Peter Chin Assures Sabah Will Attain Saidi Rate By Year-End

Peter Chin Assures Sabah Will Attain Saidi Rate By Year-End


SEPANGGAR, Mar 13 (Bernama) -- Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui today pledged that electricity interruption in the state will be considerably reduced by year-end.

Electricity supply in Sabah has always been an issue and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had set a System Average Interruption Duration Index (Saidi) target that will track the number of minutes consumers experience power failure in the state.

Chin assured that Sabah would attain the System Average Interruption Duration Index (Saidi) target of 700 minutes/consumer annually, this year, or resign from office.

Sabah recorded a high rate of 2,870 minute/consumer annually at the end of 2009.

"Because it's my Key Performance Indicator (KPI), so it's up to the Prime Minister. But that (to resign) will be the right thing to do.

"We will work towards achieving the target but we have to wait until Dec 31, 2010 to know if we have succeeded. And, we will be transparent.

"If we fail to reach the target, then, at the time, you can fire me," he told reporters after launching the commercial operations of the first 65 Megawatt gas turbine unit for Ranhill Powertron II here on Saturday.

Chin said RM468 million has been allocated for the purpose of achieving the target.

In his speech earlier, Chin sympathised and apologised to all Sabahans who suffered from frequent electricity disruption.

"I don't think its very fair at this juncture to judge us, we are just delivering the first phase of the 65 Megawatt plant for the 190Mw combined cycle power plant project today," he explained.

"People sms me, I feel bad. This is not something we planned for, we don't plan for electricity shortages. But I am very committed to solve the issue, but you have to give me time, that is until the end of this year," he said further.

Demand for electricity supply in Sabah is 750 Megawatts, and with the additional 65 Megawatts launched today, the state's capacity to generate electricity is 800 Megawatts.

However, an extra 20 to 25 per cent of power supply is needed to mantain reliable supply.

Source -- BERNAMA

47 years under UMNOed BN.......1963 - 2010.....Sabahan really a 3rd class citizen

LEST WE FORGET

Book blames peninsular politics for Sabah immigrant woes

Joe Fernandez

Aug 28

Book title: Lest We Forget Author : Dr Chong Eng Leong

This is a book which has long been in the writing considering that the writer, Dr Chong Eng Leong, filed an election petition back in 1999 alleging that there were phantom voters in the then Likas state constituency.

He had stood there as a PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) candidate and lost. Dr Chong, a leading general surgeon at the Sabah Medical Centre in Kota Kinabalu, had always been an activist against illegal immigration.

The writer won a landmark judgment that prompted the Election Commission to have the Election Act amended to the effect that once the Electoral Rolls have been gazetted, they are not challengeable in any court of law.

Better late than never, Dr Chong has marshaled an impressive array of facts and figures in this documentation of an explosive issue, illegal immigration, for posterity. It is feared that there will be "a reverse takeover" of the state one day by foreigners i.e. if it is not already happening. Suhakam (Malaysian Human Rights Commissioner) vice chairman Simon Sipaun touches on this fear in his foreword to the book. "It (the situation) appears to be out of control as clearly indicated in this book by Dr Chong Eng Leong," writes Sipaun, a former Sabah state secretary, who sympathises with the plight of the illegal immigrants as well. "We cannot blame the illegals.

However, the public is questioning the authorities for allowing illegal immigrants to enter Sabah so easily.""They are also questioning why and how these foreigners could easily become citizens through the backdoor." Population expands because of illegals

The year 1970 is the base year in the book. In that year, statistics put Sabah's population at some 648, 693 and that of neighbouring Sarawak at 976,269. By the year 2000, Sabah's 2,603,485 population had overtaken Sarawak's 2,012, 616. Given the advent of modern medicines, in the absence of economic and social progress, demographers tell us that population doubles naturally every 25 years.

It's the effects of economic and social progress that act as a damper once they set in as in Singapore, for example. Sabah's figures clearly don't jell unlike Sarawak's. The extraordinary increase in Sabah can only be attributed to illegal immigrants being counted as Malaysians, according to the book.

The population figures for Sabah today are variously put between 3.5 million and 4.5 million - some of the population floating all the time - using rice consumption as a guideline. Sarawak meanwhile hovers around 2.5 million.Dr Chong leaves no stone unturned to point fingers at former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the chief architect of a covert state within a state project to pad the electoral rolls in 30 state seats in Sabah with the names of illegal immigrants mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia but also including the Indian subcontinent.

The idea was to tip the balance just enough to carry it off sufficiently to put Umno in the seat of power in Kota Kinabalu. The ruling Umno had correctly anticipated that time was running out for the half-century old party in Peninsular Malaysia. It needed to look elsewhere to shore up its continued hold on power and cast its eyes across the South China Sea. Sabah was one answer. Sarawak could be the next excuse if the Opposition Alliance, Pakatan Rakyat, upsets the apple cart there in forthcoming state elections just as PBS did earlier in 1985. Such accusations are nothing new and have been made before. But what is interesting is that Mahathir has never commented on these allegations one way or other.

Get control at whatever cost Mahathir's name was first mentioned in court in 1992 but it was not until the Likas petition that he became synonymous with the problem of illegal immigrants holding MyKads who were being listed in the electoral rolls.

There is an extraordinary wealth of information in the book complete with names, dates, places and eyewitness reports.The mindset at work is demonstrated in Page 37, where the Commissioner of Police tells one Hassnar Ebrahim, an ex-ISA (Internal Security Act) detainee, to commit murders.

"Federal Government wants political control over Sabah at any cost, even to the extent of murdering innocent people to have a reason to declare emergency rule," the CP is quoted as saying by Hassnar. Pictures of the 1986 demonstrations and riots show police escorting the demonstrators, swarms of foreigners, who had also thronged the court when there was a bid to stop the state election.

Mahathir's continued silence should tell us all something of the warped sense of destiny of Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister. He remains smug in the knowledge that no one can set the wheels in motion to go after him.

The Sabah of today and Malaysia which lurches from crisis to crisis is the result of the misguided policies of the Mahathir years which rewrote the rules on national security.

