Squatters Next To CMS Cement Sdn. Bhd. Appealing For Help

It’s ironic that the squatters staying along Jalan CMS is adjacent to one of the richest company in the state, the CMS which is divided by a cement wall.

Some of the 100 over family members had been there for the past 30 to 40 years in such bleak situation that it makes one wonder that in a rich state like Sarawak, there are still below poverty families staying within the city.

I have been receiving calls the last week from residents in the area appealing for help. The 60 meter road from their squatters were at times covered with flooding during high tide stranding them in their homes.

The concerned parents have to carry their children numbering over 10 school going across the flooded roads for them so as not to miss schools. At times, due to the flood, families who were out of their houses have to wait until almost midnight for the water to subside.

A resident complained that for the past two years, two tongkangs had been ferrying along Sg. Apong which is behind their homes causing soil erosion. There were some dredging going on at times causing the 60 meter long road to collapse and sink.

The house owners although poor tried to help themselves by buying a few lorries of stones to make the road higher. But it did not help much when there is King tide. A resident said they would be cut of at certain time of the night and day at least once or twice a month.

Another resident said if help did not come on time, the whole road would collapse next month making it inaccessible for them.

I went to the site twice to assess the situation and had called for a press conference there. I wanted the media to see for themselves the dilapidated houses the residents there owned and the appalling condition they were forced to live. And the road has been an additional headache to their problems.

I will write to the relevant authority for some form of help. Today, I hope that the voluntarily association and NGO like Rotary Club, Lion’s club or corporate bodies would come out to extend their help to the residents. 

The most pressing need is a proper road for the residents. As school is about to open soon, the children should be able to go to school without worrying about high tide.

The Chief Minister had recently said he would help resettle squatters to solve the squatter problems in the State. I agreed that the 20 odd families should be resettled as they are living from hand to mouth and could hardly afford to buy a house. I hope the CM would mean business this time by making sure the squatters are resettled. All are waiting for the next course of action from the CM. 

SUPP Youth Chief Should Stop All Drama Acting

SUPP Youth chief, Tan Kai had recently said through the media that he would see to the flood mitigation after talking to the people in Bintawa Fishing Village and understanding their problems.

I find this amusing as Bintawa residents have been plagued by flash flood at monsoon seasons annually.

I have brought up this matter in the State Legislative meeting twice last year and written letters to MBKS and relevant authorities on the problem. Besides that, I have also highlighted the issues through the media.

This year, I followed up the issue with the MBKS by writing a letter which as usual, there was no respond.

I was quite surprised that Tan Kai only realized this after talking to the residents there. The problem had been sitting there for decades and when the last SUPP representative from the area was holding an assistant minister position in the state government, he did not see to the problem when he has all the authority to do so as a councilor of MBKS. 

From the answer which I received from the relevant ministry that there will be a flood mitigation project to be carried out in Bintawa.  Other than that, no further details revealed.

I would like the MBKS to do the project as soon as possible to ease the suffering of the Bintawah people and not to use it as a political mileage for the Barisan Nasional.

There should not be a show of ceremony bringing along excavators, heavy machinery just to show the Bintawah people that the project is on. And then after ‘conning’ the votes from the people, the heavy machinery disappeared and the people continue to suffer.

Let it be done this time as the government owes it to the people of Bintawa.

Doctors at SGH were told to be Gentle & Polite towards Patients

Medical doctors when taking on the job know that they had ethics to follow. Being a doctor is considered an honorable job. Unfortunately, there are doctors at the Sarawak General Hospital whose attitude towards patients at times is not that honorable.

Jikawa anak Rumit has that experience on June 15. He had a fall sometime end of May, 2012 and was brought to the Emergency and Accident department, Sarawak General hospital for an X-ray. The trip to the hospital did not end his agony as he was asked to wait for more than four hours and given a verbal lashing by the doctor.

Jikawa’s colleague, Tham came to see me as he was appalled by such treatment to people in pain.

Tham had gone with Jikawa and waited for him. It took hours for Jikawa to be X-rayed, to wait to see the doctor, to get scolded by the doctor and to wait for his medication. Tham hoped that such treatment to patients should be stopped. 

I know that the A & E unit in the Sarawak General Hospital is always packed to the brim. When a person took on the job as a doctor, he should know that the job requires him to be gentle and caring with the patient. No one wants to go to the hospital for no good reason.

I understand the A & E department medical staff is over-worked. But that did not give them the reason or excuse to give the patient more ‘pain’ with verbal scolding or rough treatment. The patients were there to seek treatment for their ailments and pain, not a tongue lashing included.

The hospital authority should take it out with the Ministry to ensure there are enough doctors and medical support staff instead of making an excuse year in and out that they had shortage of staff. This problem should be solved long ago. So forget the excuse and get something done.

Sarawak BN Took Away Land without Paying Due Compensation!

At times I think that the state government is better at doing the disappearing magic act than the famous David Copperfield. It is especially so when it comes to either NCR or land bought by owners which can disappear right under their nose overnight.

Take the case of Bohari Osman and his wife, Mordiah Eden. Both are retirees and worked hard all their lives. Mordiah had bought a land in 1989 meant as an investment for their golden years.

