By Y.B. Wong Ho Leng, ADUN for Bukit Assek
This is the Final day’s sitting this Session. Should anyone ask me how I felt now that the session was over, I would say that I felt sad that the sitting had not been longer by at least 2 more days.
Should there be anyone asking me what surprised me most from this sitting, I would say that I was pleasantly surprised that even the BN Ministers and backbenchers have been reading my writing/Blog.
The DAP had never been worried by the constant bashing by the BN. If they thought that they had done a wonderful job wounding us, I dare say that that would be far from right. Do what they have to do but we do ours. We brought into the Dewan issues. We looked to check the administration. We disdained the Dewan being reduced to a mere rubber stamp for the administration.
We boycotted Jabu’s morning session when he would present his speech relating to his Ministry of Rural Development. We had voted him the “Most Disrespectful Minister”. This was because he was disrespectful to the Opposition and the Standing Orders yesterday. When we tried to interject yesterday, he would pretend not seeing us and would read like he was driving in a Formula 1 circuit. Even when the Speaker asked whether he would give way for clarification he would pretend not hearing anything. Our decision was to boycott the 1st hour but we then extended it despite the fact that Voon was already in the Dewan at 10 a.m. and had interjected during Jabu’s speech. Because Voon’s handphone was already out of coverage in the Dewan, we had an awkward situation. We sent an SMS to Voon. When he received it, he retreated from the Dewan.
We thought we would be in time for George Chan’s winding up speech when we arrived at the DUN Complex at 11 a.m. But we heard the voice of Jabu and the altercation inside the Dewan. Dominique/PKR had a monopoly to himself arguing with Jabu, and the argument was incessant. In his Budget debate, Dominique had asked Jabu to supply answer to his question on CMS, otherwise he would continue his mis-pronunciation of Jabu’s constituency (Layar) and would continue to call Jabu a liar. Jabu and Dominique had never been in good terms since Day 1. Jabu had alleged that PKR and DAP had oppressed the rural people in their opportunity to see more development. That was a stale allegation, as Jabu said the same thing last year, and I had stated DAP’s answer to the issue. Why should that issue be allowed to be brought up this time, I really do not know. I am not sure whether Dominique had invoked the Standing Orders when Jabu started his charade on it.
In any event, we heard funny noises coming from the public announcing system, ranging from the crows of a cockrel to the howling of dogs. That shows that the BN would muster all tricks to disturb the Opposition, despite their insisting that all Members must observe the decorum.
Outside at the Corridor, we heard Dominique fending the BN, ONE against the rest of the members less DAP. Of course, not all BN members were in the Dewan. Many of them were fed up by the altercations and were standing outside, some even teasing us for not going in to help!
I believe that the BN “altercators” were merely looking to disturbing Dominique. The Speaker did his all, but let the proceedings continued. I read this tactics as letting the BN predators having their way. Phrases such as “you are lonesome”, “pull his tongue”, “your Party main belakang” etc etc all appeared. Dominique must have felt like a hero fending against the BN. But shall we go in before Jabu had finally wound up? We had a quick meeting. We decided that we would continue boycott Jabu until he had finished in this session. There was no point watching him read. We could read faster at home. As it was past noon, we decided to join the Dewan after lunch. We continued let Dominique have the privilege of “predating” the BN folks.
George Chan had started when 6 of us marched in. He deliberated on matters connected to his Ministry of Industrial Development and then answered certain issues raised in the debate. A tea break later, George Chan was on his Ministry of Agriculture. I won’t know whether George Chan would have been more successful than me as a farmer, but I believe we both have the same interest in the farmland. He explained on the newest crop clones and told the House the most recent developments to preserve fruits like dabai and dragon fruits. But we never knew what these inventions were but I suspect that it has to do with vacuum packaging. My knowledge on science is so scanty that this would be a mere guess.
Then George Chan talked on something which I anticipated he would – politics. The other day Soon Koh told the newspapers that there was no Team A and Team B in the SUPP. Soon Koh also said the relationship between him and George Chan is extremely cordial and they spent their time everyday discussing national political issues. Wow! So, I had wanted to see what George Chan had to offer. It was tremendously enlightening.
“Now I am going to talk something on politics”, George Chan said with a smile and gestured to pull his sleeve up a little, with Chong jesting that he should put his boxing gloves on. He expressed the hope that the opposition would not interject.
Why should he be so scared? You wanted to box us and yet asked us not the hit back! The Speaker came to assist. He told the Dewan that if the Minister refused to give way, and if he the Speaker gave 3 warnings, then the member interjecting would be sent out of the Dewan.
The movie had hardly begun when Voon tried his luck. George Chan motioned his hands all over his table and said he would not give way to clarification. The Speaker gave the 1st warning. Voon sat down, but only to stand again. He was given the 2nd warning. Voon sat and stood again. The Speaker was about to give a 3rd warning, but Voon quickly took his seat.
Did the Speaker mean business? I thought this could not be right. How could he expect the Minister to “hantam” us and we could take these punches lying down?
George Chan was upset that I had called his party one of Sarawak’s Useless Political Parties. I stood to retort but was disallowed. Lee Kim Shin thought it a good moment to “minta” from his Party President a floor to stand on. As he started talking, Chong fired back with venom. I wanted to shoot too, but rightly, the Speaker thought it a better idea to order George Chan to continue his speech. Lee Kim Shin and Chong sat, and I complied too. The Speaker must have enough altercations in the morning.
George Chan was surely very proud that his Party did so much for Chinese schools and challenged the DAP to show what we had done. He would not let me a chance to reply until I asked him whether he was “gentleman” enough to give. “We are the Opposition. You are the Government. You collect the people’s tax …”. As he saw me opening up, he quickly took back his floor.
Was George Chan upset by what I said about his Party’s internal bickering? He said that any political party has hiccups, and the SUPP had hiccups after it suffered some casualties in last year’s election, but he thought he had found a syringe to hurt me. He quoted a sentence from my Blog saying that even in DAP there were unhappiness, like I was displeased that Voon was absent from our pre-council conference last Sunday. I stood to ask for a moment to clarify. With the Speaker asking whether he was prepared to give way, I asked whether he was gentleman enough to give. He let me thank him for promoting my Blog and explain that I was indeed displeased by Voon’s absence but then Voon’s reason was that he had to attend another dinner function and which explanation was acceptable to me.
We were surprised that George Chan’s attack on DAP was over as quickly as it was brought up. With Jabu congratulating his colleague right after the speech was over, George Chan must be wondering whether I would tell him how I had felt? Since he is reading my Blog and this Diary, I would convey my thanks to George Chan for recognizing DAP as having an important place in his heart, so much so that he had to dedicate time and energy to answer us. But, honestly, his answer had given away what Soon Koh had tried to hide. Is the Party split a hiccup? Is the Party President and his Assistant Secretary in cordial terms? Did they spend day and night discussing national political issues? I think the answer would better be left to them and I won’t waste any more space here.
The Big Shot anchored the show, as always. He was the Star. To start with, all the BN ADUNs and the 2 Independent/BN Prone ADUNs all turned up for the “auspicious” occasion. Then, since the CM is afraid of the chill in the Dewan, the portals of the Dewan were opened for a while to let out some cold air.
The temperature (as measured by the thermometer) in the Dewan steadily climbed when CM commenced his speech. It was a straight forward one. He asked Sarawakians to be brave to face the world trend, to create economic opportunities, venture into new horizon and be ready to change with the tentacles of globalization waving. The state had to develop human resources and diversify the economic base.
The CM then commended Chin Sing, equating him to the examples of opposition members like Tan Chee Koon, Lee Lam Thye and Wong Sing Nang.
As I made my eye contact with Chin Sing, my message was delivered - “Divide and Rule”. Wow! Chin Sing was in Sing Nang’s class, and with Sing Nang’s name not wholly accepted by many people in Sarawak, Chin Sing must have felt small and embarrassed indeed.
The CM admonished Sarawakians to treasure peace and harmony in order to attract long terms investments.
His speech came to an abrupt end after 30 minutes. It could be the shortest winding up speech that the CM had given these years. But we were not complaining that it was already 7:30 p.m.
The Budget had to be passed, despite our raising so many issues in our speeches. Without the Supply, the state would not be able to function next year.
Dublin Unting gave the adjournment speech. It lasted less than 8 minutes, a perfect time.
As the Speaker read his 3 panduns, our hearts had walked to Rock Road Restaurant. At 7:50 p.m., we broke off. We bade farewell to those good foes and bad foes as they streamed past us. We harboured no ill feelings toward them. We had done our best, and so had they, I assumed. Only that out political platforms differed. We will not meet till next May, friends and foes, when we shall do our best all over again.
Rock Road Restaurant has been our eating place at the end of every DUN session. For all the efforts of my charges, they deserved to be treated. It was there that we would assess our performance. We would do some brain storming as to what could have been improved. We would chart our next course of actions now that we had those answers in our hands. I would also give general direction as to what had to be looked into in order to attain greater heights for ourselves and the Party.
Every minute of our being together had been important, and I would be the first to say I appreciated it all. Our togetherness not only bonded comradeship but also providing the opportunity to seeing the destiny of the Party and the State together.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Dewan Diary - Day 7
By Y.B. Wong Ho Leng, ADUN for Bukit Assek
Had it not been for good workmanship, the Dewan’s roof would have collapsed before the morning session was over. The altercations between Soon Koh and the Opposition bench took centre-stage, and the ignition was switched on by Soon Koh himself. He asked for it, and surely, lived to regret the moments when he was stung so badly.
Had he spent time answering the Opposition’s issues and accorded to the Opposition the credit they deserve, he would not have been reduced to becoming so small and pathetic. Yet, Soon Koh summed up his session unashamably thus, “Have to hit them hard, otherwise no use”. Jabu, who had approached Soon Koh after Soon Koh’s speech, must have thought that this man was not very honest to himself about his attack on the Opposition. Anyone who tried disturbs the hornet’s nest must expect the stings. Soon Koh had been stung so many times this morning that he and his
Camp B hadn’t even the energy to join their President for lunch at the Agricultural Centre at Santubong.
And, I did not see the CM at the lunch either, though I saw written on the table, “CM and Entourage”. Maybe after being stung, the CM’s blue eye boy had gone to seek solace, wailing like a baby in the CM’s office. As for us, all my DAP colleagues enjoyed the sumptuous Malay food and succulent fruits. We paid tribute to our conscience. We do what a responsible Opposition does. From the altercation with Soon Koh, we see the “political acumen” of the SUPP’s stalwart in Sibu. He tried to discredit us, even to the extent of quoting what our own leader said of us. It took little to realize how shallow he was. His oratory skill so often his and his party’s pride, and his common sense and wisdom, were reduced to shambles. His “entourage” of faithful colleagues from Sibu were unable to give any helping hand as we shredded his face. His colleagues from the SUPP outside Sibu were determined to see the real shallow Soon Koh exposed by the DAP. He found his soldiers in the PBB, and there were only 2 of them, Asa Jaya and Julaihi. Yet, they were not able to help even the very core issue that Soon Koh hopes to represent and which we shred – being clever, smart and able. His “entourage” of wise men, Ghandi, Confucius, etc, so often quoted by Soon Koh in so many speeches and functions in all corners of
Sarawak, deserted him, as everything he quoted slammed into his face to the laughters of the Dewan.
You can show your wisdom when the DAP is not around. Alas, it was a shameful episode. It was a shameful session to the BN. The DAP and PKR were bashed by Soon Koh, but we were never wounded.
It would do absolute injustice to not read the Hansard of the real happenings. What I could describe here would not be enough to scratch the shame and embarrassment. I will expand on the story. Let the truth be told. I will conclude how isolated Soon Koh is in the SUPP. Those loud noises his Camp made in Sibu were really noise from an empty drum.
It is a shame though, what I had often emphasized had been ignored again. The Ministers, and no less Soon Koh, had been using the Dewan as a venue for DAP bashing. Gone are the days when the Dewan is supposed to legislate and look into the plight of the people. If Confucius were alive today, he would have wailed in pain, over the tongue of Soon Koh and his guile in dodging from responsibility as a Minister. Answer the questions, Soon Koh, Confucius would say. Answer the issues, do the Minister’s job, Ghandi would have advised. Story Later...
Had it not been for good workmanship, the Dewan’s roof would have collapsed before the morning session was over. The altercations between Soon Koh and the Opposition bench took centre-stage, and the ignition was switched on by Soon Koh himself. He asked for it, and surely, lived to regret the moments when he was stung so badly.
Had he spent time answering the Opposition’s issues and accorded to the Opposition the credit they deserve, he would not have been reduced to becoming so small and pathetic. Yet, Soon Koh summed up his session unashamably thus, “Have to hit them hard, otherwise no use”. Jabu, who had approached Soon Koh after Soon Koh’s speech, must have thought that this man was not very honest to himself about his attack on the Opposition. Anyone who tried disturbs the hornet’s nest must expect the stings. Soon Koh had been stung so many times this morning that he and his
Camp B hadn’t even the energy to join their President for lunch at the Agricultural Centre at Santubong.
And, I did not see the CM at the lunch either, though I saw written on the table, “CM and Entourage”. Maybe after being stung, the CM’s blue eye boy had gone to seek solace, wailing like a baby in the CM’s office. As for us, all my DAP colleagues enjoyed the sumptuous Malay food and succulent fruits. We paid tribute to our conscience. We do what a responsible Opposition does. From the altercation with Soon Koh, we see the “political acumen” of the SUPP’s stalwart in Sibu. He tried to discredit us, even to the extent of quoting what our own leader said of us. It took little to realize how shallow he was. His oratory skill so often his and his party’s pride, and his common sense and wisdom, were reduced to shambles. His “entourage” of faithful colleagues from Sibu were unable to give any helping hand as we shredded his face. His colleagues from the SUPP outside Sibu were determined to see the real shallow Soon Koh exposed by the DAP. He found his soldiers in the PBB, and there were only 2 of them, Asa Jaya and Julaihi. Yet, they were not able to help even the very core issue that Soon Koh hopes to represent and which we shred – being clever, smart and able. His “entourage” of wise men, Ghandi, Confucius, etc, so often quoted by Soon Koh in so many speeches and functions in all corners of
Sarawak, deserted him, as everything he quoted slammed into his face to the laughters of the Dewan.
You can show your wisdom when the DAP is not around. Alas, it was a shameful episode. It was a shameful session to the BN. The DAP and PKR were bashed by Soon Koh, but we were never wounded.