Basically, this is a tale of abuse of power and an exercise in acts of absolute power. In that sense, it's merely an extension of the Peninsular Malaysian political theatre where a series of events were set in motion viz. a Lord President tried by a kangaroo court of his peers and dismissed from the Judiciary, a Deputy Prime Minister incarcerated on circumstantial evidence and heresy; the Doctrine of the Separation of Powers, which provides for checks-and-balances, shunted aside by an Executive which was determined to reduce the other branches of government i.e. the Judiciary and the Legislature, to cringing subservience.

Sabah was child's play compared with Peninsular Malaysia which had formidable foes in the form of the Bar Council, the NGOs, PAS and DAP, among others.The amazing theme running through Lest We Forget is how easily the Federal Civil Service in Sabah caves in to the demands of their political masters and is willing to set aside internal systems of checks and balances to achieve a political goal.

That the Civil Service has been infiltrated by party politics over the last half century and heavily politicised is an open secret. Even so, it's surprising to discover the levels to which ordinary civil servants are willing to stoop to please their political masters. Subservience and lack of political will.

It is in this atmosphere of subservience and a cringing culture that Mahathir and others before him in Sabah have been able to make their identity card scams work. This message comes across clearly in this book which can only be considered a labour of love. The entire proceeds from the sale of the book would go to the Borneo Heritage Foundation.

In addition, the writer dug into his own pockets for the initial outlay for the printing costs.The book proposes various suggestions to overcome the menace of illegal immigration in Sabah. But the lack of political will remains a stumbling block.

At the heart of these proposals is the emphasis on the National Registration Department (NRD) in Sabah and the Immigration Department Sabah, among others, being headed by locals and not imports from Peninsular Malaysia. It is alleged that Peninsular Malaysians are mercenary and have no qualms about doing Sabah in if they are provided with the right mix of incentives.

Source : SAPP Blog

A Forgetful Nation

A forgetful nation
Posted by admin
Friday, 28 August 2009 02:25



The moot point to note is that Sabah and Sarawak did not join Malaysia. They entered into an agreement with Malaya to form Malaysia on 16 September 1963. So why are we celebrating 31 August as our national day?

By BOB TEOH/MySinchew

I USED to live in Australia for six years. Each year Australia Day was something memorable to celebrate even though I was not a citizen but only a permanent resident. It doesn’t matter really whether one is fair dinkum. Even tourists join in the fun and celebration. All are welcome.

Can we say this of our national day? To begin with we are never sure of what is our national day. Is it Merdeka Day on 31 August or Malaysia Day on 16 September? Where does our Malaysian story start? When we begin to forget our collective story, we begin to forget who we are.

Let’s get our story right.

The declaration of independence of the Federation of Malaya on 31 August 1957 was preceded by Qur’anic doxology:

In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Universe and may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon His Messenger.

This clearly acknowledges that Islam is the official religion of the land but the country is a not an Islamic state by any stretch of imagination.

The newly independent nation is to be known as the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu or the Federation of Malaya comprising the Malay States of Johore, Pahang, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, Terengganu and Perak and the former Settlements of Malacca and Penang, both being previously dominions of the Imperial British Empire while the others were protectorates. The Malay characteristic has never been in doubt, hence Tanah Melayu.


The new nation is founded on a constitutional monarchy based on parliamentary democracy. The supremacy of the constitution is never in doubt. No other parallel system of law is envisaged.


On this understanding and undertaking Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halimshah, as the first Prime Minister of Malaya, proclaimed independence upon the principles of liberty and justice.


Six years later three other political entities; Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo or Sabah as it is now known entered into an agreement with Malaya to form an enlarged country of Malaysia on 16 September 1963. The Sultanate of Brunei had earlier declined to join the new federation. Singapore mutually separated two years later after an acrimonious short-lived partnership.

The moot point to note is that Sabah and Sarawak did not join Malaysia. They entered into an agreement with Malaya to form Malaysia on 16 September 1963. So why are we celebrating 31 August as our national day?

The basis for putting together the Malaysia Agreement is the so-called 20 points presented by Sabah and Sarawak. For Sabah, the first of the 20 points was on religion:

While there was no objection to Islam being the national religion of Malaysia there should be no State religion in North Borneo, and the provisions relating to Islam in the present Constitution of Malaya should not apply to North Borneo.

So how far have we come 46 or 52 years?

Have we forgotten our shared vision to live in peace based on the principles of justice and liberty, of a constitutional monarchy, and a parliamentary democracy?

I am afraid we are a forgetful nation. We have forgotten that the supreme law of the land does not allow us to cane a woman for drinking beer in public even if she deserves even 80 lashes under some subordinate laws.

I am afraid we forget too many things that are important and fundamental.



I am afraid we forget too easily it was in the name of compassion and mercy that we proclaimed ourselves to be a free and independent nation.

I am afraid there’s little reason to celebrate Merdeka this year. Even the government has downscaled the celebrations apparently because of the (A) H1N1 flu, among other thing.

Let us not forget to remember why there was a 31 August and a 16 September.
Yes, I can still remember Australia Day. But I wish I can also remember Merdeka and Malaysia Day.

This is a reproduction from MySinchew 2009.08.27

WORLD MOST EXPENSIVE GRAVEL HIGHWAY

RM563mil spent on 'gravel road' in Sabah
Abdul Aziz Bari | Mar 9, 09 10:55am
Those in Sabah’s construction circles have reacted with surprise to Works Minister Mohd Zin Mohamed’s statement that a RM536 million 'highway' to Tawau had all along been envisaged as a gravel road.

However, his pledge at the same time that the highway will now be sealed has provided some relief to long-suffering road users and struck a hopeful chord among construction companies in the state.

Their constant refrain that the big jobs go to peninsula-based companies with the right political connections have so far fallen on deaf ears.

The 145km Jalan Sapulut-Kalabakan was completed on May 15 last year by Gamuda Bhd as a sub-contractor. The Perak sultan’s daughter has a stake in the company.

The project then became the subject of two reports lodged last year with the Anti-Corruption Agency, since replaced by the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission.

Mohd Zin said in a statement yesterday that heavy logging activities had been going on along the entire length of the highway, “hence the decision to settle for a gravel road (at the time)”.

“It was a joint decision by the Ministry of Works, the Economic Planning Unit and the Sabah Public Works Department,” he said.

“If the asphaltic coating work on the road had continued (under the original contract), the heavy logging activities would have definitely damaged the new road and increased the reconstruction and repair works by another RM100 million.”

