Malaysian Parliament round-up on March 15, 2006:

* MALAYSIANS displayed their penchant and dependence on the Short Messaging System (SMS) by sending 21.03 billion messages last year, said Energy, Telecommunications and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik.

"Of the total, 6.02 billion messages were transmitted during the major festive periods of Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali, Christmas and Chinese New Year.

"The number of SMS sent was more than double the 9.53 billion messages sent in 2004, with 4.94 billion recorded during the festive periods," he added.

A BARISAN Nasional backbencher has called for school history books to be reviewed to reflect the contributions of all races in the country in the past and not just limit to one particular community.

Loh Seng Kok (BN-Kelana Jaya) said the history books used in school only reflected the contributions of the Malay community.

He said for example in the struggle against the Japanese in the second World War, history books gave the impression that only the Malays fought the Japanese.

"It does not reflect the contributions made by the Chinese and Indians," he said in his debate on the Royal Address.

Loh also said Indian and Chinese civilisations in history books were also not given much emphasis.

On religion, Loh said it was about time for the government to seriously consider setting up a department specifically to oversee the development off other faiths.

"It is about time to set up a 'Jabatan Kemajuan Agama-Agama Lain Di Malaysia' so that it can work with its Islamic counterpart, Jakim, to find solutions when differences arise," he added.

* THE Medical Assistance Fund, set up in January last year, has disbursed a total of RM7.4 million up to last Friday. It received 739 applications for financial assistance, said Health Minister Datuk Dr Chau Soi Lek.

In a written answer to Datuk Razali Ismail (BN-Kuala Terengganu), he said 478 applications were approved while 119 others were being processed.

On why the Ministry did not reveal the names of those who received assistance from the fund, Chua said it was meant to protect their privacy.

THE government is looking into the possibility of extending fuel subsidies to ferry operators and farmers who need diesel to run their machines.

Deputy Minister in the Prime MInister's Department Datuk Abdul Rahman Suleiman said the matter will be discussed by a special committee set up by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.

He said this in response to Datuk Paduka Badruddin Aminuddin (BN-Jerai) who asked whether the diesel subsidy, distributed via the fleetcard system, would be extended to these two groups.