It would do absolute injustice to not read the Hansard of the real happenings. What I could describe here would not be enough to scratch the shame and embarrassment. I will expand on the story. Let the truth be told. I will conclude how isolated Soon Koh is in the SUPP. Those loud noises his Camp made in Sibu were really noise from an empty drum.
It is a shame though, what I had often emphasized had been ignored again. The Ministers, and no less Soon Koh, had been using the Dewan as a venue for DAP bashing. Gone are the days when the Dewan is supposed to legislate and look into the plight of the people. If Confucius were alive today, he would have wailed in pain, over the tongue of Soon Koh and his guile in dodging from responsibility as a Minister. Answer the questions, Soon Koh, Confucius would say. Answer the issues, do the Minister’s job, Ghandi would have advised. Story Later...
Monday, November 26, 2007
Dewan Diary - Day 6
By Y.B. Wong Ho Leng, ADUN for Bukit Assek
Ministers started their winding up speeches from today. The Ministers would state their Ministries’ policies, praise their Ministries’ performance, and, hopefully, answer most if not all the issues raised by ADUNs in their debates.
Vincent Goh has taken leave for today. I don’t know why all SUPP YBs from Sibu were absent this morning. One can safely bet that it would have something to do with the beauty pageant that is being held in Sibu. They all thought it a good idea to be near to these beauties.
We arrived at the Dewan, 30 minutes early. Our objective is to check the Hansard. We had read that Karim/Asa Jaya had said this: “We have honourable member for Kota Sentosa trying to arouse racial feeling by alleging private land in Demak Laut being taken by s.47 and used for Muslim cemetery”.
Chong never said this. And, this is not the first time that the BN had baselessly accused DAP of harping on racial or religious issues. Honestly, we abide by the Standing Orders more than anybody else. On my part, I had also been reminding my charges not to harp along racial or religious lines. It was by coincidence that Asa Jaya came early too, 15 minutes after us. I suggested to Chong to tell Asa Jaya that he would raise the issue when the sitting commenced. Asa Jaya said he realized that there was a mistake and didn’t mind that Chong would raise it. It was 9:01 a.m., and the only Minister in the Dewan when the Doa was read was Awang Tengah. As the business began, Chong raised a point of Order. It was perhaps early in the morning, but the adrenalin was already high for truth seeking by our side but evasion by Asa Jaya. Chong said he did not say which Asa Jaya had imputed him as saying. He made it well understood that the thrust of his speech was his objection that lucrative contracts were awarded without tender to CMS and Titanium. Asa Jaya did the obvious. He explained that those words were said by Dominique/PKR but that Chong also said it on another matter concerning tar sealing up to the mosque in his constituency. The explanation went on and on, and the altercation between Asa Jaya and Chong went on and on.
Why couldn’t it be simpler? I could not comprehend how a top brain on the BN (Asa Jaya is Chairman of the BN backbenchers Club) cum a lawyer could explain his admitted mistake in this manner. I supported Chong to say that the issue was basically very straight forward - Did Chong say those words which Chong complained of? Since Asa Jaya admitted that Chong did not, then those words complained of should be expunged.
The Speaker actually was in full agreement with me. He asked Asa Jaya whether he would wish to withdraw those words. Asa Jaya proved not to be gentleman after all. He said he just offered clarification that those words were said by Padungan/Dominique.
The Speaker is the custodian of the Hansard. He ought to direct the words complained of by Chong to be expunged and not let clarification of Asa Jaya stand.
The refusal by “naughty” Asa Jaya to withdraw words which he admitted to be a mistake caused a loss of 20 minutes of the Dewan’s precious time. The Speaker summed it up by saying that henceforth he will not allow racial or religious issues to be raised.
As a matter of fact, it was sometimes because extra words had been read in that had made innocent statements sensitive. Suppose the statement is “the road is tar sealed to the mosque”. Can’t the mosque or church or temple or airport or certain buildings etc be considered as easily identifiable landmarks? Why has this to be interpreted as raising religious or sensitive issues? Or do we have to carefully paraphrase it to say that “the road is tar sealed up to a building standing 200 feet from the junction”? Or what would happen if a member jumps to say, “hey, that chap is referring to that building which is a mosque”?
To the shocking dismay of all Sarawakians, the Minister did not announce the mechanics and formula of calculating the land renewal premium. When Chong asked about it, Awang Tengah said he had announced the principles, and would not be going to touch on renewal in his speech.
Throughout the morning, Awang Tengah was gentleman to take all questions raised by the Opposition. The fact that the BN raised not a single query during the 2 hour speech by Awang Tengah spoke so much about the easy-to-be-satisfied attitude of the BN backbenchers. The newspapers this morning were filled with columns of SUPP’s attack on the DAP over the issue of land lease renewal. We cheated the landowners, they said. Did we? We were equally disappointed that the Minister decided not to talk about it in the winding up speech. On the other hand, had we not fought so hard for automatic and unconditional renewal of land titles in the past few years, would there be RM2,600.00 renewal premium for a 4 point land in
Kenyalang Park (Kuching) with 18 years to go?
In the morning, reporters told us that Awang Tengah would be holding a press conference in the afternoon but we had not been told what he had said. If it concerned matters relating to land lease renewal and premium, then why wasn’t it disclosed in the Dewan? Why had they to be so scared that we would jump to raise questions on it?
I read in the papers this morning Allan Sim/SUPP as saying that the BN Ministers will tell the people that the Government adopts the “differential” method of valuation in calculating renewal premium. I was entitled to ask whether Allan Sim was trying to be smart alex. The Minister was certainly mute in the Dewan.
Earlier in the day, I had met up with Awang Tengah and let him know 2 of my concerns on his lease renewal policies, and they concerned the renewal of land imposed under s.47 Land Code, and the requirement that all co-owners must sign the papers before the land lease would be renewed. I did not see these issues addressed by Allan Sim or the SUPP, and certainly Awang Tengah had not spoken on them.
In answer to my question, Awang Tengah told the House that from his records, only one title had been converted from agricultural to shipbuilding usage. I said I knew of two. I asked the Minister to update the Dewan before the end of the day. The Minister said that was a fair statement but Asa Jaya, probably still furious after our altercation earlier in the morning, interjected and suggested that I should update the House. I am not a Government Minister. How do I update the House? “Naughty boy!” I yelled across, only to see him smiling some 50 feet from me. His guile and lack of wisdom had impressed me not.
Michael Manyin was still sick. Though coughing badly, he decided to read his winding up speech. He said he could not delegate this task to his deputy because the responsibility is too high. In fact, under the Standing Orders as amended during the sitting, not even his deputy could help him read his speech, not until 1.12.2007. I had 2 hours taken from me in an interview (on sexual harassment and women issues) with the Women Ministry but could hear arguments between Chong and Manyin over waste disposal and other local council matters in Kuching. Manyin accused Chong of quoting wrong statistics. Chong retorted that his information were from the Auditor General’s Report etc. The whole Dewan seemed to be on fire, with Dominique chipping in to mull Manyin. Poor Manyin, he really disliked loud noises. Several times he raised his voice, just that little, “No need to shout, my hearing is still good”.
Soon Koh started his replies relating to 2 of his Ministries, that of urban development and tourism. The Opposition members from Kuching would not let him off on the issue of a RM20m drainage that was a pre-election promise. Work was promised to start but up to now, none had. Soon Koh was just not forthcoming in his answer but said the answer was given by him in the last sitting and asked the Opposition Members to go read the Hansard again. On another mega project, DAP bench asked for answer which was not forthcoming. Soon Koh replied, “I know the answer but I won’t tell you”. What an irresponsible answer was that. Chong stood to specifically ask whether the award was given to members of the CM’s family. The BN backbenchers immediately booed and the Speaker directed Soon Koh not to answer. Sarawakians must ask why. Soon Koh could have said “I know the answer but I can’t tell you”.
Soon Koh covered a wide spectrum of matters relating to his Ministry. Unbeknown to the ordinary folks, his Ministry is in charge of such matters as museum and heritage, water quality, public transport, flooding, recreational Parks and landscaping, urban development and renewal, etc.
Soon Koh took questions from Chong and Dominique/PKR but decided to not let me ask my question when he said that more heritage buildings had to be gazetted. He said he chose to proceed. I had wanted to ask why Law King Howe Hospital site and the Memorial Museum were not declared as Sarawak’s heritage.
Soon after refusing me, Dominique had wanted to interject, only to see a smiling Soon Koh telling Dominique and the House, “We can always discuss over a cup of coffee”. Had that been the answer to me I would have fumed.
But the message intended was clear. It was then that the Dewan became a monologue, for well over 45 minutes. It was all Soon Koh addressing 31 members who “attentively” listened to his monologue report on Tourism (the rest were gone). Needless to say, Tourism is an important Ministry and income earner.
Exactly 2 hours after he had stood to speak, Soon Koh had finished, to a sigh of relief to all of us. “My head is spinning”, I heard Soon Koh telling his next-seat Abang Jo, who was the only Minister in the Dewan.
Soon Koh will resume tomorrow, on his Finance Ministry, and I can guarantee that there would be a lot of fireworks. We had raised so many issues, and we knew that he wanted to answer us. He won’t spare us. We will not cave in either.
Ministers started their winding up speeches from today. The Ministers would state their Ministries’ policies, praise their Ministries’ performance, and, hopefully, answer most if not all the issues raised by ADUNs in their debates.
Vincent Goh has taken leave for today. I don’t know why all SUPP YBs from Sibu were absent this morning. One can safely bet that it would have something to do with the beauty pageant that is being held in Sibu. They all thought it a good idea to be near to these beauties.
We arrived at the Dewan, 30 minutes early. Our objective is to check the Hansard. We had read that Karim/Asa Jaya had said this: “We have honourable member for Kota Sentosa trying to arouse racial feeling by alleging private land in Demak Laut being taken by s.47 and used for Muslim cemetery”.
Chong never said this. And, this is not the first time that the BN had baselessly accused DAP of harping on racial or religious issues. Honestly, we abide by the Standing Orders more than anybody else. On my part, I had also been reminding my charges not to harp along racial or religious lines. It was by coincidence that Asa Jaya came early too, 15 minutes after us. I suggested to Chong to tell Asa Jaya that he would raise the issue when the sitting commenced. Asa Jaya said he realized that there was a mistake and didn’t mind that Chong would raise it. It was 9:01 a.m., and the only Minister in the Dewan when the Doa was read was Awang Tengah. As the business began, Chong raised a point of Order. It was perhaps early in the morning, but the adrenalin was already high for truth seeking by our side but evasion by Asa Jaya. Chong said he did not say which Asa Jaya had imputed him as saying. He made it well understood that the thrust of his speech was his objection that lucrative contracts were awarded without tender to CMS and Titanium. Asa Jaya did the obvious. He explained that those words were said by Dominique/PKR but that Chong also said it on another matter concerning tar sealing up to the mosque in his constituency. The explanation went on and on, and the altercation between Asa Jaya and Chong went on and on.
Why couldn’t it be simpler? I could not comprehend how a top brain on the BN (Asa Jaya is Chairman of the BN backbenchers Club) cum a lawyer could explain his admitted mistake in this manner. I supported Chong to say that the issue was basically very straight forward - Did Chong say those words which Chong complained of? Since Asa Jaya admitted that Chong did not, then those words complained of should be expunged.
The Speaker actually was in full agreement with me. He asked Asa Jaya whether he would wish to withdraw those words. Asa Jaya proved not to be gentleman after all. He said he just offered clarification that those words were said by Padungan/Dominique.
The Speaker is the custodian of the Hansard. He ought to direct the words complained of by Chong to be expunged and not let clarification of Asa Jaya stand.
The refusal by “naughty” Asa Jaya to withdraw words which he admitted to be a mistake caused a loss of 20 minutes of the Dewan’s precious time. The Speaker summed it up by saying that henceforth he will not allow racial or religious issues to be raised.
As a matter of fact, it was sometimes because extra words had been read in that had made innocent statements sensitive. Suppose the statement is “the road is tar sealed to the mosque”. Can’t the mosque or church or temple or airport or certain buildings etc be considered as easily identifiable landmarks? Why has this to be interpreted as raising religious or sensitive issues? Or do we have to carefully paraphrase it to say that “the road is tar sealed up to a building standing 200 feet from the junction”? Or what would happen if a member jumps to say, “hey, that chap is referring to that building which is a mosque”?
To the shocking dismay of all Sarawakians, the Minister did not announce the mechanics and formula of calculating the land renewal premium. When Chong asked about it, Awang Tengah said he had announced the principles, and would not be going to touch on renewal in his speech.
Throughout the morning, Awang Tengah was gentleman to take all questions raised by the Opposition. The fact that the BN raised not a single query during the 2 hour speech by Awang Tengah spoke so much about the easy-to-be-satisfied attitude of the BN backbenchers. The newspapers this morning were filled with columns of SUPP’s attack on the DAP over the issue of land lease renewal. We cheated the landowners, they said. Did we? We were equally disappointed that the Minister decided not to talk about it in the winding up speech. On the other hand, had we not fought so hard for automatic and unconditional renewal of land titles in the past few years, would there be RM2,600.00 renewal premium for a 4 point land in
Kenyalang Park (Kuching) with 18 years to go?
In the morning, reporters told us that Awang Tengah would be holding a press conference in the afternoon but we had not been told what he had said. If it concerned matters relating to land lease renewal and premium, then why wasn’t it disclosed in the Dewan? Why had they to be so scared that we would jump to raise questions on it?
I read in the papers this morning Allan Sim/SUPP as saying that the BN Ministers will tell the people that the Government adopts the “differential” method of valuation in calculating renewal premium. I was entitled to ask whether Allan Sim was trying to be smart alex. The Minister was certainly mute in the Dewan.
Earlier in the day, I had met up with Awang Tengah and let him know 2 of my concerns on his lease renewal policies, and they concerned the renewal of land imposed under s.47 Land Code, and the requirement that all co-owners must sign the papers before the land lease would be renewed. I did not see these issues addressed by Allan Sim or the SUPP, and certainly Awang Tengah had not spoken on them.