‘Expensive gravel road’

He also said the highway would “definitely be sealed” in the near future once the EPU in the Prime Minister’s Department gives the go-ahead.

“If approved, this work will go through the process of open tender as a new contract and not be treated as additional work or variation order under the previous contract. The work needed careful estimates by the EPU before any decision is made.”

The minister did not give any figures. Neither did he say whether the original contractor and its sub-contractor, a sister company, would be allowed to tender for the sealing contract. Both are based in the peninsular.

It is learnt from local companies eyeing the contract that it would take at least RM150 million to apply asphaltic coating/black top road surface to the highway, which is part of the Pan-Borneo Highway that is due to be completed under the 9th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010).

Kota Kinabalu MP Dr Hiew King Cheu, who had previously raised the issue in Parliament, said RM563 million is “just too much money to build a gravel road”.

“It works out to RM3.88 million per kilometre. With that kind of money, it should be able to sustain heavy traffic load including logging trucks, provided not overloaded, unless the job was not done according to specification,” he added.

Source : Sapp Blog

Tingkayu, Kunak Land Grab

KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Bernand Dompok has instructed the Public Complaints Bureau to conduct an immediate probe on allegations of power abuse by senior police officers in a land-grab issue at Kampung Tingkayu in Kunak, Sabah.

Dompok said the affected smallholder who had worked on the land for the past 23 years met him in Parliament on Tuesday and briefed him on the issue.

"This is a very serious matter as it involves senior police officers. I've instructed the bureau's director-general Dr Chua Hong Teck to look into the complaint. We guarantee a fair probe. The bureau will treat the complainant fairly as promised in the bureau's clients' charter," he said today.



Dompok said the bureau would convene a special meeting this week to discuss the matter.

"If it is proven that the said police officers misused their power, stern action would be taken against them, as nobody is above the law. The bureau will be cooperating with other relevant agencies once the investigation started and all should give their fullest cooperation," he said, adding that "we don't want to see public trust towards the authorities fade."

In April, Bernama reported that a top-ranking senior law enforcement officer, who is a "datuk", and police officers in Kunak are being investigated by the Sabah Anti-Corruption Agency for allegedly offering "protection services" to a real estate company which allegedly seized 787 hectares (about 4,000 acres) of oil palm land belonging to smallholders.

In exchange for their "services", the company, which is also involved in money lending, had reportedly given the officers kickbacks and other benefits, including its company shares.

Bernama also reported that the company concerned had employed more than 100 illegal immigrants who doubled as thugs to seize the land worth about RM40 million and more then 40 police reports were lodged between January and March this year at the Kunak police station, but there had been no follow-up action.

It is learnt that the state government would also be briefed on the issue as the smallholders have alleged that a few officers of the land and survey department might be involved in the scandal.

Meanwhile, one smallholder who wished to be known as Anthony, 50, said that an official complaint letter was handed to the Home Ministry on Thursday.

"In the letter we have asked the minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar to take appropriate action against the police officers who failed to discharge their duty and abused their power.

"We have all the evidence to prove that the complaints made were true and we hope our nightmare will end soon," he added. — Bernama

Source Malaysian Insider

That June 2008

Back to the future

Two hacked to death

Published on: Saturday, February 14, 2009 Email to a friend Printer Friendly

Kunak: Two smallholders who went to harvest oil palm in their plantation in Kampung Tingkayu, Kunak, Sabah, were hacked to death by a group of illegal immigrants on Thursday.

It is believed that at least five other smallholders were seriously injured in the incident that happened at about 2pm.

The bodies of the two dead men were found by police at about 1pm, Friday, in a shocking state with some body parts detached.

Kunak police district acting chief, ASP Tan Hiap Wah, when contacted, confirmed the incident but declined to elaborate.

Bernama understands that the two victims were attacked and their bodies hidden under a heap of dried palm fronds. Their bodies were sent to the Kunak Hospital for post-mortem and no arrests have been made.

Last year in April, Bernama had reported that the Sabah Anti-Corruption Agency had investigated a high ranking enforcement officer said to be a "Datuk" and several police personnel in Kunak for allegedly offering their "protection services" to a realty company that allegedly grabbed 787ha of oil palm plantation belonging to local smallholders of Kampung Tingkayu.

The company was also reported to have used the services of more than 100 thugs comprising illegal immigrants to grab the land valued at about RM40 million. - Bernama

A repro from Daily Express

The Koperasi response

A repro from Daily Express

Co-op regrets incident, denies link

Published on: Monday, February 16, 2009

Kunak: The Tingkayu Cooperative Land Development Society Limited (TCLDSL) hoped police would investigate the actual identities of the persons who were hacked to death on the property of the cooperative.

Cooperative chairperson Hajjah Alina Usman said the investigation should be carried out without fear or favour as TCLDSL had never employed anyone, let alone illegals, to look after or enter its property.

Alina also wants the police to investigate into the group of people claiming to be smallholders "having the right" to harvest the oil palm fruits in the area.
She was commenting on the incident in which two smallholders were hacked to death purportedly by a group of illegals, while going into Kampung Tingkayu here, to harvest oil palm fruits "in their plantations".

She regretted that the incident happened on cooperative land and that the cooperative's name was dragged into the fray. Alina said it was puzzling how a man claiming to be a lawyer had attempted to enter into the cooperative land, considering that the so-called smallholders were "in fact trespassers".

She pointed out that High Court Judge Datuk Clement Skinner in his ruling on March 18, last year, had declared that the "smallholders" claiming to have the right to enter the cooperative land were, in fact, trespassers.

"Maybe the lawyer is trying to enforce the injunction granted earlier by the same court, on Feb 1, last year, allowing them to enter the cooperative land to harvest the oil palm fruits, when in fact the March 18 ruling declared them as trespassers", Alina said.

She urged Bernama to check their facts making such reports that could tarnish the name and image of the cooperative

A repro from Daily Exprsee

But the question those who were kill are Trespasser, which law allow for the hacking to pieces tresspassers and who were the murderers?

The Police response

Police have arrested six people and identified 16 more suspects in connection with the attack on a group of smallholders that led to one man being hacked to death in Tingkayu, Kunak, last week.

Sabah Commissioner of Police, Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim, said only one smallholder, identified as 46-year-old Seipon Kayabo, was killed in the incident while two others were seriously injured, one slashed in the forehead and the other shot in the thigh.

