n 02-06-08.

QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS

1. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Home Affairs to state what are the measures the police force has taken or to be taken in the future in order to bring down crime rate in Wangsa Maju and elsewhere in Wilayah Persekutuan?

2. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Environment to state what actions the government intends to take against the yearly open burning in Sumatra forest , which has caused haze in Malaysia atmosphere and threaten our health?

3. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Home Affairs what actions it intend s to take against those Singaporeans who have entered into Malaysia for years under the monthly Social Pass and at the same time they are taking up employment or doing business here and living in Malaysia on a permanent basis and what actions are to be taken against the abused of the Social Pass by this category of Singaporeans?

4. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Local Government to state the total cost of the road widening project for “JALAN GENTING KELANG DARI PERSIMPANGAN JALAN AIR PANAS KE PERSIMNPANGAN JALAN 1/27A” in Wangsa Maju and why the Ministry did not call for an OPEN TENDER before awarding the said project to MENTARI CONTRACTING (M) SDN BHD.

5. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Transport to state on under what provision of the laws that MAB and MAS were allowed to grant credit facilities totaling more than RM110 million and RM85 million respectively to AirAsia, a private company? The Minister to also state what are the detailed actions that have been taken or to be taken by MAB and MAS to recover the said debts from AirAsia.

6. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Education to state when did the Ministry approve the setting up and building of Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SRJKC) in Wangsa Maju area and when the construction works of this SRJKC will commence? Please provide the exact date of commencement and cost of constructions.

7. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Foreign Affairs to state did our legal team informed the foreign legal experts that the picture of Pulau Batu Puteh to be tendered before ICJ was in fact taken from a blog (internet), the total professional fees paid to the foreign legal experts and total expenses for the whole Malaysian supporting legal team including professors and others, and provide the name of the firm of local solicitors involved in the case.

8. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Prime Minister to state whether it is the policy of the Federal Government that the chairman of all companies (like MAB, Sepang International Circuit and others) where the Ministry of Finance has major interests, must be an UMNO member and does this mean that other Malaysians cannot hold such position in these companies even if he is a Bumiputra with different political thinking?

9. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Foreign Affairs to state in February 2008 what was the total donations handed over by the newspapers to “Tabung Bencana Kementerian Luar Negeri” to help the victims of Blizzard Disaster in China and also whether the donations collected together with the pledged of RM1 million by the Prime Minister have been sent to the China Embassy. If sent when, if not why not.

10. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Law to state whether the Government intends to order an investigation into the allegation of improprieties of a sitting Court of Appeal Judge, which evidence was tendered before the Royal Commission of Inquiry On Lingam Video Clip. If not, why not.

QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN ANSWERS

1. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Finance to state why AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL ASSURRANCE CO LTD [AIA], the only 100% foreign owned insurance company, operating in Malaysia for many year without being locally incorporated, and it has just changed its name to American International Assurance Bhd, and to state who is its local partner and whether the local partner has fully paid for all their shares.

2. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Prime Minister to state whether the 4 Proclamations of Emergency (declared in 1964 as a result of confrontation with Indonesia, 1966 in Sarawak following the constitutional stand off, 1969 after the My 13 riot, and 1977 in Kelantan following a political crisis), which are all still in force, will be revoked as Malaysians are living in peace. If not, please state why not.

3. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Health to state whether the Government has taken steps to fully implement all the guidelines and condition set by WHO’s Framework Convention for Tobacco Control especially on the total ban of cigarette advertisement in any form, on cigarette companies sending out promoters to promote cigarettes in public places and display of cigarettes at the points of sale (e.g. mamak stalls & coffee shops). If not, why not.

4. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs to state how the government proposes to control inflation and price increases of other goods and services and at the same time maintain the present price of petrol, and why the ban on selling of petrol was not applicable to foreigners was not applicable to Singaporeans.

5. YB Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] asks the Minister of Home Affairs to state how many criminal cases have been acquitted in Court due to the lost of evidence, which was under the sole custody of the police, and what actions have been taken by the police to ensure the lost of evidence will not occur again.

Questions Time, 12 May 2008

SOALAN NO. 7

Tuan Wee Choo Keong [Wangsa Maju] minta Menteri Pengankutan menyatakan kerajaan perlu membelanjakan RM108 juta untuk membina LCCT untuk AirAsia, sebuah syarikat swasta, sedangkan KLIA masih "under utilized" sehingga kini. Kenapa tiada Tender Terbuka diadakan sebelum memberikan projek pembinaan kepada FAJARBARU BUILDER GROUP BHD. dan kenapa ada keperluan untuk membina satu lagi LCCT yang baru.