In answer to my question, Awang Tengah told the House that from his records, only one title had been converted from agricultural to shipbuilding usage. I said I knew of two. I asked the Minister to update the Dewan before the end of the day. The Minister said that was a fair statement but Asa Jaya, probably still furious after our altercation earlier in the morning, interjected and suggested that I should update the House. I am not a Government Minister. How do I update the House? “Naughty boy!” I yelled across, only to see him smiling some 50 feet from me. His guile and lack of wisdom had impressed me not.
Michael Manyin was still sick. Though coughing badly, he decided to read his winding up speech. He said he could not delegate this task to his deputy because the responsibility is too high. In fact, under the Standing Orders as amended during the sitting, not even his deputy could help him read his speech, not until 1.12.2007. I had 2 hours taken from me in an interview (on sexual harassment and women issues) with the Women Ministry but could hear arguments between Chong and Manyin over waste disposal and other local council matters in Kuching. Manyin accused Chong of quoting wrong statistics. Chong retorted that his information were from the Auditor General’s Report etc. The whole Dewan seemed to be on fire, with Dominique chipping in to mull Manyin. Poor Manyin, he really disliked loud noises. Several times he raised his voice, just that little, “No need to shout, my hearing is still good”.
Soon Koh started his replies relating to 2 of his Ministries, that of urban development and tourism. The Opposition members from Kuching would not let him off on the issue of a RM20m drainage that was a pre-election promise. Work was promised to start but up to now, none had. Soon Koh was just not forthcoming in his answer but said the answer was given by him in the last sitting and asked the Opposition Members to go read the Hansard again. On another mega project, DAP bench asked for answer which was not forthcoming. Soon Koh replied, “I know the answer but I won’t tell you”. What an irresponsible answer was that. Chong stood to specifically ask whether the award was given to members of the CM’s family. The BN backbenchers immediately booed and the Speaker directed Soon Koh not to answer. Sarawakians must ask why. Soon Koh could have said “I know the answer but I can’t tell you”.
Soon Koh covered a wide spectrum of matters relating to his Ministry. Unbeknown to the ordinary folks, his Ministry is in charge of such matters as museum and heritage, water quality, public transport, flooding, recreational Parks and landscaping, urban development and renewal, etc.
Soon Koh took questions from Chong and Dominique/PKR but decided to not let me ask my question when he said that more heritage buildings had to be gazetted. He said he chose to proceed. I had wanted to ask why Law King Howe Hospital site and the Memorial Museum were not declared as Sarawak’s heritage.
Soon after refusing me, Dominique had wanted to interject, only to see a smiling Soon Koh telling Dominique and the House, “We can always discuss over a cup of coffee”. Had that been the answer to me I would have fumed.
But the message intended was clear. It was then that the Dewan became a monologue, for well over 45 minutes. It was all Soon Koh addressing 31 members who “attentively” listened to his monologue report on Tourism (the rest were gone). Needless to say, Tourism is an important Ministry and income earner.
Exactly 2 hours after he had stood to speak, Soon Koh had finished, to a sigh of relief to all of us. “My head is spinning”, I heard Soon Koh telling his next-seat Abang Jo, who was the only Minister in the Dewan.
Soon Koh will resume tomorrow, on his Finance Ministry, and I can guarantee that there would be a lot of fireworks. We had raised so many issues, and we knew that he wanted to answer us. He won’t spare us. We will not cave in either.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Debate on Budget 2008
Debate speech by Wong Ho Leng, ADUN for Bukit Assek, on the Supply (2008) Bill 2007 (the Budget) on 23rd November 2007
Tuan Speaker, I rise to debate on the Supply (2008) Bill, 2007 (the Budget).
I would bring forth the following issues:
1. Review Royalties from Oil and Gas
When Sarawak and Sabah joined to form Malaysia in 1963, the federal Government promised Sarawak and Sabah special privileges and autonomies contained in the Malaysia Agreement. Much of these privileges have been eroded over time and Sarawak has not been well looked after by the federal Government.
The federal allocation of RM4 billion for the implementation of development projects in the state can hardly be adequate. We lag behind Peninsular Malaysia in development despite the fact that our state is rich in resources and contributes most significantly to the federal coffer.
Sarawak and her people deserve better. Due to need for revenue, landowners in Sarawak will be asked to pay high premium when they apply to renew their titles.
Should the Government need more revenue, there is always a more legitimate place than digging deep into the pockets of the Sarawak people. We can demand the federal Government to review the oil and gas royalty. The present 5% royalty is too low. Even by doubling the amount, our revenue would have increased by another RM1,351 million.
The Agreement was entered into more than 30 years ago.
A review should be demanded when the oil price is high and before our oil reserve goes shallow.
Our country gains when international oil price increases. This is because our country is an oil exporter. An increase of US$1 per barrel will enable Malaysia to earn an extra RM250 million. Considering that about 1/3 of Malaysian oil comes from Sarawak, we must consider that we have a legitimate right to demand to review the outdated agreement between Sarawak and the federal Government.
In the previous sitting in this Dewan, we have heard from the Finance Minister II that there had been many rounds of negotiation and the state will continue to negotiate.
Recently, I read the Chief Minister as saying that Sarawak is happy with the 5% royalty. Should that be the case, one of the Ministers must be telling an untruth.
Were there negotiations to review or not, and what is the status of the negotiations? The Ministers must explain.
2. Sibu Congestion Surcharge
Inflation and price hikes are affecting the lives of all and sundry. The people are feeling the pinch throughout Sarawak.
Sibu people fare the worst here. Sibu is the only place in the world where because of congestion in the Port, the Rajang Port Authority (RPA), ship operators are charging consignees. Of course, the ultimate victims are the consumers.
The surcharge is RM200.00 for a 20 footer container and RM400.00 for a 40 footer container.
The culprit is the self acclaimed BN’s Wawasan Team in Sibu.
By notice dated 25th October, 2007, RPA informed that Sibu had experienced “some occasional congestions at its container yard”.
On 26th October, 2007, a Notice was placed by ship operators in local dailies that the “Sibu Congestion Surcharge” will be implemented “from 01 Nov. 2007 on all Sibu laden import containers following major delays experienced at Rajang Port”.
RPA Chairman was slow in admitting that the congestion was in fact major at the RPA.
The congestion at RPA is caused by (i) ineffective administration; (ii) insufficient space; (iii) insufficient serviceable cranes despite having been in operation from 1st Nov., 1970.
The story began a few years ago when the self acclaimed Wawasan Team of the Sibu SUPP thought it a good idea to broker that the No.4 Godown at RPA be let to the Sibu Chinese Chamber of Commerce for a pitiful rent of RM5,000 per month.
How the Wawasan Team had the power to cause the RPA to rent out the godown is everybody’s question.
Renting out a godown is not the core business of RPA.
Of course, the Wawasan Team will have 101 reasons to justify what they did. As a part of the Government, they have a good umbrella to shelter, but let it be assured that the truth is out there. Without letting out the No.4 Godown, the problem of space will not have occurred, bearing in mind that the No.4 Godown has more than 3000 square metres of floor space.
The Chairman of the Port and the self acclaimed Wawasan Team of the SUPP must be answerable. In letting out the Godown which resulted in the congestion, the Wawasan Team has proved that it does not have a Wawasan and the people in Sibu suffered.
There also lies the problem with appointing unsuitable men to lead bodies such as Port Authorities. That system of appointment along political line must be abolished.
It requires little intellect to know that congestion problem does not occur overnight. Hence, the sudden increase of throughput as mentioned by ADUN Pelawan is a mere excuse.
I wanted to find out more about the congestion problem but the ADUN Pelawan cum Chairman of RPA decided to avoid me on 13th November, 2007. He had neither the courage nor the responsibility to tell the people the truth.
That reminded me of the appointment which the Miri Port Authority still owed me. 6 ½ years ago, I had wanted to visit the Miri Port Authority. The Authority wrote back saying that they welcome my visit and they would inform me of a suitable time for visit. 6 ½ years later, the suitable time hasn’t come. What is there to hide?
Political leaders in the BN Government does not understand the plight of the people. Let me remind you, as politicians, try to have a heart for the people. A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.
3. Education & Human Resources
No sustained development is possible without human resource development.
The best way to engineer human resource development is through education.
We have universities or campuses in Kuching, Bintulu, Mukah and Miri but Sibu has not a university, despite all the sweet talks of the Wawasan Team.
Sibu has a severe brain drain, caused because students who have gone for overseas education do not come back to serve. They see no future in Sibu under the Wawasan Team, a lot of them and their parents told me. They would rather migrate.
The Wawasan Team does not care that there is no university in Sibu. This is glaring from the speech of the Honourable Minister of Finance II in this august House on 27th Nov., 2007. He said that Miri has Curtin and Kuching has Swinburne, both Australian universities.
He said “Sarawak with its small population cannot have too many universities particularly Australian universities – two is enough, three could be disastrous”.
He then said: “We … decided to just consolidate with what we had in UCS …”.
They never look at the standard of UCS.
The stumbling block to Sibu having a university is the Wawasan Team. They are keen only to protect its college, the UCS, instead of letting people have more opportunities to receive university education.
The Wawasan Team promised Sibu that there would be a university in Sibu in 2003, that the University of South Australia (UNISA) would come here, and the students from UCS would become the university’s first batch of students.
With these sweet promises, soon after the announcement, many parents had sent their children to UCS in order that their children would become the pioneer students in the Sibu campus of UniSA. Yet, all these were lies. There was not a shadow of UniSA in Sibu. Even the UniSA said the announcement was not true.
Now, this Captain of the self acclaimed Wawasan Team had an excuse. He had the audacity to say “Two is enough, three could be disastrous.”
Why disastrous? How could receiving education from an Australian university campus in Sibu be disastrous? Or would it be disastrous to your UCS, that it may be forced to close shop if there is a university in Sibu?
The world is flat. Do not be afraid. If you are good, you survive. The lousy will have to close shop.
What a shame that the Wawasan Team has to stoop so low as to find the most flimsy of excuses over a naked untruth masterminded by themselves.
The point is this. You promised Sibu a University in 2003. Honour it. Like ADUN Pujut said, “Better Late than Never”.
Do not shun away from what you had promised. Nothing disastrous will befall Sibu if a 3rd Australian university is established in Sibu, except may be that UCS will run out of students. But if you are good, you survive.
You promised parents that the students in UCS will be the first students in UniSA in 2003, honour it. Or compensate them for not honouring your promise.
Do you know how many parents had complained that they felt cheated by the Wawasan Team?
If you care about Sibu, if you want to stop brain drain from Sibu, honour your promises of UniSA.
Is the Wawasan Team so satisfied with our Universities?
On 3rd Nov., 2007, in Sibu, the Honourable Minister of Finance II said that “there are good colleges and universities in the country to cater for the local population. There is no need to send our children abroad for further education”.
What are our good colleges and universities? How many of our Members and government officials send their children to local universities?
A government survey released in 3 Nov., 2007 has concluded that none of our universities are outstanding. Only one university - Universiti Sains Malaysia - made it into the second category of “Excellent” in the first ever university perception exercise in the country. It received a five-star ranking.
Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) were lumped in the “Good” category. They had four stars.
Our pride, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, was slotted in the “Satisfactory” category. That was the lowest category.
The 2007 Webometrics Ranking (WR) of 3,000 Premier Universities shows that our best university, USM, is ranked 1193 behind 8 Thai universities and 2 Indonesian universities, showing how serious had been the drop and decline of Malaysian universities standards for the past three decades even for the region of Southeast Asia.
Our pride, UniMAS, is nowhere near the 3000 ranking.
If our UniMAS only received such mediocre ranking, what about UCS? So, I am not jealous. Just look at your standard! Our Universities have this low quality and ranking. Surely, your college can’t be better!
Many parents have complained that their kids have to do their courses all over again because the course at UCS is not accredited in many countries?
The people support a university in Sibu, not the internal bickering of your Party at the expense of the rakyat.
With standards of our universities and colleges like this, how can Malaysia compete within the regional let alone global arena?
4. Development
Contrary to the accusation levelled against us by the BN, DAP is never against development, so long as the development is beneficial to the people.
Recently, the Chief Minister said Sarawak is to be a developed state by 2015. I welcome this.
But Sarawak cannot achieve this goal unless every sector of the society is given equal and balanced development. But how would equal development be possible in the event that the BN Government practised revengeful politics?
Many people are persecuted and sidelined because they did not vote the BN candidates.
How shameful it is that the BN is proving itself as a spiteful, revengeful and careless Government?
I can also give an example of Sibu. We are now the No. 3 town in Sarawak. In 1996, Sibu voters returned to this august House 2 representatives from the DAP. Since then, the BN leaders have been saying that “the Government has feelings”. The Honourable Finance Minister II and other leaders from the SUPP in Sibu had been reported many times in the press as saying that when 2 seats in Sibu were lost to the DAP in 1996, development stopped in Sibu for 2 years and the funds were channeled to elsewhere.
It was reported that the SUPP leaders said the Chief Minister was very angry and that was why the development were stopped in Sibu for 2 years.
According to the SUPP, the blame was on the Chief Minister. Had these SUPP leaders fought for the development of Sibu during these years? Or did they just “kowtow” to the Chief Minister’s anger?
If the Chief Minister could be so powerful that he alone could decide to stop development in Sibu for 2 years, then the CM was a dictator, and do not command the respect by the people of Sarawak.
The people in Sibu not only want fair treatment, but also want the Chief Minister to explain to this august House whether it was at his behest and instructions that development in Sibu was stopped for 2 years and funds were channeled to elsewhere.
If what was said by the SUPP of the CM was true, then the SUPP should also explain why they had allowed development projects to be stopped.
All voters, whether they vote for the BN or Opposition parties, are tax payers. They all contribute to the consolidated fund which are needed to develop the state. A foetus in the mother’s womb will start to pay tax because its mother has to seek medical attention throughout the months of gestation. From the time that he is born, he is paying tax through the milk that he takes apart from the very expensive nappies and other essential items. As a living being, he will pay tax through the parents or himself all the way until he has finished education. When he enters society, he pays tax from his income. When he dies, he pays tax too for the coffin which he lays in and the grave which will be his permanent home. Even long after his has been gone, the cemetry will be asked to pay tax to the local authorities.
In simple language, a person is taxed for everything before he is born and long after he is dead. That is why, everybody must be equally treated by the Government.
The 2008 Budget states that it is development biased. The Government must ensure that all races and regions in Sarawak stand to benefit equally.
5. Conversion of Title Condition
Some years ago, the state Government had required all the shipbuilders in Sibu to move their operations to the Rantau Panjang Industrial Zone. Either by force or otherwise, many shipbuilders have moved their operations there.