The five locals and an Indonesian passport holder were arrested within 72 hours after the incident took place on Thursday, he said. Police believe the remaining suspects were locals.

One of the detainees, aged 41, is believed to be the main suspect. "We have identified all the suspects and will be making arrests soon," he said after witnessing ACP Abd Radzak Abd Ghani taking over as the Sabah Police Logistics chief from DSP Sulaiman Abd Rahman at the Sabah police contingent headquarters in Kepayan, Monday.

He said the smallholders were attacked with machetes (parangs), chainsaws and homemade firearms, adding police have yet to recover the weapons, believed hidden, following the attack.

Noor Rashid pointed out the clash took place after about 40 smallholders insisted on entering the Tingkayu oil palm plantation land and subsequently angered the 20 plantation workers

A repro from Daily Express

CP dares Ansari to sue
Published on: Friday, February 20, 2009

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Commissioner of Police Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim Thursday challenged lawyer Ansari Abdullah to sue him over the Tingkayu incident last week in which a local was slashed to death by a mob.
"Sue me É(so) I can appear in court and talk É I have all the records," he said, in response to remarks by Ansari, who is representing family members of deceased Seipun Kayabo.

Ansari had said he was instructed by Seipun's family members to take legal action against all involved, including police, for the murder.

Noor Rashid also threw the book at Ansari for accusing the police of allegedly failing in their duties over the incident and denied that police were picking sides in the oil palm land dispute. He stressed that police had always remained neutral and that the decision not to serve the court injunction granted to the smallholders was justified, as they (police) were not ordered to do so by any judicial body.

"We did not enforce the injunction because it was not attached to us.

Secondly, there are other people who are entrusted to serve the injunction in the case of a civil dispute. I cannot say 'hey, open your land for this people!' É who am I? Only the proper authority can do that and not the police.

"This (serving court related orders) is a very simple task É why do we want to reject this duty? If the court directs us (to serve it), in one minute I can get my officer to go.

"But when we take sides in civil disputes, we are seen to be siding another party, which we try to avoid. We must be seen to be fair because our objective is to uphold justice to everybody irrelevant of their status in society," Noor Rashid pointed out.

Ansari had earlier said that police's contention of not wanting to get involved in the matter was equal to the police not doing their job.

In a media conference at the Kepayan police headquarters here, Thursday, Noor Rashid said the incident could have been avoided if all sides in the dispute had not jumped the gun and chose to observe the court's decision.

"If you follow the rule of law, all these wouldn't have happened É in any case the rule of law must prevail.

"(For instance) if an injunction is served and violated, it can be reported back to the court for contempt and let the court decide. The police is not an arbitrary body É we are law enforcers.

"The due process as stated in the law must prevail (and) acknowledged by both parties." However, Noor Rashid pointed out that even though police had not picked sides, they showed their presence in the estate in order to maintain peace and security.

"I regret that the incident happened É we have spent thousands of hours to instill and maintain peace and security in the area. It is very sad that people got injured and killed."

On a claim that police failed to respond despite being contacted three hours prior to the incident by a lawyer representing the smallholders, he said the officer concerned was at a meeting.

"My officer was in the meeting and his phone was on silent mode. He did not realise the phone calls and did not recognise the numbers ... then he received a SMS saying the group of smallholders was going in and immediately deployed his men to Tingkayu. Unfortunately, it already happened when they arrived," Noor Rashid said.

"Whatever men we have we deploy to the ground for the purpose of maintaining the law, crime prevention and they are scattered around," he said, adding police would swing into action if they have information on groups of people going to commit a crime, citing a case in Lantangan, Kinabatangan.

"We received information that a group was assembling and armed, ready to take over a piece of land from somebody else.

"Our role is not to prevent them from taking the land but to be there to maintain peace and security. We managed to disperse the group and in fact, created a buffer zone for them."

A repro from Daily Express

The Police reason for not being able to stop the hacking of the 2 men......I wonder this case has been going on for so long, and police do not know? Question - How many more killing is needed before the police act.

To me a layperson, the employer is also an acomoplice to the employee who commits any crime in the name of the employer.

Nabawan (4,500 patients monthly) has no hospital

Nabawan (4,500 patients monthly) has no hospital
Published on: Wednesday, February 04, 2009

NABAWAN: The Federal Government has been urged to speed up the construction
of a hospital in the district that was promised to the people but never
materialised since 1994.

The existing health clinic built in 1973 is unable to cater to the demand of
the growing population, Deputy Minister of Rural Development, Tan Sri Joseph
Kurup, said after visiting the clinic with Keningau Health Officer Dr Khebir
Verasahib and medical officer Dr Nasir Khan Durani.

Kurup said the clinic attended to an average of 4,500 patients a month and
had a staff of 69 personnel and two medical officers. The Nabawan district
has five health centres in Salong, Sepulut, Pegalungan, Pensiangan and
Tibow.

Kurup said he would bring up the matter up with the Health Minister soon.
"The hospital must be built as soon as possible considering the population
and the health care needs in the district." Dr Khebir said the tender to
build the hospital had been offered before and would be "re-tendered" again.

The billboard on the construction of the hospital is still visible after it
was erected in 1994, the year that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib
Tun Raza visited Nabawan and announced its construction. The opposition had
been exploiting this issue to stir up the people's sentiments.

With the hospital in place, Kurup said, it would assist in the Government's
quest to eradicate poverty in rural areas.

According to him, health remains a serious matter among people in the rural
areas since most of them are poor and cannot afford treatment cost.

He said his PBRS office receives many requests for assistance from the
people for health treatment.

On other developments, Kurup suggested that the Government consider
subsidising the registration fee for patients from rural areas.

He said the low turnout of patients at the Nabawan Health Clinic could be
due to the patients being unable to come up with the RM1 registration fee
and the transportation cost that has substantially increased between 2007
and last year. According to Kurup, the Health Minister would visit the
district soon.

Source : Daily Express

Thursday February 5, 2009
Kurup: Start work on much-needed Nabawan hospital

KOTA KINABALU: State Deputy Rural Development Minister Tan Sri Joseph Kurup
wants the hospital project in remote Nabawan, promised by the Federal
Government in 1994, to start immediately.

He said the only medical facility in Nabawan, some 250km from here, was a
rural health clinic built in 1973. The clinic sees 4,500 patients every
month and is unable to cope with the growing population.

