Recreation Park Turned into Nightmare for Residents

I received not only a few complaints about the park at Stampin 6B BDC Resettlement Scheme but so many that I realized the urgency of going down to see it.

The residents were unhappy that the park which was to be used for children to enjoy and health conscious people to jog or walk has turned into a nightmare for them.

Groups of youths would frequent the park dead at night drinking, shouting and singing to their hearts’ content, not caring that there are decent folks who have to sleep and wake up to go to work the next day.

A resident, Ong said she was worried of her daughter who has to return back late at night after her overtime. What if one of these drunk decide to mug her one day, she told me in fear.

The other neighbours were also annoyed as at times, there seemed to be a race going on. Motorcycle racing around the park without consideration for anyone.

The residents complained that the noise pollution is driving them up the wall. One lamented that since he moved in February, he was not only forced to put up with sleepless nights but worried that one days, the youths who were either high due to alcoholic drinks or drugs would turn violent.

And the place has been turned into a dumping ground, said another resident who walked around the area. The park was not maintained and the residents hoped that instead of a park which was filled with rubbish, half completed facilities would be turned into a garden of green.

I hoped that the council who is mostly in charge of parks would do something about it.

Low Lying Power Cable Problem at BDC Resettlement Scheme

I am tired of excuses given by authorities when they are incompetence and inefficient especially so when they know they are are monopolizing the trade.

In July, I went to see a resident at the BDC Resettlement area after he complained about the power cables hanging dangerously low over his house. I checked a number of houses in the same area and found most of them are facing the same problems.

After writing to SESCO on July 7, I received a reply from them telling me that rectification works are due

for the lines near the houses I went to and others, and occurred as a result of the soft ground condition and drainage clearing activities, which has caused the poles to sink further.

The SESCO also complained of having no proper road reserve and their intention to plant the poles at the edge of the drain is subjected to soil erosion and pole sinking problems.

It further on went to explain that there are strong objections from the land owners to use their land to place and plant the poles.

Now, would these same people want the poles to be planted in their own house before doing that to others?

Do not tell me about the road reserve. Do something about it. I understand that when the area was initially planned, nothing is perfect.

The thing is to do upgrading work and maintenance so that the lives of these people would be improved. If money and resources were not squandered by the present government, there would still be funds to be used to improve the lives of everyone, including the BDC Resettlement residents.

SESCO should be coordinating with the respective Local Councils to improve on the drainage and the planting of poles.

For once, do something decent for the people instead of moaning and complaining, giving one thousand and one reasons why things cannot be done.

If there is a will, there will be a way.

'SUPP is scared of Taib

Source:http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:00

By Joseph Tawie

KUCHING: The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) is in a quandary – should it continue to support Taib Mahmud as chief minister and the leader of the state Barisan Nasional or not?

“To continue backing Taib will mean losing the support of the Chinese voters. Not doing so will incur the wrath of the chief minister and its members will lose their positions and businesses with the state government,” said an observer.

“SUPP is really in a fix,” he said.

Early this month, SUPP wanted to meet with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to exert pressure on Taib to resign or the party would pull out of the state BN.

Meanwhile, Sarawak DAP treasurer Violet Yong accused SUPP of being scared of Taib when it failed to make its stand on his leadership.

“SUPP leaders are afraid of the chief minister and do not dare to make their stand. As a party, it cannot claim to represent the Chinese community because it has lost its credibility,” said Yong, the state assemblywoman for Pending.

“Other leaders of Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) have expressed their support for Taib’s continued leadership, but SUPP leaders have remained silent.

“The people, especially the Chinese, want to know its stand,” she said in response to a statement by SUPP secretary-general Sim Kheng Hui.

'Not her business'

Sim had accused Yong of being too vocal and that she might be pushed aside the way it was done to Batu Lintang state assemblyman Voon Lee Shan.

“Yong is undergoing a similar situation which Voon faced before he was suspended,” Sim said, adding that he could not understand why Yong had to ask SUPP to make its stand following public support for the chief minister by PBB, PRS and SPDP.

“Like these three parties, SUPP is also a BN component party.

“This is not her business, but BN’s business. I suggest she gives due attention to Pakatan Rakyat, particularly the states it is now ruling.

“There are so many problems in the Pakatan governments and it is time for her to stop directing SUPP what to do,” he had said.