There were some who did not move but wait for their land titles to be converted from agriculture to shipbuilding usage. No one believed that they would get the conversion but some did get conversion recently.
I am not so much complaining about the Government converting title conditions in some meritorious cases. I am concerned that the Government must be consistent in its decision making process.
There is no reason to require all shipbuilders to move their operations to Rantau Panjang but at the same time convert the land title conditions of others, just because these others might have followed one of the Camps of the SUPP which has been involved in internal strife.
I have heard people saying that those aligned to the Camp led by Finance Minister II has yet to convert their title condition. Maybe they have followed the wrong Camp.
6. Politics: Advice to BN/SUPP
The DAP understands the plight of the people more than the BN/SUPP. Many people look at the SUPP as one of Sarawak’s Useless Political Parties.
For the DAP, we are able to gather popular support in our areas not because we are actors or Oscar award winners as accused by the member for Pelawan but we dare to tell the truth.
Puppets and yes men cannot speak the truth in this Dewan.
Do not be blind to the plight of the people. When DAP is doing a wonderful job, do not belittle us.
When valuables worth RM400,000 were taken from an Assistant Minister’s house, you could say “no sweat”, but not everybody is as rich. The people want us to tell the Government that land premium of 25% to 40% of the market price is way too high and not acceptable.
Have a heart for the people. They had supported you and given you the mandate to govern. Do not pull the plank after you have crossed the river.
If you have a heart for the people, you should consider their demand for unconditional and automatic renewal of land titles, without payment of premium.
Join us, to demand for good governance. Appreciate us, that we have an important role to play in an autocratic institution that is operating around us now.
We do not surrender just because we are a small number here. We are a group of people fighting for the people’s cause. We do not spend taxpayers’ money to engage in internal bickering.
To the SUPP, please spend time and energy for the people. Internal bickering does not benefit the people. The people are fed up with your division into Camp A and Camp B, with one camp trying to outdo one another to grab power, even to the extent of demanding that the signboard at Dudong branch be taken down.
In Chinese culture, it is taboo to dismantle a signboard out of spite or jealousy. Who is the actor of this Malaysian Hollywood movie? Because of your internal fight, you are even prepared to go against culture. You are leading a bad example for our children. Looks like your days are numbered.
You accuse us of being loud in this Dewan. Sometimes we have to. But let me tell you that when you use Government cars for private function and factional fights, the silent engines of the Mercedes Benzes are talking louder than us about your abuse of power. How can the people entrust their future to you?
Our job in here is to provide check and balance to the Government and the administration. We should not limit ourselves to the saying of “yeah yeah”. We support when Bills are good. We oppose when our conscience tells us.
Try to be not mere politicians, but statesmen, with conscience.
Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong. Well, these are the type of people who are calling the shots in our state.
Tuan Speaker, I rise to debate on the Supply (2008) Bill, 2007 (the Budget).
I would bring forth the following issues:
1. Review Royalties from Oil and Gas
When Sarawak and Sabah joined to form Malaysia in 1963, the federal Government promised Sarawak and Sabah special privileges and autonomies contained in the Malaysia Agreement. Much of these privileges have been eroded over time and Sarawak has not been well looked after by the federal Government.
The federal allocation of RM4 billion for the implementation of development projects in the state can hardly be adequate. We lag behind Peninsular Malaysia in development despite the fact that our state is rich in resources and contributes most significantly to the federal coffer.
Sarawak and her people deserve better. Due to need for revenue, landowners in Sarawak will be asked to pay high premium when they apply to renew their titles.
Should the Government need more revenue, there is always a more legitimate place than digging deep into the pockets of the Sarawak people. We can demand the federal Government to review the oil and gas royalty. The present 5% royalty is too low. Even by doubling the amount, our revenue would have increased by another RM1,351 million.
The Agreement was entered into more than 30 years ago.
A review should be demanded when the oil price is high and before our oil reserve goes shallow.
Our country gains when international oil price increases. This is because our country is an oil exporter. An increase of US$1 per barrel will enable Malaysia to earn an extra RM250 million. Considering that about 1/3 of Malaysian oil comes from Sarawak, we must consider that we have a legitimate right to demand to review the outdated agreement between Sarawak and the federal Government.
In the previous sitting in this Dewan, we have heard from the Finance Minister II that there had been many rounds of negotiation and the state will continue to negotiate.
Recently, I read the Chief Minister as saying that Sarawak is happy with the 5% royalty. Should that be the case, one of the Ministers must be telling an untruth.
Were there negotiations to review or not, and what is the status of the negotiations? The Ministers must explain.
2. Sibu Congestion Surcharge
Inflation and price hikes are affecting the lives of all and sundry. The people are feeling the pinch throughout Sarawak.
Sibu people fare the worst here. Sibu is the only place in the world where because of congestion in the Port, the Rajang Port Authority (RPA), ship operators are charging consignees. Of course, the ultimate victims are the consumers.
The surcharge is RM200.00 for a 20 footer container and RM400.00 for a 40 footer container.
The culprit is the self acclaimed BN’s Wawasan Team in Sibu.
By notice dated 25th October, 2007, RPA informed that Sibu had experienced “some occasional congestions at its container yard”.
On 26th October, 2007, a Notice was placed by ship operators in local dailies that the “Sibu Congestion Surcharge” will be implemented “from 01 Nov. 2007 on all Sibu laden import containers following major delays experienced at Rajang Port”.
RPA Chairman was slow in admitting that the congestion was in fact major at the RPA.
The congestion at RPA is caused by (i) ineffective administration; (ii) insufficient space; (iii) insufficient serviceable cranes despite having been in operation from 1st Nov., 1970.
The story began a few years ago when the self acclaimed Wawasan Team of the Sibu SUPP thought it a good idea to broker that the No.4 Godown at RPA be let to the Sibu Chinese Chamber of Commerce for a pitiful rent of RM5,000 per month.
How the Wawasan Team had the power to cause the RPA to rent out the godown is everybody’s question.
Renting out a godown is not the core business of RPA.
Of course, the Wawasan Team will have 101 reasons to justify what they did. As a part of the Government, they have a good umbrella to shelter, but let it be assured that the truth is out there. Without letting out the No.4 Godown, the problem of space will not have occurred, bearing in mind that the No.4 Godown has more than 3000 square metres of floor space.
The Chairman of the Port and the self acclaimed Wawasan Team of the SUPP must be answerable. In letting out the Godown which resulted in the congestion, the Wawasan Team has proved that it does not have a Wawasan and the people in Sibu suffered.
There also lies the problem with appointing unsuitable men to lead bodies such as Port Authorities. That system of appointment along political line must be abolished.
It requires little intellect to know that congestion problem does not occur overnight. Hence, the sudden increase of throughput as mentioned by ADUN Pelawan is a mere excuse.
I wanted to find out more about the congestion problem but the ADUN Pelawan cum Chairman of RPA decided to avoid me on 13th November, 2007. He had neither the courage nor the responsibility to tell the people the truth.
That reminded me of the appointment which the Miri Port Authority still owed me. 6 ½ years ago, I had wanted to visit the Miri Port Authority. The Authority wrote back saying that they welcome my visit and they would inform me of a suitable time for visit. 6 ½ years later, the suitable time hasn’t come. What is there to hide?
Political leaders in the BN Government does not understand the plight of the people. Let me remind you, as politicians, try to have a heart for the people. A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.
3. Education & Human Resources
No sustained development is possible without human resource development.
The best way to engineer human resource development is through education.
We have universities or campuses in Kuching, Bintulu, Mukah and Miri but Sibu has not a university, despite all the sweet talks of the Wawasan Team.
Sibu has a severe brain drain, caused because students who have gone for overseas education do not come back to serve. They see no future in Sibu under the Wawasan Team, a lot of them and their parents told me. They would rather migrate.
The Wawasan Team does not care that there is no university in Sibu. This is glaring from the speech of the Honourable Minister of Finance II in this august House on 27th Nov., 2007. He said that Miri has Curtin and Kuching has Swinburne, both Australian universities.
He said “Sarawak with its small population cannot have too many universities particularly Australian universities – two is enough, three could be disastrous”.
He then said: “We … decided to just consolidate with what we had in UCS …”.
They never look at the standard of UCS.
The stumbling block to Sibu having a university is the Wawasan Team. They are keen only to protect its college, the UCS, instead of letting people have more opportunities to receive university education.
The Wawasan Team promised Sibu that there would be a university in Sibu in 2003, that the University of South Australia (UNISA) would come here, and the students from UCS would become the university’s first batch of students.
With these sweet promises, soon after the announcement, many parents had sent their children to UCS in order that their children would become the pioneer students in the Sibu campus of UniSA. Yet, all these were lies. There was not a shadow of UniSA in Sibu. Even the UniSA said the announcement was not true.
Now, this Captain of the self acclaimed Wawasan Team had an excuse. He had the audacity to say “Two is enough, three could be disastrous.”
Why disastrous? How could receiving education from an Australian university campus in Sibu be disastrous? Or would it be disastrous to your UCS, that it may be forced to close shop if there is a university in Sibu?
The world is flat. Do not be afraid. If you are good, you survive. The lousy will have to close shop.
What a shame that the Wawasan Team has to stoop so low as to find the most flimsy of excuses over a naked untruth masterminded by themselves.
The point is this. You promised Sibu a University in 2003. Honour it. Like ADUN Pujut said, “Better Late than Never”.
Do not shun away from what you had promised. Nothing disastrous will befall Sibu if a 3rd Australian university is established in Sibu, except may be that UCS will run out of students. But if you are good, you survive.
You promised parents that the students in UCS will be the first students in UniSA in 2003, honour it. Or compensate them for not honouring your promise.
Do you know how many parents had complained that they felt cheated by the Wawasan Team?
If you care about Sibu, if you want to stop brain drain from Sibu, honour your promises of UniSA.
Is the Wawasan Team so satisfied with our Universities?
On 3rd Nov., 2007, in Sibu, the Honourable Minister of Finance II said that “there are good colleges and universities in the country to cater for the local population. There is no need to send our children abroad for further education”.
What are our good colleges and universities? How many of our Members and government officials send their children to local universities?
A government survey released in 3 Nov., 2007 has concluded that none of our universities are outstanding. Only one university - Universiti Sains Malaysia - made it into the second category of “Excellent” in the first ever university perception exercise in the country. It received a five-star ranking.
Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) were lumped in the “Good” category. They had four stars.
Our pride, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, was slotted in the “Satisfactory” category. That was the lowest category.
The 2007 Webometrics Ranking (WR) of 3,000 Premier Universities shows that our best university, USM, is ranked 1193 behind 8 Thai universities and 2 Indonesian universities, showing how serious had been the drop and decline of Malaysian universities standards for the past three decades even for the region of Southeast Asia.
Our pride, UniMAS, is nowhere near the 3000 ranking.
If our UniMAS only received such mediocre ranking, what about UCS? So, I am not jealous. Just look at your standard! Our Universities have this low quality and ranking. Surely, your college can’t be better!
Many parents have complained that their kids have to do their courses all over again because the course at UCS is not accredited in many countries?
The people support a university in Sibu, not the internal bickering of your Party at the expense of the rakyat.
With standards of our universities and colleges like this, how can Malaysia compete within the regional let alone global arena?
4. Development
Contrary to the accusation levelled against us by the BN, DAP is never against development, so long as the development is beneficial to the people.
Recently, the Chief Minister said Sarawak is to be a developed state by 2015. I welcome this.
But Sarawak cannot achieve this goal unless every sector of the society is given equal and balanced development. But how would equal development be possible in the event that the BN Government practised revengeful politics?
Many people are persecuted and sidelined because they did not vote the BN candidates.
How shameful it is that the BN is proving itself as a spiteful, revengeful and careless Government?
I can also give an example of Sibu. We are now the No. 3 town in Sarawak. In 1996, Sibu voters returned to this august House 2 representatives from the DAP. Since then, the BN leaders have been saying that “the Government has feelings”. The Honourable Finance Minister II and other leaders from the SUPP in Sibu had been reported many times in the press as saying that when 2 seats in Sibu were lost to the DAP in 1996, development stopped in Sibu for 2 years and the funds were channeled to elsewhere.
It was reported that the SUPP leaders said the Chief Minister was very angry and that was why the development were stopped in Sibu for 2 years.
According to the SUPP, the blame was on the Chief Minister. Had these SUPP leaders fought for the development of Sibu during these years? Or did they just “kowtow” to the Chief Minister’s anger?
If the Chief Minister could be so powerful that he alone could decide to stop development in Sibu for 2 years, then the CM was a dictator, and do not command the respect by the people of Sarawak.
The people in Sibu not only want fair treatment, but also want the Chief Minister to explain to this august House whether it was at his behest and instructions that development in Sibu was stopped for 2 years and funds were channeled to elsewhere.
If what was said by the SUPP of the CM was true, then the SUPP should also explain why they had allowed development projects to be stopped.
All voters, whether they vote for the BN or Opposition parties, are tax payers. They all contribute to the consolidated fund which are needed to develop the state. A foetus in the mother’s womb will start to pay tax because its mother has to seek medical attention throughout the months of gestation. From the time that he is born, he is paying tax through the milk that he takes apart from the very expensive nappies and other essential items. As a living being, he will pay tax through the parents or himself all the way until he has finished education. When he enters society, he pays tax from his income. When he dies, he pays tax too for the coffin which he lays in and the grave which will be his permanent home. Even long after his has been gone, the cemetry will be asked to pay tax to the local authorities.
In simple language, a person is taxed for everything before he is born and long after he is dead. That is why, everybody must be equally treated by the Government.
The 2008 Budget states that it is development biased. The Government must ensure that all races and regions in Sarawak stand to benefit equally.
5. Conversion of Title Condition
Some years ago, the state Government had required all the shipbuilders in Sibu to move their operations to the Rantau Panjang Industrial Zone. Either by force or otherwise, many shipbuilders have moved their operations there.
There were some who did not move but wait for their land titles to be converted from agriculture to shipbuilding usage. No one believed that they would get the conversion but some did get conversion recently.
I am not so much complaining about the Government converting title conditions in some meritorious cases. I am concerned that the Government must be consistent in its decision making process.
There is no reason to require all shipbuilders to move their operations to Rantau Panjang but at the same time convert the land title conditions of others, just because these others might have followed one of the Camps of the SUPP which has been involved in internal strife.
