Speech by Ting Tze Fui on 2008 Sarawak State Budget

By Y.B. Ting Tze Fui, ADUN for Meradong

Dato Sri Speaker,

This is the fourth occasion upon which I have the privilege and honour to participate in the debate of the Supply Bill, tabled in this August House, albeit as an Opposition representative.

Upon reflection of the previous three sittings of this State Assembly, it is most regrettable to note and conclude that this very State Government has largely chosen to ignore the Opposition and regard it as a pest, and give the Opposition little chance to ask questions or to move motions. For such a long time we do not have as many Opposition representatives sitting on the Opposition Bench like now. Against a stronger Opposition, the Government’s strategy has been to romp through new Bills, amendments to Bills, to throw out any opposition motion being tabled and to mostly not to respond to questions from the Opposition, pleas and positive suggestions.

Bear in mind that we have a fine democratic institution inherited from the British Colonial Government, an institution exemplified in so many parts of this Globe to which we are proudly part of it, i.e. this State Assembly. It would not be much of a fine political institution if the main participant of it, i .e. the Government, choose not to uphold the democratic ideals inherent in the political system.

In a democratic state, such as Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and so on, Opposition parties and elected members of the Opposition are always held with the highest regards by the governing parties which may became Opposition parties if they lose the general election. Unfortunately, the current BN Government has been in power for decades and for so long that it has become too smugly complacent and arrogant, even though the results of the last state election has shown clearly that many voters in the State are grossly dissatisfied with the Government’s performance, some of its policies, malpractices and extravagances. So far, it seems not much the component BN parties have learned from the last state election results.

Dato Sri Speaker,

Now take an example of the plight and poverty of the indigenous inhabitants of this State.

This BN Government is largely comprised of Bumiputra elected representatives who are supposed to protect the interests and livelihood of the very people who have voted for them. You, the BN representatives are supposed to be duty-bound to ensure that the native people’s rights to life and an adequate standard of living are safeguarded at all times.

However, sadly, after decades of the BN Government so many of the longhouse inhabitants in my constituency, Meradong are still living below poverty line. Having visited several dozens of longhouses since I was elected as Meradong representative and having talked to many longhouse folks and their Tuai Rumahs, my conclusion cannot be mistaken,

The few privileged, few, like some of u sitting across the Bench who are YBs and senior bureaucrats, have rather cushy and enjoyable lifestyles. But what about the many thousands of your fellowmen who have to travel daily along unsealed tracks, walk on wooden planks and cross dilapidated bridges and to climb old wooden ants-infested staircases to their longhouses? The youngsters have virtually all left their longhouses in search of greener pastures in other urban centres, West Malaysia, Sabah, Brunei or even in Singapore. Most elitists have also chosen to migrate to some western countries.

Dato Sri Speaker,

Of course, there are plenty of them still dwelling on their traditional birth places, viz. their customary native land which has been occupied by their ancestors for generations unperturbed, not even by Raja Brooks or the British Colonial Government.

Alas, their very present Government is rapidly encroaching on and depriving of their sacramental traditional land which they have been occupying for generations. This Government has shown itself to be plainly indiscriminate and arrogant in handling native customary land matters, having lost a few court battles in recent years to the native plaintiffs/claimants.

How on earth can this “protector” i.e. the Government of these native people simply grabbed their native customary land, by alienating and re-classifying it as state land, even without the prior knowledge or consent of these traditional owners/occupiers, and later on grant to some land hungry individuals or corporations on the pretext of development, with millions of dollars changing lands between individuals and middlemen? How sinful and immoral it can be to systematically and unambiguously deprive these native occupiers of their birthright, by the stroke of a pen, without even an adequate compensation. These native people are not necessarily against development provided it does not unduly compromise and interfere with their culture, customs and long held rights over their land.

Dato Sri Speaker,

Now let's look at the plight of the Iban people who traditionally have an ultra strong attachment and sentiment to a specific locality or particular ecological niche. Many of the ministers and Honourable members across the Bench should appreciate better than me. To the Iban people, their environment and land are fundamentally the basis of their spirituality and the very source of their identity which have to be treated with caring respect and kept in balance. They are not merely a collection of trees, plants, rocks and stones, other landforms and wild animals which they can hunt and consume daily.