"We need a hospital in Nabawan as soon as possible. I will raise this matter
with the Health Minister soon," he said after visiting the clinic yesterday.

Kurup, the Pensiangan MP and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) president,
said providing sufficient medical facilities in remote areas was crucial as
many rural folk could not afford to seek treatment at hospitals in town
areas.

All that remains of the pledge of a hospital in Nabawan is a billboard and
the opposition has been harping on the matter.

The Nabawan and Sook state constituencies make up the Pensiangan
parliamentary seat which could see a by-election following the Court of
Appeal hearing scheduled for Feb 12 and 13.

Kurup won the Pensiangan seat unopposed in the March 2008 general election
but an Election Court on Sept 8 declared the result null and void.

The case is now in the Federal Court.


Source : The Star

Na ini lah apa urang bilang leader whose feet is not on the ground......Kurub oh Kurub........Sia ingat kau ADUN sama MP dari time PB smapai kau jadi katak....

Ini erection talk sia ka Kurub.....

Reef fish ‘being eaten to extinction’

Reef fish ‘being eaten to extinction’
KOTA KINABALU, Jan 21 – It is a slow night at the Port View Restaurant here, and still the place seems packed. Several banquet tables are crowded with a dozen people apiece. Each table seems as if it could collapse from the weight of plates.

Falling to the forks are steaming spring prawns, spotted lobster, coral trout and especially giant grouper, which minutes before had been listlessly swimming in one of the many murky tanks at the Port View, one of the most popular restaurants in this tourist town and capital of Sabah.

This fierce appetite for live reef fish across Southeast Asia – and increasingly in mainland China – is devastating populations in the Coral Triangle, a protected marine region home to the world’s richest ocean diversity, according to a recent report in the scientific journal Conservation Biology.

Spawning of reef fish in this area, which supports 75 per cent of all known coral species in the world, has declined 79 per cent over the past five to 20 years, depending on location, according to the report.

Overfishing in general, and particularly of spawning aggregations that occur when certain species of reef fish gather in one place in great numbers to reproduce, may be the culprit, says Yvonne Sadovy, a biologist at the University of Hong Kong who wrote the report along with scientists from Australia, Hong Kong, Palau and the United States.

She said the report’s conclusions were based on the first global database on the occurrence, history and management of spawning aggregations. It includes data from 29 countries or territories.

Some of the information is based on interviews with more than 300 commercial and subsistence fishers in Asia and the western Pacific between 2002 and 2006.

“The Coral Triangle has relatively few spawning aggregations reported in the communities we went to,” Sadovy said in an e-mail message. “We think that this might be due to the more heavily fished (overall) condition of reef fisheries in many parts of the Coral Triangle, where there is uncontrolled fishing and high demand for live groupers for the international live fish trade.”

About one-third of the species mentioned in the report are sold in Asian markets.

Since the 1980s, Hong Kong has been the centre of the live fish trade. That trade has greatly expanded in the last decade to an $810 million business, according to the Worldwide Fund for Nature, which monitors the market.

Rising wealth in mainland China may be a contributing factor to the increase in the trade. The report notes that the demand for exotic fish is high in Shanghai and Beijing. Destinations popular with Chinese tourists are seeing the demand, too.

While Kota Kinabalu – known here simply as KK – has long been a draw for Chinese vacationers, “eating tourism” is booming lately.

That is because live reef fish cost 60 per cent less here than in Hong Kong, said Angela Lim, the fund’s communications director here for the Live Reef Trade Initiative.

Even locals unaffiliated with the tourist trade are aware of the surge.

Across the street from the Port View, Malays at the famous Night Market speak with awe about the Chinese tourists who spend “a thousand ringgit a week just eating fish.”

Grouper is by far the most popular – and therefore endangered – of the reef fish, with 26 per cent of the world’s 161 species threatened or near threatened, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature 2008 Red List, an annual tally of endangered species around the globe.

With life spans of up to 40 years, groupers can grow to 2m in the wild. After sexual maturity, female groupers can change into males to compensate for population imbalances, becoming ‘‘secondary males’’ in a process called protogyny.

But groupers take five years to mature, and most are taken out of the water long before. They are grown to market size in seaside tanks and then wind up on dinner plates before they can reproduce.

Geoffrey Muldoon, director of the fund’s live fish trade initiative, said the live trade contributed to ‘‘the removal of juvenile or undersize and sexually immature fish.’’

The fund works to manage the Coral Triangle with the six countries that share its seas – Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands and East Timor.

It is no easy task in a region where “fish bombing” with dynamite or cyanide is routine, and where the enforcement of existing protected zones is often anaemic.

The organisation is aiding the creation of the region’s first commercial fishing trade organization to establish standards for sustainable practices. Initial talks between government and industry representatives are being planned.

Sadovy suggested that spawning aggregations be considered protected events rather than simply times when fish are easy to catch, as has been done with salmon in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Other species have similar protections.

“Colonies of seabirds were once exploited heavily and are now protected,” said Sadovy, who is also director of the Society for the Conservation of Reef Fish Aggregations, an international group.

“Special feeding or breeding places are now routinely protected on land for many species, because of the recognition that animals are vulnerable at this time or that their aggregated state is very important for their biology.”

She added, “From a very practical perspective, loss of the aggregations ultimately means loss of the associated fishery, so it makes good practical sense to change our attitude.” – IHT

Source : Malaysia Insider

Sabah Sabah

Sabah! Sabah!
Headline Opinion 2008-12-14 00:01
This week, I'd like to take you all on a tour to Sabah, the Land Below the Wind.

Like Indonesia, Sabah's political and economic influence is on the rise. We all know how MPs returned from there 'saved' Barisan Nasional and hence, Umno in the next election. The fact that the state's playmakers could well be the kingmakers in the on-going struggle for power in Malaysia at large makes our sketchy knowledge of the place glaring.

It doesn't take a genius to realize how different Sabah is, compared to the other states in the Federation of Malaysia which it is a part of. The blasé attitudes of West Malaysians are noticeably absent here. As with most smaller and more isolated communities, friendship is taken very seriously.

In Sabah, people remember and honour kindnesses. People also make time for one another and life is celebrated. There is no doubt in my mind that Sabahans appreciate those who make the effort to understand the state's distinctive socio-cultural mix because Sabah isn't - nor will it ever be - a carbon copy of the peninsular.