I have heard people saying that those aligned to the Camp led by Finance Minister II has yet to convert their title condition. Maybe they have followed the wrong Camp.
6. Politics: Advice to BN/SUPP
The DAP understands the plight of the people more than the BN/SUPP. Many people look at the SUPP as one of Sarawak’s Useless Political Parties.
For the DAP, we are able to gather popular support in our areas not because we are actors or Oscar award winners as accused by the member for Pelawan but we dare to tell the truth.
Puppets and yes men cannot speak the truth in this Dewan.
Do not be blind to the plight of the people. When DAP is doing a wonderful job, do not belittle us.
When valuables worth RM400,000 were taken from an Assistant Minister’s house, you could say “no sweat”, but not everybody is as rich. The people want us to tell the Government that land premium of 25% to 40% of the market price is way too high and not acceptable.
Have a heart for the people. They had supported you and given you the mandate to govern. Do not pull the plank after you have crossed the river.
If you have a heart for the people, you should consider their demand for unconditional and automatic renewal of land titles, without payment of premium.
Join us, to demand for good governance. Appreciate us, that we have an important role to play in an autocratic institution that is operating around us now.
We do not surrender just because we are a small number here. We are a group of people fighting for the people’s cause. We do not spend taxpayers’ money to engage in internal bickering.
To the SUPP, please spend time and energy for the people. Internal bickering does not benefit the people. The people are fed up with your division into Camp A and Camp B, with one camp trying to outdo one another to grab power, even to the extent of demanding that the signboard at Dudong branch be taken down.
In Chinese culture, it is taboo to dismantle a signboard out of spite or jealousy. Who is the actor of this Malaysian Hollywood movie? Because of your internal fight, you are even prepared to go against culture. You are leading a bad example for our children. Looks like your days are numbered.
You accuse us of being loud in this Dewan. Sometimes we have to. But let me tell you that when you use Government cars for private function and factional fights, the silent engines of the Mercedes Benzes are talking louder than us about your abuse of power. How can the people entrust their future to you?
Our job in here is to provide check and balance to the Government and the administration. We should not limit ourselves to the saying of “yeah yeah”. We support when Bills are good. We oppose when our conscience tells us.
Try to be not mere politicians, but statesmen, with conscience.
Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong. Well, these are the type of people who are calling the shots in our state.
Dewan Diary - Day 5
By Y.B. Wong Ho Leng, ADUN for Bukit Assek
Is there an animal called “Flu”? It ran amok in the Dewan. From the DAP, 5 had been attacked and needed some sort of “repair”. Voon, our Bull, is immune to Flu. Touch wood.
But mind you, this is no ordinary flu. Despite the anti-biotic we took, this animal still clings to us tight, real tight.
See Hua carried front page news of my altercations withVincent Goh. Who was “ce mei”? The issue was unimportant. I just had to put on record so that they would not call us names anymore next time. It’s funny that adversaries do meet one another at the most inappropriate moment or time (冤家路窄). After I had finished my speech, I met Vincent Goh and Andy Chia at the Corridor talking to reporters. Holding See Hua in his hands, Vincent “thanked” me for making him appear at the front page. May be I had allowed him to gain some cheap publicity.
Though still battling flu, I was giving my speech a finishing touch.
I wasn’t in the Dewan this morning, so I missed the “fun” in there. So far I had deemed it unnecessary to ask Supplementary questions. All my questions requested for written replies. But I was told that Chong had a shouting match with the Minister because of SESCO rates. With these privatized companies earning billions every year, why should the Sarawak Government allow it to hike the rates? The Minister shouted back, asking why shouldn’t these companies earn, after all, the Sarawak Government is a shareholder and the people could also take up shares in this public listed company.
In this economic climate not so many people can afford to take up shares, but everybody would like to see the burden on their shoulder reduced. So, what is wrong with demanding for lesser rates?
Today is the last day for us to speak on the Budget, and, for the 4th time in 4 sessions, I played anchor for the DAP. The only drawback to speaking on the last day, of course, is that there was a time limit of 20 minutes. Had I spoken on the 1st day, I would have 60 minutes. Or, on 2nd day, I would have 30 minutes. But this has worked well. Things that had got to be said must be said. And, I have some advice to the BN. This is best slotted to be said on the last day. When our juniors have gained more exposure, then I will go to the front in quest for more time. We have 6 more sessions to go, so things can be arranged.
About 20 members would speak today. So, it is likely that the sitting would drag on till dark. Normally, the person who caught the eye of the Speaker would be called to speak. Some members had stood 6 to 8 times and still not called. I was lucky today. I was called to speak on my 1st attempt standing.
The only disappointment was that most of the Ministers were not there when I spoke. I am confident that what I said would burn their ear lobes. Call them scathing attacks on the system. I won’t do my speech justice if I repeat what I had spoken here, but there was a small altercation in there which could be enlightening. I was speaking of the internal bickering in the SUPP, wastage of public funds due to the bickering, and the perception that many have called SUPP one of Sarawak’s useless political parties. Lee Kim Shin/Senadin stood to ask for clarification. I had always savoured the moments when they asked question, because that showed that they had listened well, and they became interested in matters raised by you. The Speaker asked whether I was giving way, and I purposely said, “Not this gentleman”. Lee asked “Why”, with Andy Chia/Pujut jumping in to ask whether I had no guts to take Lee’s question. The transcript would have read like this:
Senadin: Clarification
Speaker to me: Are you giving way?
Me: Not to this gentleman (followed by laughters of others)
Senadin: Why can’t you take clarification?
Pujut: You have no guts
Me to Senadin: Which camp are you from? Camp A or Camp B
Chong: He is camp A
Me to Pujut: Camp A. And which camp are you from? Camp A or Camp B?
Senadin: We have only 1 party
Me: No No No. You are lying. Declare your interest first, which camp are you in, and only then I will answer your question. You are not honest. I won’t answer you. Sit down
Senadin: (sat down)
Pujut: (sat down).
Not so much wit is needed to see their embarrassment recorded in the Hansard for future generations to read.
Opar/SUPP was full of himself when he said that he disdained my accusation that he had no “guts” when I tried to interject during his speech. He said to the constant applause of the BN backbenchers that he had served in the army in defence of the nation, that he had been awarded bravery medals and therefore he had guts. DAP’s guts is only to serve the people, he said. Well, I really could not understand his line of thinking. When I said he had no guts, it was because he shouted “NO!” when I stood to seek clarification of him.
There was no point sitting in the chambers and let them attack us but we were not allowed to reply. It was 5p.m. We decided that we should move off early. Let the monologue in the Dewan continue.
It was 8:30 p.m. and I had landed at the Sibu airport. The sight of my kids is the best consolation, when the hectic drama of the past week would become forgotten.
I had promised them that we would go shopping, to make up for my long absence. As the little boy once again insisted to move forward to join me in the front passenger seat, I recalled the previous occasion when he fell asleep on my lap. Only that it was earlier this time, and he kept telling me he had hurt his legs. Well, he felt the pain when I touched his wound. As for me, I was never wounded, but I suffered the pain too, the pain that many Sarawakians have not waken up.
Is there an animal called “Flu”? It ran amok in the Dewan. From the DAP, 5 had been attacked and needed some sort of “repair”. Voon, our Bull, is immune to Flu. Touch wood.
But mind you, this is no ordinary flu. Despite the anti-biotic we took, this animal still clings to us tight, real tight.
See Hua carried front page news of my altercations withVincent Goh. Who was “ce mei”? The issue was unimportant. I just had to put on record so that they would not call us names anymore next time. It’s funny that adversaries do meet one another at the most inappropriate moment or time (冤家路窄). After I had finished my speech, I met Vincent Goh and Andy Chia at the Corridor talking to reporters. Holding See Hua in his hands, Vincent “thanked” me for making him appear at the front page. May be I had allowed him to gain some cheap publicity.
Though still battling flu, I was giving my speech a finishing touch.
I wasn’t in the Dewan this morning, so I missed the “fun” in there. So far I had deemed it unnecessary to ask Supplementary questions. All my questions requested for written replies. But I was told that Chong had a shouting match with the Minister because of SESCO rates. With these privatized companies earning billions every year, why should the Sarawak Government allow it to hike the rates? The Minister shouted back, asking why shouldn’t these companies earn, after all, the Sarawak Government is a shareholder and the people could also take up shares in this public listed company.
In this economic climate not so many people can afford to take up shares, but everybody would like to see the burden on their shoulder reduced. So, what is wrong with demanding for lesser rates?
Today is the last day for us to speak on the Budget, and, for the 4th time in 4 sessions, I played anchor for the DAP. The only drawback to speaking on the last day, of course, is that there was a time limit of 20 minutes. Had I spoken on the 1st day, I would have 60 minutes. Or, on 2nd day, I would have 30 minutes. But this has worked well. Things that had got to be said must be said. And, I have some advice to the BN. This is best slotted to be said on the last day. When our juniors have gained more exposure, then I will go to the front in quest for more time. We have 6 more sessions to go, so things can be arranged.
About 20 members would speak today. So, it is likely that the sitting would drag on till dark. Normally, the person who caught the eye of the Speaker would be called to speak. Some members had stood 6 to 8 times and still not called. I was lucky today. I was called to speak on my 1st attempt standing.
The only disappointment was that most of the Ministers were not there when I spoke. I am confident that what I said would burn their ear lobes. Call them scathing attacks on the system. I won’t do my speech justice if I repeat what I had spoken here, but there was a small altercation in there which could be enlightening. I was speaking of the internal bickering in the SUPP, wastage of public funds due to the bickering, and the perception that many have called SUPP one of Sarawak’s useless political parties. Lee Kim Shin/Senadin stood to ask for clarification. I had always savoured the moments when they asked question, because that showed that they had listened well, and they became interested in matters raised by you. The Speaker asked whether I was giving way, and I purposely said, “Not this gentleman”. Lee asked “Why”, with Andy Chia/Pujut jumping in to ask whether I had no guts to take Lee’s question. The transcript would have read like this:
Senadin: Clarification
Speaker to me: Are you giving way?
Me: Not to this gentleman (followed by laughters of others)
Senadin: Why can’t you take clarification?
Pujut: You have no guts
Me to Senadin: Which camp are you from? Camp A or Camp B
Chong: He is camp A
Me to Pujut: Camp A. And which camp are you from? Camp A or Camp B?
Senadin: We have only 1 party
Me: No No No. You are lying. Declare your interest first, which camp are you in, and only then I will answer your question. You are not honest. I won’t answer you. Sit down
Senadin: (sat down)
Pujut: (sat down).
Not so much wit is needed to see their embarrassment recorded in the Hansard for future generations to read.
Opar/SUPP was full of himself when he said that he disdained my accusation that he had no “guts” when I tried to interject during his speech. He said to the constant applause of the BN backbenchers that he had served in the army in defence of the nation, that he had been awarded bravery medals and therefore he had guts. DAP’s guts is only to serve the people, he said. Well, I really could not understand his line of thinking. When I said he had no guts, it was because he shouted “NO!” when I stood to seek clarification of him.
There was no point sitting in the chambers and let them attack us but we were not allowed to reply. It was 5p.m. We decided that we should move off early. Let the monologue in the Dewan continue.
It was 8:30 p.m. and I had landed at the Sibu airport. The sight of my kids is the best consolation, when the hectic drama of the past week would become forgotten.
I had promised them that we would go shopping, to make up for my long absence. As the little boy once again insisted to move forward to join me in the front passenger seat, I recalled the previous occasion when he fell asleep on my lap. Only that it was earlier this time, and he kept telling me he had hurt his legs. Well, he felt the pain when I touched his wound. As for me, I was never wounded, but I suffered the pain too, the pain that many Sarawakians have not waken up.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Dewan Diary - Day 4
By Y.B. Wong Ho Leng, ADUN for Bukit Assek
SUPP/Vincent Goh accused me for being “ce meh”, (hokkien, meaning “blind”) and was immediately on the receiving end, but he had no guts to retort when I said he was “ce meh”. Story later.
The meeting started punctually, which was good. Biodiesel became an interested topic. 5 questions on Jatropha was answered. There were many supplementary questions. More R&D is needed for the large scale planting of Jatropha, said Noroden/Semunjan. Hopefully, the production of biofuel, either from crude palm, Jatropha, bamboo, sugar cane or maize would become a reality one day (The last 3 items were not in the answer).
Dr George Chan answered Chong’s question on Sarawak International Medical Centre, only to provoke Dominique to jump up and say his question which stood as No. 123 in the Order Paper had to be answered also, because it relates to the same subject matter. The Speaker disallowed, but George Chan said he would answer “1 question”. So, as is the case with asking oral question, Dominique read out “123”. George Chan said “don’t be greedy la. I wish to answer you one question and yet you want 123”! George Chan was totally confused. He actually meant to answer 1 Supplementary Question from Dominique, not a main question, and certainly not 3 questions like 1, 2, 3. In the end, the “greedy” Dominique’s question No.123 was not answered. The Speaker moved to another as Dominique protested. “Lawyer buruk”, shouted from the other side. I helped out, saying that the DCM should answer but to no avail.
Voon’s question on tar sealing of roads was not well answered by DCM Jabu. Voon threw in a Supplementary Question. Still, the answer was not forthcoming. Depends on priority, other rural areas have to be taken care of, Jabu said. He tried to be technical, saying that Voon did not ask how fund is being used to tar seal these roads, but how long it will take to seal them. I was offended by this technical excuse. The DCM must answer the question, I said. Still, to no avail.
I have arranged Chin Sing and Tse Fui to speak today, which means myself and Violet, as had been the case before, will take the floor tomorrow. But Violet has been admitted to Normah Hospital this morning for observation. She should be ok. Just severe flu resulting in bulging eyes.
Debate today is limited to 30 minutes for each Speaker, and Vincent Goh was “lucky” to be called first. He regurgitated issues on land leases which had been concluded and therefore could not be reopened. I quoted the Standing Order. The Speaker told Vincent not to go into it, but can be at a tangent. Poor Vincent, without his script, he was totally lost in the woods. He was happy with the increased allocation and asked the Opposition not to highlight petty issues but to tell people about the increase. He allowed no one to interject, either for clarification or not. He would simply say, “the floor is mine”. Of course, I said he had no guts. When I tried to interject, Andy Chia thought he was clever and had the capability to help his more senior comrade. He was so wrong. “Memorandum Boy, Memorandum Boy, you sit down”, I called. He must be thinking why I call him ‘Memorandum Boy”. On the issue of the hike in SESCO’s industrial tariff, he led a group of leaders from Miri’s Chinese Chamber of Commerce to present a memorandum to Awang Tengah at the Miri Airport. The Memorandum of course ended up in the basket.