Dato Sri Speaker,

In my constituency of Meradong, there are some 52 longhouses which are now facing the fate of losing their customary native land which they have lived on for at least half a century . These 52 longhouses are situated within Area B of the Sungai Lasi camp. Some 1,414 hectares of the coupe area consisting of 18 blocks have been given to Forespring Sdn. Bhd. and Jinhold Timber Contractor Sdn. Bhd vide Timber Licence T/3496 dated 10th July, 2007 under PEC Ref No. T/3496/07/01B to fell and extract timber therefrom. No environment impact assessment (EIA) study in this coupe was ever required to be carried out before the grant of the Licence by the Sarawak Forestry Corporation and to be approved by the Controller of Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB).

Dato Sri Speaker,

The above stated land is part of the land having been claimed and occupied by the 52 longhouses folks and their generations of ancestors as their native customary land. The said land was granted on the even date without their prior knowledge or consent, without any forms of compensation. It must be pointed out that from Ulu Strass of Jalan KJD in Meradong right up to Jalan Pakan and Skim B area, there are some 25,000 hectares of N.C.R. land wherein the right Honourable Minister of Social Development and Urbanisation’s constituency squarely sits. So, what is your attitude of the very fact that your supporters, voters or members of your party are being deprived and robbed of their traditional land which have been reclassified as state land and now being given and granted to some outsiders without your people’s knowledge, let alone any consent or one cent of compensation? How is the State government going to reallocate these longhouse folks who might be chased out of their NCR land which has now been converted to State land??

To the Deputy Chief Minister, how do you feel when so many of these longhouses folks who have always formed the backbone support for the SUPP in Meradong are being cheated out of, dispossessed and stripped of their birthright and birthplace of their traditional land? How pitiful they are? To all these loyal BN supporters, can you, as the SUPP leader gives assurance that their NCR land would remains theirs for their livelihood?

It is ironical that they are voicing their disappointment, complaints, grouses, disgust and agitation to the Opposition. No one on your side, though sympathetic in heart, is gutful enough to speak out. We are the only one who dare to voice out their concerns, frustrations and demands in this August House. To all the Iban YBs , what do you have to say? Don’t you feel strongly about the very fact that your fellow people are being systematically deprived of their rightful land - land where they were born, grown up, lived there and died there, over several generations? Are all of you going to support your own people in their relentless campaign and crusade for their sacred rights to their land or rather you are going to support the ongoing drive by the authorities to usurp their land and to re-classify it into state land?

Be reminded that there would be backlash against you in the next election if you choose to ignore the choking voice and cries of your own people who have been occupying, cultivating, hunting and wandering on the land - their native customary land now being reclassified as state land, for generations.

Dato Sri Speaker,

What these native dwellers at the above-mentioned NCR land want is to have their land back, just and proper compensation, and for the authorities to survey and conserve large tracts of their land to be legally protected and clarified as NCR land pursuant to Section 5, 15(1) and 18(1) of the Sarawak Land Code (Chapter 81).

Dato Sri Speaker,

Once their land is given to companies like Forespring Sdn. Bhd. for logging, what would happen next to this land that has been totally logged? Is the Government going to leave the land bare and idle? Presumably No! So what happens next?

Many of the Iban people shall be permanently deprived of their customary rights to their land. Their traditional simple lifestyles would be disrupted irreparably and they would be displaced irreversibly and indefinitely unless they may be able to win their land back through court battles against this mighty BN Government, which is supposedly the Government for all people!

The next thing to happen is to find the same or another company granted with a lease to develop it into oil-palm plantation. The land as mentioned beforehand, is of hill-forest area. If the land, after logging is completed, shall be turned into oil-palm plantation by some oil-palm companies, the livelihood of the Meradong people shall be affected and in particular the drinking water of the Meradong population may be polluted. The water supply of Meradong comes from the upper part of Sg Bakong, i.e Lemayong area, which is the catchment area of our water, where if oil palm trees are to be cultivated, and all sort of chemical fertilizer , pesticides used widely, is bound to be polluted, thus affecting the very water supply and the general health and well-being of Meradong people.

Furthermore, soil erosion would worsen, thereby accelerating the pollution of our mighty Rejang River and other associated geographical problems such as global warming which is partly caused by too widespread clearing and logging of the tropical rainforests throughout the world.

Dato Sri Speaker,

These Iban folks have just celebrated the 50th year of the nationhood with the rest of the Malaysians. What did they get in return? Land grab and usurpation of their land by their own Government! Coupled with these uttermost predicament, plight and sufferings, these unfortunate folks and all other Malaysians are facing many other increasing numbers of woes, miseries heartaches and hardships.

Dato Sri Speaker,

All Malaysians are faced with not only rising crime rates and rampant corruption, which have been covered by the media widely, they are further bedeviled and plagued with ever rising cost of living. They are confronted with the escalating challenges of their daily living, with dearer food products and other commodities, such as medicines, cloths, petrol and gas and almost everything else, while their salaries and income stagnate.