The 1.6 acre land at Kampung Empila, Lot 77, Block 6, Samarahan district cost her RM5000 then and it was a lot of money then. After renovating their house, they lost the quit rent booklet and decided to replace it.

The couple made a trip to Samrahan on April 9. All these years they had faithfully paid the quit rent so it was a shock for the couple when they realized that their land was nowhere in sight. Lot 77, Block 6 just disappeared in thin air.

The frustrated couple told the Land and Survey insisted on checking their land and to their amazement, it was a big drain and in place of Lot 77, there were two plot of land, Lot 333 and 334.

After coming to me for help, Borhan said he was extremely disappointed and frustrated that all these years despite paying their quit rent, the plot of land could just disappeared. They wanted the government to compensate them with another piece of land.

I will contact Land and Survey Samarahan to arrange a meeting with Borhan and Mordiah. I think the authority should be answerable to this. It is worst than a scam. The two had wanted to enjoy their retirement years and with some sort of security for their old age. Now the government had taken away that security.

Scrapping smelter deal: Taib’s political game

Source: freemalaysiatoday

By Joseph Tawie | March 29, 2012

The Rio Tinto 'pullout' may be linked to the refusal of the federal government to sell Bakun Dam to the chief minister, claims the DAP.

KUCHING: Global mining giant Rio Tinto PLC’s “pullout” from Sarawak may be temporary in view of the 13th general election, the uproar over Lynas in Pahang and the fact that Chief Minister Taib Mahmud has not been able to buy the Bakun Dam from the federal government.

Based on this reality, Sarawak DAP treasurer Violet Yong believes that “they might resume negotiations after the election”.

“Announcing the project [pullout by Rio Tinto] just before the general election is a political gimmick. Also, the reason for the termination is not because they did not agree to the purchase of the price of electricity.

“To me, one of the reasons is that the election is very near. And they [BN leaders] are worried that they will face the same consequences as that of Lynas.

“They have to wait, I think, until after the election; then only they will know whether Pakatan Rakyat takes over the government or not,” she said.

Taib yesterday said Sarawak Corridor for Renewable Energy (SCORE) will not be affected by Rio Tinto’s decision to cancel its RM6.1 billion aluminium smelting project in the state.

“So, as far as Rio Tinto is concerned, they said the company is not going to go for the first phase only and is not going to participate at this stage because they do not want to be tied down,” Taib said.

Based on Taib’s comment that Rio Tinto is likely to return, Yong, who is the Pending assemblywoman, said that Taib could also be waiting to settle outstanding issues with the federal government over the Bakun Dam.

Polluted industry

“We know that Taib wants to buy the Bakun Dam, but Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has issued a statement that his administration will not sell it to Sarawak.

“We know there is a confrontation between the state and the federal governments. Is Sarawak using the back-door pressure (the termination of the agreement) to force the federal government to sell the Bakun Dam?

“To me, the smelter project is only benefiting the cronies of the state government and not the people of Sarawak and not the Malaysian people as a whole.

“We know that the Bakun Dam is a ‘white elephant’. With the cancellation of the aluminium smelting project, it makes the dam a bigger ‘white elephant’,” she added.

Yong said the only way to bring a “permanent closure” to the smelting plant deal is for Sarawakians to vote for Pakatan Rakyat.

“From the beginning until now, the DAP stand is always very firm: we are against the aluminium smelting plant because this is a very polluted industry and many countries have rejected such industry.

“The Barisan Nasional does not want us to use it as an issue in the coming general election,” Yong said.

DAP had used the issue in the last state election when its candidate, Chiew Chu Sing, trounced Sarawak United People’s Party-BN candidate Henry Ling in the Kidurong seat with a 6,930- vote majority.

Unfair Taxi Coupon Payment System

Three taxi drivers came to see me after they were being treated unfairly by the Airport taxi coupon service counter management.

For every passenger they ferried, a taxi driver earned RM26 and that has to be shared with the Airport service counter which took a cut of RM3 after they give the coupon back to the counter in exchange for cash.

Boon Sin Choo was very upset when he came to see me.

He gave 4 coupons to the service counter but not only did he fail to get his money but his coupons were confiscated by the management with the reason that he had tried to reimburse his money after the 14 days period.

The taxi drivers had a year ago been asked to get their cash in exchange for coupons within 14 days from 7.30 am to 5 pm.

Boon also informed that most of time taxi drivers would not be able to exchange cash at once with their coupons. The taxi drivers would have to made several trips before they can get full payment of the money. There is no reason for the management to tell the taxi drivers that there is insufficient cash to pay them when in actual fact all the cash was already received by the management from the sales of the coupons.

It is grossly unfair and unreasonable that taxi drivers had to get their cash within 14 days, failing which all hard earn money of the taxi drivers will be forfeited by the management. Such act is worst than day light robbery!

I am writing in to the Malaysia Airport Holdings to find out why such policies were imposed on taxi drivers and why they were given such a raw deal in so many ways.

To be a taxi driver is already hard and to treat them in such a manner is depressing for them. Afterall, the money was already paid by the passengers in the first place but when it comes to them, there was never enough to pay them.

I hope the authority would do something about it instead of trying to milk out the taxi drivers hard earned cash. Is Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad aware that the counter has imposed such an unfair system? Who has authorised the counter to counter to collect the RM3 service charge?