Vincent appealed to the state Government to undertake a roadshow to explain to rakyat the issue concerning land lease renewal. Does this surprise anybody? His Party had promised many a roadshows, only to see none. Of course, what roadshow is needed when the issue is settled that there would be no automatic extension to land leases!
Vincent thought that he could use the story of Snow White and the poisoned apple and the coming of a Prince Charming to revive the rot that the SUPP is in on the land lease. Who was Prince Charming? We asked. Did he think that DAP is the poison that Snow White took?
It was then that he delved into the issue which he thought he knew best – the congestion problem at Rajang Port Authority. He tried to explain but I once again invoked the Standing Orders to ask him to declare his interest first with RPA. The Speaker asked me, why? I said that he is the Chairman of RPA. As Vincent continued to read his speech, and as I insisted him to declare that he was Chairman, he retorted, “Not as “ce meh” as you.
Though I do not speak Hokkien, I knew what “ce meh” means. I took the offensive, quoted the Standing Order and demanded his withdrawal of the offensive and insulting language. I told the Speaker that I am not blind etc. The altercation went on for several minutes. The Speaker, thinking that he could come to rescue Vincent, said that as far as he was concerned, he heard the word “Chairman”, and since I am the Chairman of DAP, there was nothing wrong. Of course, that was wrong, and I condemned Vincent and SUPP for twisting what they said. I insisted that I put on record, that it was not I but Vincent who was “ce meh”. So it was recorded, without any protest from Vincent.
You can play with me, but don’t be “ce meh”. Some one must have been a ce meh to take me on.
As I moved to the canteen during tea break, many Ministers and other ADUNs were making fun of the phrase “ce meh”. George Chan and Dr Soon were very amused by the exchange between myself and Vincent. I had some light moments with them. On my way out, Abang Jo pointed to a few Chairman of certain Government bodies and agencies and introduced to me that these are “ce mehs”.
As I knocked off early at 11:40 a.m., Dewan was still on tea break. Chin Sing will be the 2nd to speak after tea break.
Ting’s family is in Kuching to see her speak for her people. That will be this afternoon.
As I arrived at the DUN in the afternoon I was met by Sebastian Ting (Political Secretary to Peter Chin/SUPP), Mdm Cheng Yi (Political Secretary to the CM) and Andy Chia. “No offence. Nothing personal”, I said. Yeah. “We are just doing our job”, replied the Memorandum Boy. Reporters of course saw the opportunity to record my lighter moments with them. “Are you competing with Chong on shouting?” Sebastian asked. James Masing joined in and advised me just to write in and he would answer all my queries. We all know there is no need to shout. At my age, I don’t “earn” in a shouting competition.
Our interjections are for the people of Sarawak. We are here to provide checks and balance. Without us, the Dewan would be a monologue and that would not not do justice to democracy.
Ting presented her speech at 3:30pm. The voice was too girlish to my liking, but we all have to hear through. All were quiet listeners for 20 minutes. Then Larry Sng decided to be smart and tried to interject. “I have only 30 minutes. I would like to continue”, said Ting. Larry sat down quietly as his colleagues at the front bench glanced to my direction. So did the Speaker. I thought they might be thinking, “The Patriarch is here! Don’t bully. That hornet can sting!”
Ting finished by suggesting the appointment of Fatimah to be DCM, this, in order to show more recognition to women. Fatimah thanked Ting but the uneasiness was most apparent in the Speaker who kept shaking his head. James Masing couldn’t help but laugh. Naughty Ting. But that is the way to go about it. There are ways to learn something.
So many YBs were down with flu and many were coughing like mad. On the DAP bench, Chong, Chin Sing, Violet and I all got it. Violet was discharged this afternoon. It happened that she was allergic to certain medication she took.
Dominique was seen standing up 6 to 8 times but the Speaker did not “see” him. Dominique said he had become transparent, as he was in the bad books of the Speaker. It is tough to be a lone ranger.
We knocked off early, 5:30pm, and Dominique still had to try his luck to catch the eye of the Speaker. Tomorrow’s speech for me will surely be limited to 20 minutes, so I will have to be concise, but that was not my specialty.
We adjourned for a discussion at the executive floor of the Kuching Hilton. There are still work to be done.
SUPP/Vincent Goh accused me for being “ce meh”, (hokkien, meaning “blind”) and was immediately on the receiving end, but he had no guts to retort when I said he was “ce meh”. Story later.
The meeting started punctually, which was good. Biodiesel became an interested topic. 5 questions on Jatropha was answered. There were many supplementary questions. More R&D is needed for the large scale planting of Jatropha, said Noroden/Semunjan. Hopefully, the production of biofuel, either from crude palm, Jatropha, bamboo, sugar cane or maize would become a reality one day (The last 3 items were not in the answer).
Dr George Chan answered Chong’s question on Sarawak International Medical Centre, only to provoke Dominique to jump up and say his question which stood as No. 123 in the Order Paper had to be answered also, because it relates to the same subject matter. The Speaker disallowed, but George Chan said he would answer “1 question”. So, as is the case with asking oral question, Dominique read out “123”. George Chan said “don’t be greedy la. I wish to answer you one question and yet you want 123”! George Chan was totally confused. He actually meant to answer 1 Supplementary Question from Dominique, not a main question, and certainly not 3 questions like 1, 2, 3. In the end, the “greedy” Dominique’s question No.123 was not answered. The Speaker moved to another as Dominique protested. “Lawyer buruk”, shouted from the other side. I helped out, saying that the DCM should answer but to no avail.
Voon’s question on tar sealing of roads was not well answered by DCM Jabu. Voon threw in a Supplementary Question. Still, the answer was not forthcoming. Depends on priority, other rural areas have to be taken care of, Jabu said. He tried to be technical, saying that Voon did not ask how fund is being used to tar seal these roads, but how long it will take to seal them. I was offended by this technical excuse. The DCM must answer the question, I said. Still, to no avail.
I have arranged Chin Sing and Tse Fui to speak today, which means myself and Violet, as had been the case before, will take the floor tomorrow. But Violet has been admitted to Normah Hospital this morning for observation. She should be ok. Just severe flu resulting in bulging eyes.
Debate today is limited to 30 minutes for each Speaker, and Vincent Goh was “lucky” to be called first. He regurgitated issues on land leases which had been concluded and therefore could not be reopened. I quoted the Standing Order. The Speaker told Vincent not to go into it, but can be at a tangent. Poor Vincent, without his script, he was totally lost in the woods. He was happy with the increased allocation and asked the Opposition not to highlight petty issues but to tell people about the increase. He allowed no one to interject, either for clarification or not. He would simply say, “the floor is mine”. Of course, I said he had no guts. When I tried to interject, Andy Chia thought he was clever and had the capability to help his more senior comrade. He was so wrong. “Memorandum Boy, Memorandum Boy, you sit down”, I called. He must be thinking why I call him ‘Memorandum Boy”. On the issue of the hike in SESCO’s industrial tariff, he led a group of leaders from Miri’s Chinese Chamber of Commerce to present a memorandum to Awang Tengah at the Miri Airport. The Memorandum of course ended up in the basket.
Vincent appealed to the state Government to undertake a roadshow to explain to rakyat the issue concerning land lease renewal. Does this surprise anybody? His Party had promised many a roadshows, only to see none. Of course, what roadshow is needed when the issue is settled that there would be no automatic extension to land leases!
Vincent thought that he could use the story of Snow White and the poisoned apple and the coming of a Prince Charming to revive the rot that the SUPP is in on the land lease. Who was Prince Charming? We asked. Did he think that DAP is the poison that Snow White took?
It was then that he delved into the issue which he thought he knew best – the congestion problem at Rajang Port Authority. He tried to explain but I once again invoked the Standing Orders to ask him to declare his interest first with RPA. The Speaker asked me, why? I said that he is the Chairman of RPA. As Vincent continued to read his speech, and as I insisted him to declare that he was Chairman, he retorted, “Not as “ce meh” as you.
Though I do not speak Hokkien, I knew what “ce meh” means. I took the offensive, quoted the Standing Order and demanded his withdrawal of the offensive and insulting language. I told the Speaker that I am not blind etc. The altercation went on for several minutes. The Speaker, thinking that he could come to rescue Vincent, said that as far as he was concerned, he heard the word “Chairman”, and since I am the Chairman of DAP, there was nothing wrong. Of course, that was wrong, and I condemned Vincent and SUPP for twisting what they said. I insisted that I put on record, that it was not I but Vincent who was “ce meh”. So it was recorded, without any protest from Vincent.
You can play with me, but don’t be “ce meh”. Some one must have been a ce meh to take me on.
As I moved to the canteen during tea break, many Ministers and other ADUNs were making fun of the phrase “ce meh”. George Chan and Dr Soon were very amused by the exchange between myself and Vincent. I had some light moments with them. On my way out, Abang Jo pointed to a few Chairman of certain Government bodies and agencies and introduced to me that these are “ce mehs”.
As I knocked off early at 11:40 a.m., Dewan was still on tea break. Chin Sing will be the 2nd to speak after tea break.
Ting’s family is in Kuching to see her speak for her people. That will be this afternoon.
As I arrived at the DUN in the afternoon I was met by Sebastian Ting (Political Secretary to Peter Chin/SUPP), Mdm Cheng Yi (Political Secretary to the CM) and Andy Chia. “No offence. Nothing personal”, I said. Yeah. “We are just doing our job”, replied the Memorandum Boy. Reporters of course saw the opportunity to record my lighter moments with them. “Are you competing with Chong on shouting?” Sebastian asked. James Masing joined in and advised me just to write in and he would answer all my queries. We all know there is no need to shout. At my age, I don’t “earn” in a shouting competition.
Our interjections are for the people of Sarawak. We are here to provide checks and balance. Without us, the Dewan would be a monologue and that would not not do justice to democracy.
Ting presented her speech at 3:30pm. The voice was too girlish to my liking, but we all have to hear through. All were quiet listeners for 20 minutes. Then Larry Sng decided to be smart and tried to interject. “I have only 30 minutes. I would like to continue”, said Ting. Larry sat down quietly as his colleagues at the front bench glanced to my direction. So did the Speaker. I thought they might be thinking, “The Patriarch is here! Don’t bully. That hornet can sting!”
Ting finished by suggesting the appointment of Fatimah to be DCM, this, in order to show more recognition to women. Fatimah thanked Ting but the uneasiness was most apparent in the Speaker who kept shaking his head. James Masing couldn’t help but laugh. Naughty Ting. But that is the way to go about it. There are ways to learn something.
So many YBs were down with flu and many were coughing like mad. On the DAP bench, Chong, Chin Sing, Violet and I all got it. Violet was discharged this afternoon. It happened that she was allergic to certain medication she took.
Dominique was seen standing up 6 to 8 times but the Speaker did not “see” him. Dominique said he had become transparent, as he was in the bad books of the Speaker. It is tough to be a lone ranger.
We knocked off early, 5:30pm, and Dominique still had to try his luck to catch the eye of the Speaker. Tomorrow’s speech for me will surely be limited to 20 minutes, so I will have to be concise, but that was not my specialty.
We adjourned for a discussion at the executive floor of the Kuching Hilton. There are still work to be done.
Speech by Chiew Chiu Sing on 2008 Sarawak State Budget
Speech by Chiew Chin Sing, DAP Sarawak Deputy Chairman and Member of the Sarawak State Legislative Council for N59 Kidurong on the Debate of the Supply (2008) Bill 2007 and the Motion to refer the Estimates of Development Expenditure, 2008 on 22nd November, 2007 in the Sarawak State Legislative Council, Kuching, Sarawak.
Mr. Speaker,
As we look back at the first wave of development in the past decades, some of the more distinct marks or huge projects that come to my mind cannot be more than the petro chemical complex of MLNG plants, ABF plants, the Bakun Dam and the huge land development schemes of palm oil plantations and tree planting. Much of this had happened in the Bintulu Division.
All these projects do not come without a price and the people who pay the highest price are those people whose ancestral lands were being taken up for the development projects and were compensated so little for their lands. These people never got rich just because they had own valuable land.
If I remember correctly the land that the petro chemicals plants and the Parkcity shop housing project in Bintulu were actually sited on lands belonging to the great great grand parents of the Kampong folks of Bintulu and when their lands were acquired for the development projects they were paid very little for an acre of land.
The Bakun Hydroelectric Dam built in Belega when completed will flood an area the size of Singapore Island, much of the land are the NCR lands of the Orang Ulu comprising of the Kenyah, Kayan, Ukit, Punan and Lahanan, about 10,000 of them.
These people were compensated with only 3 acres of farm land apart from other compensations for resettlement in 15 longhouses at Sungai Asap. Soon they found out that the 3 acres of farm land are actually not suitable for framing because of the terrain or soil conditions. According to the longhouse folks the negotiated area was 3 hectares.
I have also heard that some compensation monies have not been given to those natives. Some natives even told me that the money had been lost. They have little formal education and they have no access to information. Where is their compensation money, can I ask?
Another problem was that the lots are not accessible because the roads that were promised have not been built. Although the rural folks had approached the authorities and been offered help to build the access roads, they were told that there is no fund.
The people have no choice now but to find new lands for farming because without them they would have no income and no livelihood and poverty would hit them in no time. The rural folks who were once rich, living off their lands, today are finding it hard to find or plant food. So what can they do except to plant on the land near the roadside. They have planted cocoa, pepper and oil palm occupying around 400 hectares.
But they had been told by the Land and Survey Department that this new land which they are farming on for a living belongs to a plantation lease that had been awarded to a joint-venture plantation company and the longhouse folks are illegally occupying the plantation company's land.
The Land and Survey Department has issued them with eviction notices and have marked out the farm houses and the crops to be demolished. The people are appealing to the government that the 400 hectares which they have farmed on be demarcated for the use of the longhouse people.
Mr. Speaker,
The story of conflict of land claims between the natives and plantation companies are not uncommon these days, it is happening all over in Sarawak and I hear them everyday in Bintulu. One of the most serious cases that involved bloodshed happened in Ulu Niah a few years ago.