Reacting to Sim’s statement, Yong accused Sim of trying to divert attention away from the real issue – the issue of whether it would support Taib’s leadership or not.

“Clearly Sim is scared of Taib,” she said, adding that it was not Sim’s business whether she was going to be sidelined or not.

“Nobody sidelines me. I am still the DAP state treasurer,” she said.

Asked whether DAP wanted Taib to be replaced, Yong said Pakatan’s aim is to change the whole government, which is already rotten.

“That is our ultimate aim. Whether we can do it is up to the people,” she added.

Summons for Offence In Johor Puzzles Local Man

Source: http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=59148

August 18, 2010, Wednesday

KUCHING: A Chinese man from Mile 22, Kuching-Serian Road near here had a great shock when he received a summons for a traffic offence he denied committing.

DID NOTHING WRONG: Chen (left) and Yong showing the summons and letter received from the police to reporters yesterday.

Chen Chee Hen, 44, said he was served with the traffic summons alleging that he committed a traffic offence in Johor early this year when neither he nor his vehicle was in Peninsular Malaysia at that particular time.

Unfortunately, his attempt to explain that he had been wrongly booked for over-speeding in Peninsular Malaysia was rejected by the Traffic Police Headquarters in Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur.

Chen, who approached Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong for help yesterday, told reporters that the summons, which alleged that he had committed a traffic offence in Ledang, was served through the post on March 9 this year.

His window van, bearing registration plate QK3613, but described in the summons as a car, was said to have been booked for driving at a speed of 133km per hour when the maximum limit was only 110km an hour.

The offence was said to have been committed by him along Km 172 of the highway at 10.25am on Jan 26 this year.

Denying that he committed the offence and saying neither he nor his van was in Peninsular Malaysia at that particular time, Chen had written to the Traffic Police for explanation and to request for a cancellation of the summons.

Nevertheless, his explanation was rejected and instead, he was asked to check with the nearest Road Transport Department (JPJ) office to verify the vehicle ownership.

Through a letter dated May 20 this year, Bukit Aman Traffic Police also told Chen that they had confirmed with JPJ that the vehicle bearing registration plate QK3613 was officially registered under his name with effect from March 25, 2009 until then.

In response to Chen’s quandary, Yong said that the summons was obviously wrongly served and it was very unprofessional on the part of the Traffic Police recording the traffic offence.

She will soon be writing to Bukit Aman Police headquarters to request for the cancellation of the notice served on Chen.

50% Discount for Parking Beyond Yellow Line

Lately, I was approached by a few car owners who told me that they have to buy season parking coupons at 50% discounted rate for parking beyond the yellow line.

Checking at Lorong Abang Abdul Rahim 10, I visited a few car owners who parked beyond the yellow line but was asked to pay discounted seasonal parking.

I was told that during the bizarre transaction, the car owners would be approached by a group of people to buy the seasonal parking at RM21instead of the original RM42. Special delivery service of the seasonal coupons was rendered to the car owners in the area.

The car owner showed me the seasonal parking coupon and it was a disgrace to see that the MBKS logo was there including the address of the area.

It was just too much. Since the parking lots in the area were gazetted in March this year, car owners who worked at the area was forced to buy the discount rate despite parking their cars at private land which is beyond the yellow line. To me, it is just disgraceful and unethical. How can anyone ask the car owners to pay at a non gazetted area. What is the council doing about it and keeping quiet about it despite my complaints forwarded to the media on last Tuesday?

Someone is answerable to this and this should be put a stop. This is an unethical unprofessional way of bleeding the people. If this is not stopped at all, very soon, all private lands in Kuching town would be affected by this ‘daylight’ robbery of getting car owners to pay for not parking in gazette parking lots. And to make it worst, it was not the land owners who were charging the parking fees.

The Council should come out to explain what this is all about and stop the abuse immediately before this ‘disease’ spread.

Meanwhile, those house owners who have yet to collect their RM300 should do so immediately at the Resident office before the money is revert back to the Treasury.

For the past one year, residents whose houses were flooded in January 2009 had waited patiently for the RM300 compassionate fund. The Resident office informed me last week of the money which I have successfully obtained for the late applicants.

I remembered a few residents who approached the SUPP only to be told that they would not be able to help as the due date was long gone. I helped as I know that these residents were as deserving as the others and due to unfortunate circumstances, they were not able to apply on time. And luckily the 104 of them managed to get their fund.

