Tuan Speaker,
Thank you for allowing me to participate in the debate on the motion of thanks to the royal address by the Tuan Yang Terutama on 17th May, 2010, and at the same time to raise some issues in this august House.
1. Money politics
Tuan Speaker,
First of all I would like to congratulate Honourable Member for Bukit Assek for his miracle victory as the first Pakatan Rakyat MP in Sarawak on 16th May 2010 in the Sibu by-election.
I am proud of the Sibu people for standing up and spoke loudly and angrily against the politics of corruption, the politics of cronyism, the politics of money politics and the politics of threats and fear practiced by the BN government. BN government deserves the defeat!
Sibu people have awakened on May 16th when the Honourable Member for Bukit Assek was voted in. It is the day that Sibu voters had matured and sent a loud voice to vote against the BN government runs by the Prime Minister and Chief Minister of Sarawak. "This victory is one small step in Sibu, one big step to Petrajaya, and one giant step to Putrajaya."
I must say the Barisan Nasional government needs to re examine what they have done wrong all these years and why are the people in Sibu united to reject them.
Let me tell you why the people rejected you. One of the many reasons that BN failed is due to the overstaying of the CM and also many of you here. The Chief Minister is a liability among the Chinese voters. The voters want the Chief Minister to retire. And I know there must be many of you waiting anxiously and quietly to become CM but not daring to speak out in fear of CM. Is Honourable Member from Layer one of them, I wonder?
Another reason for the defeat is that SUPP has downgraded themselves to become the puppets of PBB. Whenever PBB asked SUPP to sit, SUPP dares not stand. And whenever PBB asked SUPP to stand, SUPP dares not sit. SUPP leaders are mere puppets of the Chief Minister.
Tuan Speaker,
Dangle carrots in front of the voters during the election period is wrong. Never takes the people to ransom.
The Prime Minister is playing with the feelings of the people. He has enraged the people of Sibu especially the Rejang Park people. The Sibu voters are sickening of the money politics played by the BN government. The people at Rejang Park have showed you that they want to throw back the RM5 million in your face. The votes in favour of DAP at Rejang Park had increased from 62% to 68%. The voters had voiced their anger and unhappiness over the PM threats not to give the money unless BN candidate is voted in. What is this? You think by dangling money in their face, the people will do your bidding?
Tuan Speaker,
The government should be consistence in helping the welfare of the people and should not wait until someone passed away or that there is an election only handed out grants and allocations for development. Don’t neglect the people and then only offer them some crumbs when you want to fish for their votes during elections. Never ever underestimate the wisdom of the people.
2. Land Issue
Tuan Speaker,
The land issue on Section 47 of the Land Code has yet to be fully resolved by the BN state government.
There are still land owners in Bako/Sejingkat area who are in the dark about what are going to happen to their lands. Most of the lands in the area have been under Section 47 notification for over 36 years and hence the Section 47 notification has caused great anxiety to the landowners. The landowners worry that they will lose their property and end up with nothing because the state government does not have to pay them a single cent of compensation when their land leases expired. Where is the justice and fairness to all these land owners?
I know of a Chai family and also one Mdm. Chin who will lose their lands in March, 2012 and in July 2012 respectively if the state government refuses to uplift their lands from Section 47 notifications. The two families have been staying on the lands for as long as 7 decades. The two families depend solely on their lands for livelihood. I urge the Honourable Chief Minister to put himself in the shoes of the unfortunate ones and be sensitive to the need of the poor rakyat. Please, Chief Minister have a heart for the poor rakyat. Do not take the lands away from the legitimate landowners. The two parcels of land are Lot 549 Block 3 Muara Tebas Land District & Lot 152 Muara Tebas Land District.
Tuan Speaker,
Unfortunately, in 2007, the BN state government had turned down the application of the Chai family and Mdm. Chin in renewing their land leases for the very reason that the lands are subject to Section 47 notifications. Why can’t the BN state government approve their application for renewal? Why is the BN state government trying to make life difficult for the poor rakyat? Will these two parcels of lands end up in the hands of the cronies or members of the BN leaders upon the expiry of the land lease in 2012? By then in 2012, upon expiry of land lease, where do you expect the landowners to live on?
As I said in the last Dewan sitting, if the lands in Bako can be registered under the names of CM’s sister i.e. Raziah @ Rodiah Binti Mahmud which are free from Section 47 notifications and furthermore with perpetuity term, why can’t other ordinary landowners enjoy the same conditions like the Chief Minister’s sister? Why is the CM’s sister better off than others?
Tuan Speaker,
The BN state government must stop all its greedy acts by robbing the lands away from the rakyat. I urge the Chief Minister to personally look into the application of the Chai family and Mdm. Chin and approve their applications for extension of land lease without further delay.