"Indeed, the Pakatan is equally peninsular-centric, but it has so far proven itself more flexible in these matters than BN."
Many Sabahans are very unhappy about the cavalier way their identities as Kadazandusun, Rungus or Murut are dealt with. They dislike being defined merely as 'Others' despite being Bumiputras. Such off-handedness can be deeply insulting.

Also, it would be an equally big mistake to lump all the Muslim Bumiputera communities of Sabah into one group. Umno's pretensions to represent them all as 'Malays' notwithstanding, there are important local variations- namely the Bajau, Orang Laut and Suluks that are being rather carelessly homogenized.

The blame for this, one imagines, lies solely at the door of Umno's federal leadership. Umno's top leaders have repeatedly failed to grasp the nuances of Sabah.

They tend to assume that Sabahans (especially Muslim Sabahans) are fervent believers in Umno's cause as well as its brand of racially-charged politics. On the surface of things, Sabah does seem to be a BN/Umno stronghold.

Earlier this year, the state had been booming: crude palm oil prices were well above the RM3000 per tonne level, tourism arrivals look set to break the 2.4 million mark and federal money was pouring in courtesy of the latest heavily-hyped development corridor.

Moreover Sabah's east coast towns such as Tawau, Lahad Datu and Sandakan were experiencing a long-awaited boom reminiscent of the Timber heydays of the 60's and 70's. The "Umno model" of governance appeared entrenched as well, with Chief Minister Musa Aman firmly in office.

But of course, the scenario has changed dramatically. The price of crude palm oil has collapsed and businessmen here are fearful of the global economic crisis reaching our shores- the Government's assurances notwithstanding. The unwillingness to acknowledge the differences that exist between the peninsular and the north Borneo state means that Sabahan aspirations remain sidelined.

Sabah has never had many certainties in the Federation- and what we West Malaysian's take for 'lalang politics' is actually a desperate, 24/7 struggle on the part of Sabahans to get the best deal for their state. The way they have been treated means that loyalty can be hard to sustain and if things start going wrong economically, the reversal in fortunes could be swift.

Anwar Ibrahim and his Pakatan Rakyat have been pushing hard to turn Sabah over to their column. While they have had some success, the Opposition is still far away from a coherent Sabah strategy. Indeed, the Pakatan is equally peninsular-centric, but it has so far proven itself more flexible in these matters than BN.

Both Musa Aman and his party leaders in Kuala Lumpur will therefore be hard-pressed to keep Sabah on-side. The pressure will fall on the Chief Minister's shoulders to continue delivering growth. This in turn will depend on his effectiveness in lobbying for his state in the face of requests from elsewhere in the Federation.

While the Prime Minister of the day will probably have to accede to Sabah's demands, it would perhaps also be wise for Kota Kinabalu to start developing a strategic geo-political and economic plan that places Sabah at the heart of the Nusantara. The state can act as a gateway between the rich and large consumer markets of North Asia and the provinces of Eastern Indonesia.

Sabah, therefore, will be 2009's 'battleground' state. Umno needs, if it hopes to maintain its successes there, to backtrack on its extremist stance and win the hearts and minds of all the state's peoples. Failure to do so will mean that Sabah will no longer be able- or willing- to 'save' it like it has in the past.

Source : (By KARIM RASLAN/ MySinchew)

Challenge legitimacy of Federation of Malaysia

Challenge legitimacy of Federation of Malaysia
Tanak Wagu | Dec 4, 08 4:04pm
I refer to the letter Must Sarawakians beg to be let into the banquet hall?
I read this letter and would like to echo its sentiments. Many Sabahans also feel the same way about being in Malaysia.

The Malaysia Agreement has been breached so many times but no one was arrested for questioning the special position of Sabah in the federation.

Recently, former Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) secretary Dr Chong Eng Leong claimed that the word ‘federation’ in the federal constitution is interpreted as one being formed in 1957.

Then I would like to ask what is the legitimacy of Sabah and Sarawak being in Malaysia. Sabah and Sarawak formed the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. In fact, the federal constitution does not even interpret Malaysia Day, despite mentioning it several times.

The Federation of Malaysia became illegal on the day Singapore was kicked out. Sabah and Sarawak would not have joined Malaysia if it was not for Singapore being in with us together. The Malaysia Agreement says that Singapore should be part of the federation.

When Singapore was kicked out, Malaya became the sole decision-maker in parliament. Prior to that, the seat distribution in parliament was 51 percent for Malaya and 49 percent for the three Ss (Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore).

The legitimacy of the Federation of Malaysia should be challenged in an international court of law. It is time for Sabahans to unite and voice out against unfair Malayan oppression. Sabahans in Malaysia are merely window dressing to attract tourists.

In reality, most Sabahans are underprivileged. They are discriminated in the federal service especially if they are not Muslims.

Mixed marriages between Muslims and Christians - which used to be common practise in Sabah - are now being made illegal by Malayan authorities through the National Registration Department (NRD).

Statues of non-Muslim gods and goddesses can be perceived illegal because they supposedly disturb ‘sensitivities’, a word imported from Malaya. Malaya has poisoned the minds of many Sabahans by harping on race and religion.

The only time Sabahans were truly united was in the early 1990s under the PBS. But this was only for a short while.

Once Umno was brought into Sabah, everything changed. Even in the recent general elections, Umno played on racial and religious sentiments to divide Sabahans.

Sabahans should unite once again. Most Sabahans are related to one another. Whether one is a Bajau, Bruneian, Kadazandusun, Kadayan, Murut, Chinese or Indian, everyone is Sabahan.

The kind of unity that we have in Sabah is unique and should be preserved before Umno totally destroys it.

Remember, Sabah for Sabahans!

Source : Letter to Editor (Malaysiakini)

Sabah Project IC, Is it a myth or is it for real?

Project IC

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Project IC is the name used in Malaysia to describe the allegation of systematic granting of citizenship to immigrants (whether illegal or legal immigrants) by giving them identity documents known as IC (identity card), and subsequently, MyKad. The alleged practice is centered in the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. The term is used mainly by the media as well as other political commentators and the general public. Another term used is Project M, where "M" stood for Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia due to his being allegedly involved in the spearheading of this project. The alleged object of Project IC is to alter the demographic pattern of Sabah to make it more favorable to the ruling government and certain political parties, especially with regards to changing the electoral voting patterns.