Although the conflict between Rumah Banyang and Rumah Agam of mile 8 Bintulu/Miri road and the oil palm plantation company is not as deadly as that in Ulu Niah, the animosity and hatred between the company and the longhouse folks becomes more and more serious each day.
According to the folks of the longhouses and according to adat of the natives, the land at Mile 8 Bintulu/Miri road is their temuda land and that is why there are planting oil palm on the land. But the company is also planting oil palm along side those planted by the longhouse folks, claming that the have the lease on the land for plantation.
About two weeks ago on the 3rd of November, while the folks of the longhouse were working on their land, the company called in the police. More than 30 policemen armed with guns and ammo came in trucks, vans and motor vehicles and arrested 22 of the men and women who were working on their temuda lands. Why make life so hard for our rural people who are planting for a living of their temuda land? Doesn't the Government want them to lead a better life? Or is the Government allowing them to lead a life of poverty, so that they can be easily persuaded by money politics to vote for the Government in every election?
Why should the police come fully armed when in fact the longhouse folks were just working on their land with their bare hands or whether the company men had made false reports that the longhouse folks were attacking them and therefore the police have to come fully armed.
Mr. Speaker,
So much of the land along the Ulu Sebauh Road, near the Segan, Silas area had also been leased to plantation companies. Longhouses around these area had been well known for years for planting pineapples and now with the coming of the oil palm plantation company the pineapple farms will have to go and according to the longhouse folks those hundreds of hectares of pineapple farm will be bulldozed to the ground.
So what is there for the longhouse folks who had relied all these while on the pineapple farming as living. Should they lose their livelihood to the plantation company?
The longhouse folks cannot see how it could be so hard for the government to exclude their pineapple farm lands from the plantation company so that the longhouse people too can find a living from planting pineapple. The government should not push the responsibility to the company, saying that the land had been leased to the company. In fact the government should establish policies and guidelines to ensure win-win situations for both the rural folks and the company.
If development projects is causing so much hardships among our people where our rural people is denied of land for farming for a livelihood then something must be very wrong with the development concept and policies of the first wave of development. If development projects are benefiting everybody, people would have no time for conflict but only productivity.
All over Sarawak the rural folks are crying out, let the oil palm company plant all they want to plant but let us also have land to plant for our livelihood, and I think if the rural people themselves who want to become productive on their farm lands let us then give them a chance to do so.
Honestly, for all the development projects that had been implemented I do not know how many of our rural or local people have become rich or become millionaire. In fact are we creating more poverty for our rural folks in the process of development. By giving more land to the plantation companies at the expense of the longhouse folks, the Government is practicing divide and rule. It is not responsible and unhealthy.
Our society bears the social costs, cost of having so many foreign legal and illegal workers and other social ills, while those in power and the rich get more powerful and richer.
Adam Smith in `The Wealth of Nations' understood men to be units of independent judgment, capable of making decisions upon the basis of freely available information, the collective result being the wisest possible allocations of wealth and if we in Sarawak deny our native folks of that then we have deprived them of the opportunity to become wealthy.
In the book `The Assault on Reasons' by Al Gore, the former US Vice President, he said that Capitalism and democracy shared the same internal logic: Free markets and representative democracy were both assumed to operate best when individuals made rational decisions; and both shared a common enemy: despotic rulers capable of using arbitrary power to confiscate property and restrict liberty.
He also said that the inner structure of liberty is a double helix: One strand-political freedom-spirals upward in tandem with the other strand-economic freedom. But the two strands, though intertwined, must remain separate in order for the structure of freedom to maintain its integrity. If political and economic freedoms have been siblings in the history of liberty, it is the incestuous coupling of wealth and power that poses the deadliest threat to democracy. If wealth can be easily exchanged for power, then the concentration of either can double the corrupting potential of both. Freedom's helix then spirals downward toward unhealthy combinations of concentrated political and economic power.
That is what has happened throughout human history. Over and over again, wealth and power have become concentrated in the hands of a few who consolidate and perpetuate their control at the expense of the many. This default pattern has appeared in many variations and has been interrupted by rare and memorable exceptions, including ancient Athens and the brief Roman Republic.
History has its worries about the danger of concentrated wealth. The roman historian Plutarch, had warned that an `imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all Republics.'
The founder of capitalism, Adam Smith, wrote in `The Wealth of Nations' about the wealthy and powerful corrupt elites throughout the history of the world prior to the dawn of the new age:' All for ourselves and nothing for other people seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.'
And of course, the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to Timothy: `The love of money is the root of all evil.'
Mr. Speaker,
So much had been said of the Regional Corridor of Development in the central region of Sarawak and the second wave of development in the past year. Many are wondering whether the fruits of the second wave of development will be like that of the first wave of development. Where so much is said of the fruit trees that are being planted but the fruits are really not satisfying and in some cases even worst especially for the rural folks.
It is urged that many of the shortcoming of the first wave of development will be rectified and that mistakes would be learnt so that more wealth can be created among our people.
But from I read about the second wave of development and the proposed aluminium smelting plant in Similajau Bintulu, I am deeply concerned about the environment impact it will have on our environment and the health of our people. I have talked about the aluminium smelting plant at length during the November 2002 Dun sitting and I will not go into it here again.
As it is today the air quality in Bintulu is already very bad. The air pollution from the open furnaces burning at the Kemena Industrial Estate at night especially, and perks of ammonia smell from the ABF plant at the Kidurong and Tg. Batu area, Bintulu is having the highest case of upper respiratory illness in the whole country. So what had the environment people done about this. Our environment department people must be transparent and let us know the daily air quality level in Bintulu, so that we can know what is going on, otherwise the people would be kept in the dark while inhaling daily the unhealthy Bintulu air.
Therefore, I cannot understand how a plant like the aluminum smelter could be sited in the middle of the length of our state at Similajau. We live on an island and if the plant is sited at a corner of the island facing three side of the ocean I am sure much of the pollution would then be blown into the ocean sky. Of course, if we were living in a continent where we have vast land then building the plant inland would be a different matter.
The Bakun hydroelectric dam when operational is going to supply us with much cheap energy that in fact would be a plus factor for us to attract many types of industries apart from the aluminum smelter. Shouldn't we have more choices and other alternatives beside the aluminum smelter that will bring us the equivalent or better economic returns and social goods. I hope that the government will be careful and prudent in making the decision, and what is decided must reflect the public concern, because it is too important a decision as the result will have serious impact and consequences on the environment and lives of the people in the central Sarawak region for generations and generations to come.
Mr. Speaker,
This is not a political issue. This is a moral issue. It is about lives of the people in Bintulu. It is not a question of Left verses Right; it is a question of right verses wrong. Put simply, it is wrong to build a plant that will ruin the prospects of every generation that follows ours.
I have heard and I have said it before, that aluminium smelter plants are not even encouraged by those countries that have been attracted to invest in our land. So, why should these deadly pollutants be allowed in our skies when those developed countries don't want it?
I pray that the government of the day will rise to meet the challenge to abandon the project and by rising to meet the challenge we will find the vision and moral authority to see that this is not a political problem but as moral imperatives. It is therefore an opportunity for bipartisanship and transcendence, an opportunity find our better selves and create a brighter future for Bintulu and Sarawak.
In our second wave of development we must be vigilant in protecting our environment, our government must never abandon its responsibility to protect the environment to make our place healthy to live in. That is why it is time that we should be looking for alternative industries that are not only environmentally sound but also economically viable and enhancing to our social agenda in Sarawak.
So far on the second wave of development the government has one conversation and the public another conversation. There need to be vigorous interactivity between the government and the public so that decisions made are tested, studied, reviewed and examined through the processes of government that are designed to improve policy. And the knowledge that they will be reviewed prevents overreaching and checks the accretion of power. By the same token, whenever power is unchecked and unaccountable, it almost inevitably leads to mistakes and abuses. In the absence of rigorous accountability, incompetence flourishes. Dishonesty is encouraged and rewarded.
We want to make sure that the second wave of development is really a development that is for the people and by the people where the people can vigorously participate in the whole process so as to make sure that at the end of the day our people will be richer and our nation stronger.
Mr. Speaker,
During the last DUN sitting I had brought up the predicament of the squatters folks at Km 2 Jalan Bintulu/Miri. There were originally 82 families. Today 61 families had moved.
They moved not that because they could afford but because they are afraid that, if they were forced to move by the authority, all their building materials would be destroyed. The house post would be chopped down, plywood wall torn apart and the zinc roofing sheets punched with chain saw teeth all then would not be usable. The brutality is most inhumane.
Of the 21 who are still staying there, they are really helpless. The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, (SUHAKAM) visited them on the 22nd of August 2007 and after interviewing the squatters, they held a dialogue with the Bintulu development authority, Department of Land and Survey and also the legal representative of the land owner.
After extensive discussion the land owner agreed to allow the squatters folks to stay for another six months, and now time is running out fast.
SUHAKAM also make 2 recommendations to alleviate the problems faced by the squatters at KM 2 Jalan Bintulu/Miri:
1. that the local authorities, namely BDA and Resident's office should look for temporary solution, in this instance to provide interim accommodation so as not to interrupt the livelihood of the squatters and
2. that in the long term, the local authorities, namely BDA and Resident's office should work with social agencies to make available alternative accommodation to squatters in Bintulu through resettlement and the rumah rakyat schemes.
Mr. Speaker,
SUHAKAM is right and it is a basic responsibility of a government to provide shelter for our people. And as the time for them to move draws nearer and nearer, would the Honorable Minister let this August House know what had the Ministry done in providing an interim accommodation for them as being recommended by SUHAKAM. Or as being proposed by the squatter folks themselves in a letter addressed to BDA on 20th October, 2007 to allow them to buy the so many empty house lots in Sg. Plan, Tg. Kidurong resettlement scheme. They can pay an installment of no more than RM180 a month. Or allow them to buy low cost houses and pay an installment of no more than RM 280 a month.
Many low cost houses, low cost flats and even resettlement lots had been provided for in Bintulu because the squatters problem is serious in Bintulu but how many of those who are staying in the squatter area had applied for the houses and land lots but cannot get them while many of those who are not staying in the squatter area can get them. Why is this so? As for the resettlement lots, the lots had been built and sold out for many years already but out of the so many lots no more than ten houses had been built so far.
Mr. Speaker,
The policlinic in Bintulu town is getting more and more congested and it is high time that better facilities be provided for to help the sick folks who had come to seek for treatment.
Each day the place is jammed packed and often it took 2 to 3 hours of waiting for the patient just to meet the doctors. The place is just a misery, it is not only too small but the ceiling is low also, taking the form of the single story old type clinic standing on stilts. We can imagine how the ventilation can be with the air hardly moving, making the sick even more uncomfortable.
I sympathize with the doctors and nurses working there. There is just not enough of them around to look after the sick who had come. I say that it is high time that a proper policlinic be built immediately in the Bintulu Town area and be staffed with enough doctors and nurses so that our people can be provided with decent medical service. Our people deserve better.
Then there is the policlinic in Kidurong also catering for maternity service. It is sited at a corner lot of the kidurong low cost housing, a single story building.
Many years ago there was just one low cost housing area in Kidurong but to day the number of low cost housing had quadrupled but the clinic is still the same old single story low cost house with the same staffs around. The facilities and staffs are not enough and I urge that the medical department to look into this matter seriously and upgrade the policlinic medical service in the Kidurong area.
Mr. Speaker,
Since the last time I brought up the concerns of the women of Sarawak in this august house in the December 2005 sitting, about the girls from China coming here in the guise of so many forms and types of businesses and others- but are actually here to become the sleeping dolls of married men. The situation had not improved but is getting worse, there must be thousands of them in each of our major towns, going around as mobile hawkers, or involved in selling health products or providing so called health services in shophouses or operating from the housing estates under contract.
Mr. Speaker,
Who are harbouring these people? These women are not necessarily from China. There are so many of them from Thailand, Indonesia etc. How could the authority concerned not know? How could they ever enter Sarawak in the first place? How could they work in Sarawak under social visit pass?
Many concerned women had called me and told me about their husbands have abandoned them and their children for the young girls from foreign countries. They are upset, very sad, frustrated and felt down right cheated. They cried and they do not know what else to do, really feeling helpless indeed. Their children are suffering too. Their innocent souls see but do not understanding the pains of the mother or understand the fights and quarrels between their parents or why pa-pa is never home at night.
Mr. Speaker, this is not right. We should not allow our women and the innocent children to go through such unnecessary, man made trauma, we should not allow our families to be broken up because of these people coming from outside who are here to make money and so many of our man had fallen into the trap.
This is a serious matter as it is a threat to our family institutions and the very values of the matrimony which in itself is holy. If this is allowed to go on it will break down the family units and then we would be deemed to have lost our direction in our social agenda in building a caring, loving, responsible, healthy and happy society.
Today our society is riddled with so many problems of the young people. One of the main reasons is because of the breaking down of the values of the family unit. The problem is incurring great deficits for our society. The social cost is high and we are paying for it not only in cash but more, we are paying it with our future. We must put a stop to it immediately.
Do we care? We better. I challenge you to care, before we fall deeper.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker for your indulgence.
Mr. Speaker,
As we look back at the first wave of development in the past decades, some of the more distinct marks or huge projects that come to my mind cannot be more than the petro chemical complex of MLNG plants, ABF plants, the Bakun Dam and the huge land development schemes of palm oil plantations and tree planting. Much of this had happened in the Bintulu Division.
All these projects do not come without a price and the people who pay the highest price are those people whose ancestral lands were being taken up for the development projects and were compensated so little for their lands. These people never got rich just because they had own valuable land.
If I remember correctly the land that the petro chemicals plants and the Parkcity shop housing project in Bintulu were actually sited on lands belonging to the great great grand parents of the Kampong folks of Bintulu and when their lands were acquired for the development projects they were paid very little for an acre of land.
The Bakun Hydroelectric Dam built in Belega when completed will flood an area the size of Singapore Island, much of the land are the NCR lands of the Orang Ulu comprising of the Kenyah, Kayan, Ukit, Punan and Lahanan, about 10,000 of them.
These people were compensated with only 3 acres of farm land apart from other compensations for resettlement in 15 longhouses at Sungai Asap. Soon they found out that the 3 acres of farm land are actually not suitable for framing because of the terrain or soil conditions. According to the longhouse folks the negotiated area was 3 hectares.