The Government usually takes credit for anything good happening to the people. Undoubtedly the Government would attribute the inflationary pressures and other economic problems facing the nation and all Malaysians to external factors. Government would not admit to their own wrongdoings, mismanagement, negative and discriminatory fiscal policies which resulted in undesirable consequences and negative impact on the lives of the people as a whole.

Dato Sri Speaker,

Surely our current inflationary problems, stagnating growth may be to certain extent attributable to international factors. Nevertheless, our own Government’s economic policies, such as allowing substantial hikes in electricity tariffs, toll and parking fees and fines, and other form of administrative charges definitely have a significant impact on our inflation and casting a heavy burden on all Malaysians.

Going around the coffee shops in Meradong nowadays, the common complaint from people from all walks of life is “Everything is so expensive nowadays lah”. Indeed, the prices of all goods and commodities, with the exception of certain electrical items, have been creeping up and escalating fast beyond the affordability of the majority of Malaysians. The rich who becomes richer because of good stocks market are able to cope better. But what about the vast majority of the population who can hardly make ends meet with their salaries not increasing at the same pace with the price increase of goods and services and other commodities.

Undeniably, inflation is the biggest single economic problem facing all sectors of the population. The worse thing to come is the proposed abolition of subsidies to petrol and gas. The Federal Government has promised not to increase the price of petrol after the last one in February 2006, thereby postponing the plight and pain of consumers from higher petrol prices. A price hike in gas is imminent, as urged by Petronas, which has claimed that it is unable to subsidize the price of petrol, in the tune of RM50 billion in gas in the last 10 years. But it is making and raking in more than RM5 billion profits every year, much of which comes from its LNG ( Liquified Natural Gas ) Operations in Sarawak.

We have had several huge price increases in petrol prior to February 2006. It is predictable that after the coming parliamentary election, petrol price would be increased immediately from thirty to fifty cents per litre at the very least. With that increase, there shall be periodic increases until in four years time; all subsidies would be phased out, according to the Federal Government. It’s a shame that the Government has to do away subsidy. We are self-sufficient in oil and gas and we can afford to export a lot of these valuable resources overseas. Our prices are much higher than that in Brunei where per capita income is far higher than in Malaysia. Lucky Bruneians are able to enjoy the ownership of much much cheaper motor vehicles than we Malaysians. Why? The Federal Government has such lousy policies of the Approved Permit (AP) System to import cars and far higher excise duties and sales taxes and the collection of these duties and sales taxes plus road taxes have amounted to multi-billion ringgit revenue to the Federal Government yearly. Therefore, there is no complete logic for the Government to reduce or abolish petrol subsidy altogether.

If the prices of petrol and gas go up, there would be a chain reaction. The prices of transportation and other forms of services and production costs would escalate automatically. Hence inflation goes up and the life of all citizens in the country would worsen. Due to higher unemployment and more expensive cost of living, some individuals would most certainly resort to crimes, thereby fostering the growth of gangsterism and so forth.

Oh yes, Dato Sri Speaker, we have not forgotten the fundamental inability and weakness of this State Government in many aspects.

For example, the royalty payable to Sarawak still remains a laughable figure of 5% till now. The State Government has failed miserably in this respect for not able or even try to fight for, on behalf of Sarawak, which is extremely rich in natural resources, such as oil and gas. Petronas’ gas operations in Sarawak have resulted in multifold increase in revenue over the years while the State Government still receives a mere pittance, totaling 5% royalty which has never been adjusted at all.

It is common practice for landowners in Sarawak to receive 20-50% of all houses or shops constructed on a sharing basis. How on earth Sarawak is still receiving merely 5% royalty till now? With rising inflation and mushrooming profits by Petronas and other oil companies, this 5% should deservedly and justifiably be increased to 15% or 20%. It is time and it is time indeed to act. Sarawak should petition to the Federal Government for a greater share of the natural resources belonging to our State.

To our Chief Minister, be a fearless strong state’s rights Chief Minister, do take a strong stand with the Federal Government. Do demand a substantial increase in the royalty payment and all Sarawakians would be thankful to you forever.

Any extra payments from the royalty increase should benefit all Sarawakians because the State Government would find it unnecessary to find extra revenue from the people’s pockets to meet its ever expanding budget expenditures.

If the State Government has an expanding budget surplus because of greater royalty income, then it would be in the position to reduce various state’s taxes and charges, to help to improve the general livelihood of all Sarawakians who should legitimately and reasonably be awarded with a greater share in the State’s vast wealth and natural resources.