The project, in its widespread and intensive form, is suspected to have begun in the early 1990s after the entry of United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) into Sabah politics. However, there were also allegations of mass immigration and naturalization of migrants in the 1970s under the United Sabah National Organization (USNO) government, and in the early 1980s under BERJAYA government. On a nationwide scale, illegal immigration is a major social issue. The problem is linked with alleged phantom voters also seen in other parts of Malaysia during elections.

Contents
1 Background
2 Modus operandi
3 Government actions
4 References

Background
Sabah together with Sarawak, Singapore, and Malaya together formed the federation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963. Sabah was multiracial state with no clear majority race, but with the Kadazandusun as the largest ethnic group. Unlike other states in Peninsular Malaysia, the majority of natives or bumiputras in Sabah are non-Muslims. In 1960, the state comprised:

32% Kadazandusuns,

4.9% Muruts,

0.4% Malays,

13.1% Bajaus,

23% Chinese,

15.8% Other Muslims,

5.5% Indonesians, and

1.6% Filipinos.

Based on this ethnic composition, the Kadazandusun dominated the political scene and the first chief minister appointed was Tun Fuad Stephens, a Kadazandusun. Tun Fuad played an important role in the negotiations involving the independence of Sabah together with Tun Mustapha, a Bajau. After the formation, Tun Mustapha was made governor (Yang di-Pertua Negeri). Subsequent to this, various political parties, mostly racially-based, took turns in helming government.

Tun Mustapha's United Sabah National Organization (USNO) took control of the state in 1967. The mainly Bajau Muslim party relied on Muslim votes in elections. Similarly for other Kadazan-based party or Chinese-based party, who rely on votes from their respective communities.

Later, BERJAYA took control of the state. This party was more multiracial in its composition of member, but was headed by Muslim leaders such as Harris Salleh.

There had been allegations of mass naturalization of illegal immigrants during the tenure of Tun Mustapha and Harris Salleh. There was even one instance of Harris Salleh openly admitting to carrying out and planning to overwhelm the demography of Sabah in favor of Muslims.

Meanwhile on a national level, politics were dominated by UMNO, a Malay-based party. Both USNO and BERJAYA had worked closely with UMNO at certain points in history. In 1985, a largely Kadazandusun party, Parti Bersatu Sabah, won in the state election that year.

The 1986 Sabah riots ensued in shortly after the results were announced to bring down the party president, Joseph Pairin Kitingan, as chief minister. In 1990, BERJAYA and USNO, decided to dissolve their party and form the Sabah chapter of UMNO. This party relied on membership from Muslim citizens of Sabah, be they Bajau, Suluk, Bugis, or others.

The practice of naturalizing immigrants was further intensified to guarantee their dominance in Sabah. They realised a great potential in altering the demography in their favor since most immigrants into Sabah were Muslims from Indonesia and southern Philippines. Later in 1994, UMNO managed to get hold of the government despite losing in the elections that year.

In 2006, the estimated ethnic composition of Sabah are as follows:

17.76% Kadazandusuns,

3.3% Muruts,

11.48% Malays,

13.4% Bajaus,

9.6% Chinese,

14.62% Other Bumiputras,

4.8% Others,

25% Non-citizens

Project IC is not so concerned with the 25% of non-citizens as this denotes immigrants without Malaysian ICs.

The main point of contention when comparing the statistics for 1960 and 2006 is with regards to the sharp increase of "Malays", as well as the large number of "Other Bumiputras".

There is also the significant drop in the percentage of the non-Muslim population, namely, Kadazandusuns, Muruts, and Chinese. After Barisan Nasional regained power in 1994, the rotation system was introduced, whereby the chief minister's post is rotated among the representatives of the three different communities in Sabah, namely, the Muslim Bumiputras, Non-Muslim Bumiputras, and the Chinese. However, after 2005, BN decided to do away with the rotation system, giving the post to UMNO's representative, led by current chief minister Musa Aman. Following the 2008 state election, BN currently controls the state winning 59 out of 60 state assembly seats on offer. Out of the 59 BN seats, 32 are from UMNO, while the rest are held by various predominantly non-Muslim parties.


Modus operandi

The project is a complex matter involving certain political parties as well as various government agencies including the Election Commission of Malaysia, the National Registration Department and the Immigration Department, which comes under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The suspicions and allegations on the existence of Project IC started in around the mid-1990s.

In 1999, a petition was made to nullify the results of the 1999 state election for the constituency of Likas based on the existence of thousands of dubious names found on the electoral roll. The seat was won by Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) candidate, President, and former chief minister, Yong Teck Lee. SAPP is part of the Barisan Nasional coalition.

The petitioner was Chong Eng Leong of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), who lost in that seat. PBS was at that time not part of the BN coalition. One of the witness at the petition was Mutalib Mohd Daud, the former Silam Umno Division Executive Secretary. Mutalib was from Peninsula Malaysia who migrated to Sabah in the 1970s.

He noted at the petition that among the 43,000 newly recruited UMNO members only 14,000 had genuine identity cards. Mutalib had also written a number of books exposing accounts of questionable granting of citizenship to foreigners. Among his books were, IC Palsu: Merampas Hak Anak Sabah (1999) (Fake IC: Taking Away the Rights of Sabahans), Pengundi Untuk Disewa (Voters for Rent), IC Projek Agenda Tersembunyi Mahathir?'" (2006) (IC Project, Mahathir's Hidden Agenda?), 007 Lelaki Malaysia Terakhir (2007) (The Last Malaysian).

Another witness was UMNO's Chief Information Officer Karim bin Ghani who was alleged to have written a letter to all UMNO branches in Sabah. The letter purportedly contained directions on the handling of Project IC. Karim claimed that he did not write the letter and that his signature was forged. The judge however viewed his bare denial with deep suspicion.

The judge presiding the petition, Justice Muhammad Kamil bin Awang, ruled in favour of the petitioner and declared that the 1999 election result for Likas a nullity. He also mentioned in his judgement that he had received instructions over the phone to have the petitions struck out without hearing—an instruction which he dutifully ignored.

In 2007, the former Sandakan district chief Hassnar Ebrahim made a statement confessing being involved in Project IC. He was a former detainee of the Internal Security Act in 1998. He also testified in the petition for the annulment of the Likas state assembly district election in 1999.