JAWAPAN:

Tuan Yang Dipertua,

Kerajaan telah membuat keputusan untuk membina sebuah Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) pada tahun 2005 untuk menampung operasi syarikat penerbangan tambang murah (Low Cost Carrier - LCCT) termasuk AirAsia berasaskan pertimbangan-pertimbangan berikut:

a) Keperluan syarikat-syarikat penerbangan tambang murah atau LCC untuk mencapai turn-around yang singkat, iaitu 20 minit yang sukar dicapai di Bangunan Terminal Utama KLIA;

b) Operasi LCC tidak memerlukan pelbagai kemudahan yang disediakan di Bangunan Terminal Utama KLIA untuk syarikat-syarikat penerbangan perkhidmatan penuh (full service carrier - FSC) seperti aerobridges, airlines lounges dan sebagainya;

c) Mengatasi masalah kesesakan yang berlaku di Bangunan Terminal KLIA semasa waktu sibuk khasnya pada waktu pagi di kaunter daftar masuk, balai berlepas serta tapak memakir;

d) Peningkatan operasi penerbangan tambang murah yang tinggi sejak AirAsia mula beroperasi dan kesedaran bahawa kadar pertumbuhan kategori penerbangan ini akan terus meningkat pada tahun-tahun yang akan datang; dan

e) Pemindahan operasi penerbangan tambang murah akan dapat melegakan Bangunan Terminal Utama KLIA dan rancangan serta pembinaan Bangunan Satelit Kedua yang melibatkan kos pembinaan yang tinggi dapat ditunda selama 3-5 tahun.

Untuk maklum Yang Berhormat, LCCT di KLIA adalah untuk kegunaan semua syarikat penerbangan LCC dan bukan semata-mata untuk operasi AirAsia sahaja. Pada ketika ini, syarikat-syarikat penerbangan tambang murah lain seperti AirAsia X, AirAsia Thailand, AirAsia Indonesia, Cebu Pacific dan Tiger Airways juga menggunakan LCCT di KLIA.

Oleh sebab keperluan LCCT adalah begitu mendesak dan perlu dibina dalam masa yang singkat, Ketrajaan telah memutuskan untuk melaksanakan projek ini secara rundingan terus kepada FAJARBARU BUILDER GROUP BHD.

Mengenai soalan keperluan satu lagi LCCT Baru pula, ingin saya memaklumkan bahawa Kerajaan telah membuat keputusan untuk meningkatkan LCCT yang sedia ada untuk menampung keperluan trafik dari 10 ke 15 juta penumpang setahun. Projek ini adalah bertujuan untuk menampung kadar pertumbuhan yang tinggi bagi penerbangan LCC serta keperluan AirAsia X yang telah melancarkan penerbangan jarak jauh ke destinasi-destinasi antarabangsa menggunakan pesawat yang lebih besar iaitu A330. Adalah dijangkakan LCCT yang dipertingkatkan itu akan dapat menampung keperluan trafik sehingga tahun 2012 atau 2015, tertakluk kepada kadar pertumbuhan trafik tahunan.

Oleh sebab kawasan tanah yang terhad di LCCT yang tidak membolehkan kemudahan ini dipertingkatkan bagi menampung jumlah trafik melebihi 15 juta penumpang setahun, Kerajaan mempunyai rancangan janka masa panjang untuk membina sebuah kompleks LCCT baru di satu tapak yang berlainan di KLIA. Apabila projek ini dilaksanakan kelak, LCCT yang sedia ada akan diubahsuai dan dijadikan sebuah kompleks kargo. Untuk makluman Yang Berhormat, reka bentuk LCCT sedia ada telah mengambil kira keperluan ini dan kerja-kerja pengubahsuaian dapat dilaksanakan dengan kos yang munasabah.

Supplementary Question from Tuan Wee Choo Keong:

Is the Minister of Transport aware of the following facts?

- that when YB said one of the considerations for building that LCCT was to cut down the turn-around time of low cost carriers, flight delays of many hours were just a norm for AirAsia;

- that Fajarbaru Builder Group Bhd has no experience at all in building of airport and its registered nature of business is "INVESTMENT HOLDING & PROVISION FOR MANAGEMENT OF SERVICE";

- that there are two companies in Malaysia that have experience in the building of airports are Global Aviation Sdn Bhd and another company owned by Tan Sri Ting Pek King;

- that Lee Peng Seng, a director of Fajarbaru Builder Group Bhd is the middle man for the ex Minister of Transport;

- that the cost of RM108 million was far too high especially when the LCCT was just iron structures

YB Minister of Transport's reply:

If there are evidences then a report should be made to the relevant authorities.

He said that flight delays concern services of AirAsia and nothing to do with turn-around time.

The direct negotiation with Fajarbaru Builder Group Bhd was due to time constraint. He accepted that Fajarbaru Builder Group Bhd had no experience in building of airports. He also said that Fajarbar Builder Sdn Bhd had experience in buiding warehouse and LCCT was just like a warehouse. That's why it was given to Fajrabaru Builder Sdn Bhd.

Note:

The above answers by the Minister of Transport were most unsatisfactory in the light of what I have asked. I shall pursue the answers to the above questions pertaining to AirAisa and LCCT and other points as and when I have the opportunity to do so.