I have also heard that some compensation monies have not been given to those natives. Some natives even told me that the money had been lost. They have little formal education and they have no access to information. Where is their compensation money, can I ask?
Another problem was that the lots are not accessible because the roads that were promised have not been built. Although the rural folks had approached the authorities and been offered help to build the access roads, they were told that there is no fund.
The people have no choice now but to find new lands for farming because without them they would have no income and no livelihood and poverty would hit them in no time. The rural folks who were once rich, living off their lands, today are finding it hard to find or plant food. So what can they do except to plant on the land near the roadside. They have planted cocoa, pepper and oil palm occupying around 400 hectares.
But they had been told by the Land and Survey Department that this new land which they are farming on for a living belongs to a plantation lease that had been awarded to a joint-venture plantation company and the longhouse folks are illegally occupying the plantation company's land.
The Land and Survey Department has issued them with eviction notices and have marked out the farm houses and the crops to be demolished. The people are appealing to the government that the 400 hectares which they have farmed on be demarcated for the use of the longhouse people.
Mr. Speaker,
The story of conflict of land claims between the natives and plantation companies are not uncommon these days, it is happening all over in Sarawak and I hear them everyday in Bintulu. One of the most serious cases that involved bloodshed happened in Ulu Niah a few years ago.
Although the conflict between Rumah Banyang and Rumah Agam of mile 8 Bintulu/Miri road and the oil palm plantation company is not as deadly as that in Ulu Niah, the animosity and hatred between the company and the longhouse folks becomes more and more serious each day.
According to the folks of the longhouses and according to adat of the natives, the land at Mile 8 Bintulu/Miri road is their temuda land and that is why there are planting oil palm on the land. But the company is also planting oil palm along side those planted by the longhouse folks, claming that the have the lease on the land for plantation.
About two weeks ago on the 3rd of November, while the folks of the longhouse were working on their land, the company called in the police. More than 30 policemen armed with guns and ammo came in trucks, vans and motor vehicles and arrested 22 of the men and women who were working on their temuda lands. Why make life so hard for our rural people who are planting for a living of their temuda land? Doesn't the Government want them to lead a better life? Or is the Government allowing them to lead a life of poverty, so that they can be easily persuaded by money politics to vote for the Government in every election?
Why should the police come fully armed when in fact the longhouse folks were just working on their land with their bare hands or whether the company men had made false reports that the longhouse folks were attacking them and therefore the police have to come fully armed.
Mr. Speaker,
So much of the land along the Ulu Sebauh Road, near the Segan, Silas area had also been leased to plantation companies. Longhouses around these area had been well known for years for planting pineapples and now with the coming of the oil palm plantation company the pineapple farms will have to go and according to the longhouse folks those hundreds of hectares of pineapple farm will be bulldozed to the ground.
So what is there for the longhouse folks who had relied all these while on the pineapple farming as living. Should they lose their livelihood to the plantation company?
The longhouse folks cannot see how it could be so hard for the government to exclude their pineapple farm lands from the plantation company so that the longhouse people too can find a living from planting pineapple. The government should not push the responsibility to the company, saying that the land had been leased to the company. In fact the government should establish policies and guidelines to ensure win-win situations for both the rural folks and the company.
If development projects is causing so much hardships among our people where our rural people is denied of land for farming for a livelihood then something must be very wrong with the development concept and policies of the first wave of development. If development projects are benefiting everybody, people would have no time for conflict but only productivity.
All over Sarawak the rural folks are crying out, let the oil palm company plant all they want to plant but let us also have land to plant for our livelihood, and I think if the rural people themselves who want to become productive on their farm lands let us then give them a chance to do so.
Honestly, for all the development projects that had been implemented I do not know how many of our rural or local people have become rich or become millionaire. In fact are we creating more poverty for our rural folks in the process of development. By giving more land to the plantation companies at the expense of the longhouse folks, the Government is practicing divide and rule. It is not responsible and unhealthy.
Our society bears the social costs, cost of having so many foreign legal and illegal workers and other social ills, while those in power and the rich get more powerful and richer.
Adam Smith in `The Wealth of Nations' understood men to be units of independent judgment, capable of making decisions upon the basis of freely available information, the collective result being the wisest possible allocations of wealth and if we in Sarawak deny our native folks of that then we have deprived them of the opportunity to become wealthy.
In the book `The Assault on Reasons' by Al Gore, the former US Vice President, he said that Capitalism and democracy shared the same internal logic: Free markets and representative democracy were both assumed to operate best when individuals made rational decisions; and both shared a common enemy: despotic rulers capable of using arbitrary power to confiscate property and restrict liberty.
He also said that the inner structure of liberty is a double helix: One strand-political freedom-spirals upward in tandem with the other strand-economic freedom. But the two strands, though intertwined, must remain separate in order for the structure of freedom to maintain its integrity. If political and economic freedoms have been siblings in the history of liberty, it is the incestuous coupling of wealth and power that poses the deadliest threat to democracy. If wealth can be easily exchanged for power, then the concentration of either can double the corrupting potential of both. Freedom's helix then spirals downward toward unhealthy combinations of concentrated political and economic power.
That is what has happened throughout human history. Over and over again, wealth and power have become concentrated in the hands of a few who consolidate and perpetuate their control at the expense of the many. This default pattern has appeared in many variations and has been interrupted by rare and memorable exceptions, including ancient Athens and the brief Roman Republic.
History has its worries about the danger of concentrated wealth. The roman historian Plutarch, had warned that an `imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all Republics.'
The founder of capitalism, Adam Smith, wrote in `The Wealth of Nations' about the wealthy and powerful corrupt elites throughout the history of the world prior to the dawn of the new age:' All for ourselves and nothing for other people seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.'
And of course, the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to Timothy: `The love of money is the root of all evil.'
Mr. Speaker,
So much had been said of the Regional Corridor of Development in the central region of Sarawak and the second wave of development in the past year. Many are wondering whether the fruits of the second wave of development will be like that of the first wave of development. Where so much is said of the fruit trees that are being planted but the fruits are really not satisfying and in some cases even worst especially for the rural folks.
It is urged that many of the shortcoming of the first wave of development will be rectified and that mistakes would be learnt so that more wealth can be created among our people.
But from I read about the second wave of development and the proposed aluminium smelting plant in Similajau Bintulu, I am deeply concerned about the environment impact it will have on our environment and the health of our people. I have talked about the aluminium smelting plant at length during the November 2002 Dun sitting and I will not go into it here again.
As it is today the air quality in Bintulu is already very bad. The air pollution from the open furnaces burning at the Kemena Industrial Estate at night especially, and perks of ammonia smell from the ABF plant at the Kidurong and Tg. Batu area, Bintulu is having the highest case of upper respiratory illness in the whole country. So what had the environment people done about this. Our environment department people must be transparent and let us know the daily air quality level in Bintulu, so that we can know what is going on, otherwise the people would be kept in the dark while inhaling daily the unhealthy Bintulu air.
Therefore, I cannot understand how a plant like the aluminum smelter could be sited in the middle of the length of our state at Similajau. We live on an island and if the plant is sited at a corner of the island facing three side of the ocean I am sure much of the pollution would then be blown into the ocean sky. Of course, if we were living in a continent where we have vast land then building the plant inland would be a different matter.
The Bakun hydroelectric dam when operational is going to supply us with much cheap energy that in fact would be a plus factor for us to attract many types of industries apart from the aluminum smelter. Shouldn't we have more choices and other alternatives beside the aluminum smelter that will bring us the equivalent or better economic returns and social goods. I hope that the government will be careful and prudent in making the decision, and what is decided must reflect the public concern, because it is too important a decision as the result will have serious impact and consequences on the environment and lives of the people in the central Sarawak region for generations and generations to come.
Mr. Speaker,
This is not a political issue. This is a moral issue. It is about lives of the people in Bintulu. It is not a question of Left verses Right; it is a question of right verses wrong. Put simply, it is wrong to build a plant that will ruin the prospects of every generation that follows ours.
I have heard and I have said it before, that aluminium smelter plants are not even encouraged by those countries that have been attracted to invest in our land. So, why should these deadly pollutants be allowed in our skies when those developed countries don't want it?
I pray that the government of the day will rise to meet the challenge to abandon the project and by rising to meet the challenge we will find the vision and moral authority to see that this is not a political problem but as moral imperatives. It is therefore an opportunity for bipartisanship and transcendence, an opportunity find our better selves and create a brighter future for Bintulu and Sarawak.
In our second wave of development we must be vigilant in protecting our environment, our government must never abandon its responsibility to protect the environment to make our place healthy to live in. That is why it is time that we should be looking for alternative industries that are not only environmentally sound but also economically viable and enhancing to our social agenda in Sarawak.
So far on the second wave of development the government has one conversation and the public another conversation. There need to be vigorous interactivity between the government and the public so that decisions made are tested, studied, reviewed and examined through the processes of government that are designed to improve policy. And the knowledge that they will be reviewed prevents overreaching and checks the accretion of power. By the same token, whenever power is unchecked and unaccountable, it almost inevitably leads to mistakes and abuses. In the absence of rigorous accountability, incompetence flourishes. Dishonesty is encouraged and rewarded.
We want to make sure that the second wave of development is really a development that is for the people and by the people where the people can vigorously participate in the whole process so as to make sure that at the end of the day our people will be richer and our nation stronger.
Mr. Speaker,
During the last DUN sitting I had brought up the predicament of the squatters folks at Km 2 Jalan Bintulu/Miri. There were originally 82 families. Today 61 families had moved.
They moved not that because they could afford but because they are afraid that, if they were forced to move by the authority, all their building materials would be destroyed. The house post would be chopped down, plywood wall torn apart and the zinc roofing sheets punched with chain saw teeth all then would not be usable. The brutality is most inhumane.
Of the 21 who are still staying there, they are really helpless. The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, (SUHAKAM) visited them on the 22nd of August 2007 and after interviewing the squatters, they held a dialogue with the Bintulu development authority, Department of Land and Survey and also the legal representative of the land owner.
After extensive discussion the land owner agreed to allow the squatters folks to stay for another six months, and now time is running out fast.
SUHAKAM also make 2 recommendations to alleviate the problems faced by the squatters at KM 2 Jalan Bintulu/Miri:
1. that the local authorities, namely BDA and Resident's office should look for temporary solution, in this instance to provide interim accommodation so as not to interrupt the livelihood of the squatters and
2. that in the long term, the local authorities, namely BDA and Resident's office should work with social agencies to make available alternative accommodation to squatters in Bintulu through resettlement and the rumah rakyat schemes.
Mr. Speaker,
SUHAKAM is right and it is a basic responsibility of a government to provide shelter for our people. And as the time for them to move draws nearer and nearer, would the Honorable Minister let this August House know what had the Ministry done in providing an interim accommodation for them as being recommended by SUHAKAM. Or as being proposed by the squatter folks themselves in a letter addressed to BDA on 20th October, 2007 to allow them to buy the so many empty house lots in Sg. Plan, Tg. Kidurong resettlement scheme. They can pay an installment of no more than RM180 a month. Or allow them to buy low cost houses and pay an installment of no more than RM 280 a month.
Many low cost houses, low cost flats and even resettlement lots had been provided for in Bintulu because the squatters problem is serious in Bintulu but how many of those who are staying in the squatter area had applied for the houses and land lots but cannot get them while many of those who are not staying in the squatter area can get them. Why is this so? As for the resettlement lots, the lots had been built and sold out for many years already but out of the so many lots no more than ten houses had been built so far.
Mr. Speaker,
The policlinic in Bintulu town is getting more and more congested and it is high time that better facilities be provided for to help the sick folks who had come to seek for treatment.
Each day the place is jammed packed and often it took 2 to 3 hours of waiting for the patient just to meet the doctors. The place is just a misery, it is not only too small but the ceiling is low also, taking the form of the single story old type clinic standing on stilts. We can imagine how the ventilation can be with the air hardly moving, making the sick even more uncomfortable.
I sympathize with the doctors and nurses working there. There is just not enough of them around to look after the sick who had come. I say that it is high time that a proper policlinic be built immediately in the Bintulu Town area and be staffed with enough doctors and nurses so that our people can be provided with decent medical service. Our people deserve better.
Then there is the policlinic in Kidurong also catering for maternity service. It is sited at a corner lot of the kidurong low cost housing, a single story building.
Many years ago there was just one low cost housing area in Kidurong but to day the number of low cost housing had quadrupled but the clinic is still the same old single story low cost house with the same staffs around. The facilities and staffs are not enough and I urge that the medical department to look into this matter seriously and upgrade the policlinic medical service in the Kidurong area.
Mr. Speaker,
Since the last time I brought up the concerns of the women of Sarawak in this august house in the December 2005 sitting, about the girls from China coming here in the guise of so many forms and types of businesses and others- but are actually here to become the sleeping dolls of married men. The situation had not improved but is getting worse, there must be thousands of them in each of our major towns, going around as mobile hawkers, or involved in selling health products or providing so called health services in shophouses or operating from the housing estates under contract.
Mr. Speaker,
Who are harbouring these people? These women are not necessarily from China. There are so many of them from Thailand, Indonesia etc. How could the authority concerned not know? How could they ever enter Sarawak in the first place? How could they work in Sarawak under social visit pass?
Many concerned women had called me and told me about their husbands have abandoned them and their children for the young girls from foreign countries. They are upset, very sad, frustrated and felt down right cheated. They cried and they do not know what else to do, really feeling helpless indeed. Their children are suffering too. Their innocent souls see but do not understanding the pains of the mother or understand the fights and quarrels between their parents or why pa-pa is never home at night.
Mr. Speaker, this is not right. We should not allow our women and the innocent children to go through such unnecessary, man made trauma, we should not allow our families to be broken up because of these people coming from outside who are here to make money and so many of our man had fallen into the trap.
This is a serious matter as it is a threat to our family institutions and the very values of the matrimony which in itself is holy. If this is allowed to go on it will break down the family units and then we would be deemed to have lost our direction in our social agenda in building a caring, loving, responsible, healthy and happy society.
Today our society is riddled with so many problems of the young people. One of the main reasons is because of the breaking down of the values of the family unit. The problem is incurring great deficits for our society. The social cost is high and we are paying for it not only in cash but more, we are paying it with our future. We must put a stop to it immediately.
Do we care? We better. I challenge you to care, before we fall deeper.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker for your indulgence.
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