Of course, the best solution to the problem is to amend Section 47 of the land code so that all notices imposed on the land under Section 47 of the Land Code shall automatically lapse two years after its imposition if the government does not proceed with the acquisition of the affected lands within the said two years period.
3. Rubbish Collection Charges
Tuan Speaker
Recently, a factory owner from Demak Laut Industrial Park, Sejingkat told me in anger thatthe DBKU had issued all the companies in writing to inform them that the rate of garbage collection had been raised to 200% from the original rate with effective from April, 2010.
In other word, instead of paying RM100 per month, the user had to pay RM299.10 with the new increased rate.
That is after he paid a hefty assessment rate of over RM22, 500 annually. Assessment rate is supposed to includes the paying for service of garbage collection. And now Trienekens wants to collect additional RM 3,600.00 per year for garbage collection charges from the operators. This is ridiculous! How much garbage collection charges is Trienekens collecting from the people? Bearing in mind, Trienekens is only providing twice a week garbage collection services to the consumer.
Trienekens was said to be established to lighten the burden of the people. What a joke. Instead, it was like a “forever hungry” leech!
Now the councils are like the servants of Trienekens using all means and ways to bleed the people.
Tuan Speaker,
I checked with DBKU and to my horror, I was told by a staff that the extra collection from the industrial operators is to pay for a bigger bin and not for extra collection or extra frequency of service. The original bin capacity was only 120 litres and the payment was for the 1,000 litre bin. Someone in the company must be given the job through the back door to ever think of giving a plant or factory a small size bin of 120-litre. Every year, the factory operators are paying more than RM20k in assessment to DBKU. In big families, even 120 litre is hardly enough to fill up the household garbage, what more a factory. Does Trienekens and DBKU have brains in their heads or have their brains been filled with coconut water? Kepala tidak ada otak.
DBKU has the social obligation to help the people, and understand their difficulties, their grievances and not to enrich Trienekens. It does not mean that just because you are a monopoly, you can do things at your own whims and fancy. Don’t you all have a heart? Where is your conscience?
I want Trienekens to stop this unwarranted act! DBKU should replace the bins capacity from 120 litre to 1000 litre for all industrial operators. Do a proper study before putting it in black and white asking people to pay up for this and that. The people worked hard for their money, they just did not bleed or steal like BN leaders.
4. Jetty at Sg Apong Market
Tuan Speaker,
The request for the upgrading of the timber jetty next to the Sg. Apong Market had been met with problems and is a classic case of the government agency trying to pass the problem from one to another.
I wrote to the DID and Sarawak Rivers Board in March, 2010 urging them to upgrade the jetty for the benefit of luring more tourists from West Malaysia and Singapore who enjoy fishing. The tourists had to use the jetty to get to their boats which berth at a distance from the jetty.
There were at least two to three batches of tourists coming in to charter boats to go fishing. The Fishing Kotak Association has wanted the authority to upgrade the jetty by raising the height of the jetty so that the tourists do not have to go through the agony of wading in the water to their boats.
To my disappointment, no one seems to care for the problem. All are experts in buck-passing. I received a rather curt reply from the DID saying that they are not the authority to handle the jetty problem. It is obvious that the department is trying its best to wash their hands out of the responsibility.
As for the reply from Sarawak Rivers Board which I had received last month, SRB claimed that the problem is not theirs to solve also as they had handed the jetty back to the Fisherman Kotak Association. Is this the attitude of the BN in attaining the people’s problem?
Tuan Speaker,
There are a few pertinent questions to be clarified. I would like to know when was the jetty handed back to the association, and if so, was it done in the proper manner, with the appropriate documentations?
Even if it is so, why is the government showing its reluctance by not helping out to upgrade the jetty that could bring in tourists?
Why is the government agency so lackadaisical in promoting our own state when there is a chance to do so?
It is time for the BN government agency to discard this sort of mentality which is considered not caring, and trying to push the responsibility to other departments. I dare to say that the state service slogan “An Honour to Serve” remains an empty slogan and is said to “Shiok Sendiri” sahaja!
5. Sesco
Tuan Speaker,
It is disturbing to get complaints from members of the public over SESCO’s enthusiasm to change SESCO meter and charging exorbitant bills to consumers with an excuse of trying to recover arrears. We DAP had received at least 15 complaints from house owners whose meters were taken away to be replaced, alleging they are faulty and have been tampered.
The users were then slapped with an unreasonable administrative charges of RM400 and RM150 of meter replacement fee plus an arbitrarily imposition of unaccountable arrears of electricity charges which runs to thousands of ringgit.
