MCA deputy president Dr Chua Soi Lek said the party’s recently set-up bureau to monitor government policies will keep tabs on all ministries, even those with ministers and deputy ministers from his party.

chua soi lek mca pc 171108 01 "None will be exempt," the former health minster told a press conference at party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today.

The bureau under Chua will appraise policies and decide if they are funded in line with the "demands of the time".

It will also identify which policies need review, withdrawal or even create in line with the people’s aspirations, said Chua.

The bureau - to be made up of persons recommended by the state liaison committees - will be professional and provide "constructive criticisms", while its website will help disseminate information and collect it.

Melamine fears

On another matter, Chua urged the authorities to educate the public regarding melamine as overreaction is jeopardising the biscuit industry.

tainted milk product from china 230908 Big players have informed him that international demand for the product - at RM600 million yearly - has decreased by 50 percent due to the ‘melamine scare’ , which started in mid-September.

Domestic consumption - valued at up to RM2 billion - had also fallen by about 30 to 40 percent, he added.

"If this is prolonged, the companies would be unable to service their loans, which is bad for the industry in this country, more so with the economic downturn,"

Melamine has been the root of a major contamination scandal in recent months after several babies died and tens of thousands of children fell ill in China after consuming tainted Chinese-made dairy products.

Governments around the world have banned or recalled Chinese dairy products found to contain melamine, with the contamination recently spreading to Chinese eggs.

Calling for the health authorities to educate the public so as to get "the correct picture" of melamine contamination, Chua said people should realise that it takes an inordinately large servings of melamine-tainted biscuits to breach the tolerance-level.

"The human tolerance level for melamine is high. We can ingest up to 0.63 milligrams per kilograms of body weight," said Chua, noting that biscuits are allowed to contain up to two parts per milligrams of melamine.

This means, he said, that somebody weighing 15 kg would have to consume 32 servings of biscuits in a single day to harm themselves, while a person weighing 50 kg would have to eat 107 servings of biscuits.

"You must be quite crazy to take in that amount of biscuits," said Chua.

Using Singaporean labs

chua soi lek mca pc 171108 02 He urged the Health Ministry not to compromise on public health, but asked them to help biscuit manufacturers by cutting red tape.

They can allow product testing to be done in Singapore. It takes Malaysia’s five laboratories two weeks - compared to two days in Singapore - to complete their analysis.

The long delay is holding up containers at points of export, he added.

"Time is of the essence, in this case.

"This is fair and will facilitate their exports. (In the event of any problem), the health ministry should not hesitate to announce the (flouting) companies.

"We urge the ministry of health - I have already spoken to the minister (Dr Liow Tiong Lai) - that it should accept analyses from Singapore," said Chua.