Admittedly, the extra royalty should help and accelerate the development in general of this State is lagging far behind the States in West Malaysia. How sad that some forty years after joining the Federation of Malaysia, Sarawak is still lagging far behind West Malaysia !

In the last federal budget Sarawak and Sabah were allocated some Ringgit Malaysia FOUR BILLIONS fund. But a whopping sum of Ringgit Malaysia ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE BILLIONS investments were initiated by the Federal Government for the East Coast Economic Region to be found in three smallish states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang.

Therefore, it is suggested that our Chief Minister should push and propose strongly to the Prime Minister for a Yearly Chief Minister’s conference whereby all Chief Ministers can congregate and negotiate and bargain with the Prime Minister for bigger allocation of funds for their respective states. I truly and sincerely hope that our Chief Minister would look into this constructive proposal and take it up with the Prime Minister.

Dato Sri Speaker,

In my previous speech in the last DUN sitting, I have urged the State government to pay special attention to the roads, drainage problems and high costs of bridge tolls. But it seems that no action has been taken by the State government or local government so far. As a responsible State government, how can the voice of the people hat has been brought by us, the Opposition representatives, simply be ignored??

It is sad to say that the State government has discriminated against constituencies now held by the Opposition. In Meradong, we have to privately pay for stones or gravels from our own pockets. In a democratic country, it is never the role of the Opposition wakil rakyat to fork out their own money to do the road repairing works, to build bridge etc etc, as Opposition parties are not the one who collect various taxes, council rates and so on. These are some of the receipts and where do I get reimbursements? Shall I get it back from you, our Honourable Chief minister ? To you, this is just a peanut sum of money, but to the people, this is the sum of money they need to have better maintained roads and public utilities.

The Government should be one for all Sarawakians, irrespective of race, colour, religious, or political affiliations. We believe in fairness, equality and fair play. Why not the BN government ?

The District Office and the local council have perpetually maintained that they have no funds. Where has the money gone to? Meradong people also pay all sort of direct and indirect taxes, and all other charges levied by Government or local authorities, just like all other Sarawakians.

In Meradong, roads and tracks have always been poorly maintained over the years and more so now. From the toll gate of the Rejang Bridge to the junction of Kelupu Road, no strret lamp posts have yet been erected for the safety of night travelers and road users.

A lot of potholes remain unrepaired. The precints at the only traffic light in Meradong remains and is prone to flood every time after rain. The traffic configuration at the junction of Sarikei/ kelupu/ Paradom Roads, though new, is in a mess, having caused several traffic accidents. Along several parts of the Paradom/Sibu roads, there are deep drains and due to road accidents, some drivers have been drowned in them. Pity their families! Shouldn’t a so called caring government pay attention to all these matters affecting our people’s daily life?

If there is less unnecessary wastage, extravagances and unproductive investments by the government, for instance, the First Silicon project, which if efficiently implemented and properly managed would have saved the State government multi-million ringgits, then the money saved can be used to upgrade our public infrastructures and utilities such as roads and bridges, providing better public services and perhaps contributing more development grants to all the constituencies in the State.

Let me repeat , it’s both morally wrong and politically sinful for the Government to withhold and deny special development grants to Opposition representatives, and treat the people of Meradong unfairly and shamelessly.

Next, I would like to reiterate about the high cost of crossing the Rejang Bridge. The Government has done nothing to alleviate the burden of all bridge users, especially the frequent travelers. No discounted season pass has been introduced by the Bridge Concessionaire for frequent Bridge users. Even the Kuching Airport Carpark has recently launched the forty-dollar a month parking permit for car drivers who frequently park their cars at the Kuching International Airport Carpark. I would suggest to the Government and the Bridge Concessionaire to generously institute a cheaper system of toll collections for frequent users of the Rejang Bridge. They do not ask for free passage and they would be most grateful indeed if toll charges can be reduced generally.

Dato Sri Speaker,

Our Government should always strive for a corrupt-free, responsible, transparent, competent and an efficient public service sector which is costing the tax-payers millions & millions of dollars to run every year. Therefore, it is only fair and reasonable for all citizens and private corporations to expect the highest standard of service to be provided for by the public sector.