Sarawakians have to pay the highest electrical tariff of 33 to 34 cents per unit while TNB users only pay 29 cents.
The BN government appears to get an enjoyment out of bleeding the people with using dirty tactics and harassments.
I am very much interested to know why sesco so desperate of money by charging such a higher rate compared to TNB? is it to recover the loss of selling the electricity below costs price to the smelting plants like Press Metal Berhad and Rio TInto?
The consumers in sarawak demand an answer respecting the amount of loss that sesco suffered as a result of selling the electricity below the costs price to the two companies? And why should they enjpy such benefits and not the people of Sarawak? What is so special about Press Metal Berhad and Rio Tinto to have such special privileges?
Sesco, please stop harassing the consumers now. If anyone is caught tampering, give them a warning and tell them of the danger of doing so. Do not use your high handed manner of being the monopoly electric supplier by acting like hooligans.
6. Penan Issue
Tuan Speaker,
Eight months have passed since the Ministry of Women’s Taskforce Report confirmed that the allegations of rape and sexual abuse against Penan girls and women in Sarawak by outsiders who have dealings with the Penan community, including workers of logging companies and traders, are true.
The government has repeatedly said that they will do this and that to assist the Penan Community. But have those plans being implemented? Do not rely solely on the NGO, they have their limitation and constrains. The government should set up a Special Unit to tackle the problems once and for all.
The rakyat demands an answer from DCM II who has been assigned to in charge of the Penan Affairs to inform what concrete steps have been carried out by the Sarawak state government so far, in response to the recommendations of the ministry of Women’s Taskforce Report? And also, what is the current status of the police criminal investigation of the sexual abuse cases n the Penan girls and women?
Tuan Speaker,
Financial Aids, I understand was supposed to give out to the Penans to allow them to pay for transportation for schools. The students also have the chance to stay in boarding schools so they are safely house and can return home for four trips per year.
However, I learned from reliable source that one school, SMK Temenggong Datuk Lawai Jau, did not get their allocation for May last year until now. The cash was not available for the students’ transport so a number of students did not bother to go to school. I urge the relevant authority to carry out a thorough investigation on the matter to find out if it is true.
And there were also problems that some of the school headmasters handed the cash to their parents who, instead of using it for transport for their children to go to schools, spent it on other things. Hence, resulting many students escape from school. There is no consistency in the implementation of the policy in handling out the financial aid.
In my opinion, the implementers must be firm in working out a formula and ensure that there is no leakage of money going to the wrong hands.
Tuan Speaker,
On the medical aspect, transportation is again a problem for the sick amongst the Penan community to go for medical help. A lot of the sick were unable to get medical help as they did not have money to get transport to get to the clinic.
I was also informed that medical representatives were at times sent to collect all the medicine for the Penans. However, there were times that the representatives who went there could not get any medical supply except Panadol.
I hope that the government would look at this problem and do something positive about it. I am not here to point fingers at DCM II. I am here to tell him there is such a problem and hope that something is done about it. So I hope he will not get all heated up again.
Whatever the situation, the state and federal government should monitor closely all the plans they have laid out, and then implement them to help the Penans community. There should also be a follow up on the progress of things done to ensure its effectiveness.
7. Police
Tuan Speaker,
I have something to reveal in this August house. On May 5 as I went through the news portal, “Malaysian Mirror,” I was shocked to find that three notorious gangsters have escaped from a police cell at Samarahan Police Station.
The report in Malaysian Mirror stated that three men, two gangsters and a drug pusher who were waiting to be banished for gangsterism and drug peddling had overpowered the Samarahan police guarding their cell and made their escape on April 30th at about 7.30 pm.
The article stated that two of the escapee were rearrested the next day, one a Sibu gangster and another, an ex-police turned robber.
I read that it was the Malaysian Mirror’s exclusive. I checked and found out from local media that they were advised not to write the story.
Why is it so? Did the police want to cover up their inefficiency and trying to sweep the matter under the carpet? Should they not warn the people through the media that the surrounding residents in Samarahan could be harmed if the gangsters were to hold them hostage?
How irresponsible it is of the police to cover up such criminal act of the escape. What happen to the police on duty? Is there any action taken? Why it is that the public were not informed that there are criminals roaming the streets with us? Why is it that the police wanted to cover up such a big incident that could affect the security of the public? Instead of tighten up the security of the cell, 2000 policemen were sent over to Sibu for the by election just to harass the voters and opposition. How could you expect the public to have confidence in the police force where gangsters can free easily from the police cell?
I think the police force owed the people an explanation on the whole incident. I also wanted to know if the other escapee had been arrested or was there any attempt to do so.
Tuan Speaker, with these words, I conclude my speech.
Thank you.
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