Give Back the Lands that belong to the People

When it comes to land problem in Sarawak, strange things had happened and unless something is done fast, a lot of people would be kicked out of their own homes. That is why the Pakatan Rakyat calls for a change of government, for the betterment of everyone.

Even when a retired excavator operator has his only piece of land where he had been living for over 60 years, the government has been making life terrible for him and his family of six.

Liew Chin Koo, 65 inherited the parcel of land that was bought through his mother’s blood and sweat money, is now living in a limbo. He is not sure when he would be kicked out of his own home.

Before 1993 when Liew’s land lease expired, his effort to renew it failed. The Land and Survey let him squatted in his own land until 1998, while giving him a Temporary Occupation License (TOL).

After three years and efforts made to go to the Land and Survey to renew his land, he was told to wait. After waiting until this June, his daughter went to the Land and Survey, and was told that they had lost all the family’s land data.

Liew has no choice but to turn to the media to ask for an appeal. The Land and Survey has the cheek to reply to me, through the media, insinuating that I was lying and that Liew has three parcels of land.

I did a search, and public records clearly indicate that Liew’ does not own three parcels of land. Lot 285 Lundu Town District is the only land he used to own. Liew is still waiting for the Land and Survey to give him the two other parcels as claimed by them. I am asking Land and Survey not to talk too much or make allegation against me when they were the ones not doing their homework.

The Land and Survey even suggested that Liew had gone to their office on March 16 this year to check on his land title. How can he be in Land and Survey when he was still in Lundu. What a blatant lie. And let the people judge who is the real liar here.

I am helping Liew to re-apply for the land renewal since the Land and Survey said they did not have any background information. If the Land and Survey claimed that they are a caring government, they should be kind to automatically renew all lands. They should amend the Section 26 of the Land Code to put people out of their misery instead of taking the lands they fancy. Why were so many land owners so unhappy, people like Liew and those at Bako area.

Using these unfair laws against land owners, all lands shall revert to the state upon expiry of lease term and no compensation shall be paid to the land owners. This practice need to be stopped immediately and the people’s land bought with their sweat and blood or inherited by their parents should be kept by the rightful owner, not to be taken and sold to their cronies.

It is high time the Barisan Nasional State Government amends the SarawakLand Code to prevent them from further abusing the people and using the unfair law to kick land owners out without compensating them.

Change the Land code before people changed the government.

The DAP sales: Shopping Bag to Generate Election Expenses

Source: www.sarawakupdate.com

by Jamie Harrison

DAP is going green by encouraging people to get recycle bags for their shopping instead of using plastic bags.

Launching the recycle bag of the DAP designed with its cute cartoon rocket and “Love Earth”, State Assemblywoman for Pending, violet Yong said each bag cost RM2.

“The money generated is for the expenses of the coming State election,” she said.

Violet said the party also wanted to emphasis on a clean and healthy environment and urged people against using plastic bags.

She said when Pakatan Raykat took over Penang, MB Lim Guan Eng encouraged the people to go without a plastic bag once a day at all shopping centres. The move was so successful and created an awareness that the Penang government has now went on a three-day per week without using plastic bags.

Violet said they would set up a stall tomorrow at Premier 101 from 7.30 pm to 10 pm tomorrow and 8 am to 1 pm at Kenyalang Park on Sunday. At both times, they would also be registering new voters.

On another issue, Violet urged the JKR to get the U turn in front of the Traffic light at Chung Hua School, Jalan Tun Razak to be installed fast as a lot of vehicles had been making illegal U turn to go to Jalan Peace Selatan and other housing areas there.

She said the public has appealed through her in 2008 for the U turn to be constructed. Recently, she brought up the matter again in the last DUN sitting and the JKR replied to her that to get the project done, they need RM100,000 .

Violet said the JKR should considered the project as urgent as there were a few housing estates which need the U turn instead of making a big round.

Meanwhile, at Riverine Housing estate and Mid Way Crescent, Violet said the authority should consider making an opening to the housing estates instead of them making a big U-turn.

After going to the site, Violet said those who wished to go to Samarahan from Riverine Housing estate need to make at least 6 km U turn while at Mid Way Crescent those who wished to head towards town has to go 4 Km to head to the town.

She urged the authority to consider either to install a traffic light or an opening to these housing estates to avoid jams along the roads especially at peak hours.