All too often, there are complaints against the public service. Let me bring to the attention of this August House what may have happened to the Sarikei District office recently. I wonder whether Honourable member for Repok has heard about the mishandling or sheer incompetence on the part of the officers of the Sarikei District Office? I have received some complaints from vehicle hirers. It was brought to my attention that at the Sarikei District Office which is responsible for the registration of the original copies of hire-purchase agreements, hundreds of copies of original copies of the hire-purchase agreements belonging to such Banks such as Bank Rakyat, RHB, AmBank in Sarikei have been misplaced, mishandled or lost. Can the Minister responsible for the District Office verify whether hundreds of hire-purchase agreement indeed simply vanished from the 8th floor of the Sarikei District Office without proper accountability . If a few copies of the agreements were lost, then it is understandable and it may be due to carelessness or human error. But if hundred of them which may involve some 30 over million ringgit hire-purchase loans were lost, then something is grossly wrong and it is tantamount to total and absolute incompetence, ineptitude and an infamous scandal. Those who are responsible must be severely punished indeed. What is the Minister of Local government going to do if indeed such thing happened and what measures is he going to take to prevent such occurrences to be repeated in Sarikei District Office or in any other District Offices in Sarawak ?

Is the Honourable Minister responsible for the Sarikei District Office aware of the implications and seriousness of the loss of several hundreds of Banks’ hire-purchase agreements?

If the Land and Survey Department simply losses hundreds of original issue documents of titles belonging to landowners, shouldn’t the Superintendent of the Divisional Land & Survey be held responsible ?

Tourism

"Now everyone can fly" has become an effective advertisement tagline for Air-Asia. It has enabled many ordinary people in Malaysia to do intra and international traveling or holidays affordably, by operating more than EIGHTY (80) domestic and international routes. By carrying more than 40 million passengers so far, Air Asia has helped to generate significant economic spin-offs for Sarawak and Malaysia. Air-Asia singly has helped, more than the Sarawak Government, to boost tourism, hotel and retail industries. So, to the Minister of Tourism, don’t you agree?

Regrettably, the State Government has barely made an impact for Sarawak as a major tourist destination even though the State has set up the 1st State Tourism Board in Malaysia. The State Government did not aggressively work with airlines to attract more tourists to this State by taking full advantage of direct flights to the Kuching International Airport.

Kuching has not become a regional air hub as compared to Kota Kinabalu. Its passenger load is more noticeably outbound. The trophy for Borneo’s undisputed premier tourist destination must go to Kota Kinabalu or Sabah as a whole. Consequently, most tourist dollars have flown to Sabah rather than Sarawak, not that Sarawak has less to offer than Sabah! Some 10.69 million tourists visited Malaysia from January to June 2007. How many tourists have visited Sarawak ? Can the Honourable Minister for Urban Development and Tourism give some comments in respect of this?

Woman

Malaysia does not have a University ranked in the top 200 in the world (MU is ranked 247th place). Neither is Malaysia ranked very highly in term of gender gap. Say for instance, though woman form about 50% of the registered voters in the country, they constitute merely 10% of the members of Parliament, even less in this State Assembly. In fact, Malaysia is spot lit with a dim and dismal 92nd ranking among the 128 nations listed in the Global Gender Gap Report 2007. Even Vietnam was ranked 42nd place.

India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, the Philipines, Indonesia and even Bangladesh have female Prime Ministers or Presidents.

It is the prerogative of the Chief Minister to choose elected representatives as Ministers or Assistant Ministers. As there is no legal obstacle to participate in Government and politics, there is always still subtle male resistance to women’s participation and placements in higher political posts.

So, to the Chief Minister who has stated recently that he is ready to handover power to any PBB leader who is ready. Don’t you think it is high time that you anoint and appoint one of your female YB as the next Deputy Chief Minister at least? What about our one and only female Assistant Minister in this State Assembly? The Assistant Minster of Human resource and Agriculture? I believe she is both capable and eligible to handle the post.

CONCLUSION

1. Vital measures and urgent steps need to be adopted to make sure that our State laws do not simply deprive and usurp the Iban people of their inherent rights to their N.C.R. land without proper notice, adequate compensation and alternative resettlement areas. Sufficient land must be given to the Iban longhouse folks as they are dependent on forest produce for food, water, and other basic necessities.

2. We the Opposition are here to make positive contributions and to give constructive criticisms. We are not here to purposely disrupt the sitting and to disobey the Standing Orders. When we feel that there are legitimate questions and concerns touching the livelihood and well-being of our constituents, we shall without fear or favour bring the matters to this State Assembly, the proper forum for discussion and solution to the problems of our citizens.

3. I sincerely hope that extra development grants will be given to all constituencies so that our basic infrastructures and other public utilities may be maintained and kept under proper repair. It is further wished that the Chief Minister would push for greater royalty payment for the betterment of this great State of Sarawak. Lastly, I wish that democracy in our State can be further nurtured so that Sarawak may become an exemplary State in Malaysia.