Hassnar had exposed in specific details of the modus operandi of project of which he had witnessed. He mentioned a secret meeting between former Sabah chief minister Harris Salleh and Federal Minister Megat Junid Megat Ayub in Hong Kong. Hassnar claimed that 130,000 illegal immigrants were given ICs in 1985 alone. He also claimed that the aim of the operation was to increase the Muslim population of Sabah.

It has been said that the project was a secret policy of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, in particular United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), in order to attain political domination in the state using the votes of these immigrants.

The immigrants are picked from those communities which would more closely resemble the Malay culture, or those who would most easily be assimilated into Malay culture. Main indicators would be if the immigrants were Muslims and if they speak Malay. It was acknowledged by the judge in the 1999 Likas petition in reference to Ops Gembeling, that the target of the operation were the "Malays of Bugis origin".

In response to a 2007 Parliamentary Select Committee, popular Malaysian news blog Malaysia Today alleges that UMNO had made a deal with the government of Libya and the Abu Sayyaf militant Islamic group in the Philippines to bring in 1 million new Muslim voters from Philippines into Sabah.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat vice president Jeffrey Kitingan alleges that there are 600,000 immigrants with ICs out of an estimated 1.7 million foreigners in Sabah. The estimated population in Sabah in 2006 was 2,997,000.[5] Most of the foreigners in Sabah are from Indonesia and the Philippines.


Government actions

Throughout the 1990s, several government officers were arrested under the Internal Security Act for their involvements in Project IC. A Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity was set up to hear testimonies of some of the detainees in February 2007.

The committee was chaired by Sabah Member of Parliament Bernard Dompok. On May 16, 2007, Dompok quit as chairman of the committee over disagreements on the function and scope of the commitee, in particular, over the refusal of the National Registration Department to appear before the committee. Later on, the findings of the committee was never made public.

In May 2008, Member of Parliament (MP) Lim Kit Siang tabled a motion to set up a Royal Commission to investigate the problems relating to illegal immigrants in Sabah.

The motion however was rejected by the Deputy Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat Ronald Kiandee saying that the motion was irrelevant and was tabled at the wrong time.

Several MPs from Sabah gave lukewarm response towards the proposed motion preferring instead a Parliamentary Select Committee which would necessitate the involvement of elected MPs, especially from Sabah. Subsequently, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced the setting up of a high powered cabinet committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to resolve this matter.

However, senior Sabahan politician Chong Eng Leong argued that similar committees had been set up in 2000 and 2006 without much results. The Consumers Association of Sabah and Labuan (CASH) contends that the announcement of, among others, the setting up of the cabinet committee, was a mere lip service to pacify the people of Sabah.

There has been several government crackdown operation to deport illegal immigrants since the 1990s. The latest crackdown is due to begin in August 2008.

These operations will serve to deport immigrants without proper documentations such as ICs or a valid work permit. It does not serve to address the issue of Project IC.

References
^ "SPECIAL REPORT: Sabah's Project M" (fee required), Malaysiakini (June 27, 2006). Retrieved on 23 April 2008.
^ "Proof is everywhere, Salleh told", Daily Express (December 19, 2006). Retrieved on 23 April 2008.
^ Mutalib M.D. "IC Projek Agenda Tersembunyi Mahathir?" (2006)
^ a b c d e f Sadiq, Kamal (2005). "When States Prefer Non-Citizens Over Citizens: Conflict Over Illegal Immigration into Malaysia" (PDF). International Studies Quarterly 49: 101-122. http://www.cri.uci.edu/pdf/ISQ2005FinalCopy.pdf. Retrieved on 23 April 2008.
^ a b "Monthly Statistical Bulletin, January 2007: Sabah", Department of Statistics Malaysia, ISSN 18231659
^ "2004 seats formula: CM", Daily Express (February 14, 2008). Retrieved on 28 April 2008.
^ a b c d "Phantoms on the Roll in Sabah: Judgment by Justice Datuk Hj Muhammad Kamil bin Awang on Election Petition No K11 of 1999". Aliran Monthly. Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
^ a b "'Express reports true'", Daily Express (Sabah) (January 20, 2007). Retrieved on 23 April 2008.
^ "Harris, Megat Junid implicated In ‘Project IC’", Borneo Post. Retrieved on 28 April 2008.
^ a b "Stuff Hollywood movie scripts are made of (part 1)". Malaysia Today (March 4, 2007). Retrieved on 2008-06-04.
^ "Dompok and Nazri disagree over function of integrity panel", The Star (May 18, 2007). Retrieved on 1 August 2008.
^ "Bernard quits parliamentary integrity panel", The Sun (May 16, 2007). Retrieved on 1 August 2008.
^ "Kiandee stops Kit Siang’s bid", The Star (May 23, 2008). Retrieved on 4 June 2008.
^ "Sabah MPs prefer select committee", The Star (May 24, 2008). Retrieved on 4 June 2008.
^ "Project IC: PM's cabinet committee not new, says PBS leader" (fee required), Malaysiakini.com (June 2, 2008). Retrieved on 4 June 2008.
^ "“Goodies” a lip service to pacify people: CASH", New Sabah Times (June 3, 2008). Retrieved on 4 June 2008.
^ "Crackdown on illegal immigrants in Sabah to start in August", The Star (July 17, 2008). Retrieved on 1 August 2008.

Source : Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Is project IC a myth or is it for real? How is it Non Sabahan and Non Malaysia knows and are more concern that Sabahan. Even the Deputy Parliment Speaker, Ronald Kiandee, himself a Sabahan, rejected the motion on the Royal Commission of Inquiry on the ground that the RCI motion " was irrelevant.

KK Umno: Illegals should apply for citizenship

DAILY EXPRESS NEWS
-----------------------------------------------
KK Umno: Illegals should apply for citizenship
21 December, 2006
Kota Kinabalu: Steps must be taken to educate foreigners, especially illegal immigrants "who love Sabah very much" that there are proper procedures to apply for citizenship," said Umno Kota Kinabalu Youth.

"We should educate these illegals who 'love Sabah very much' that there are proper procedures to apply for citizenship. It is better to have real citizenship although the process to get it is slow.

"Compared to 'fast citizenship', which is not guaranteed and most of the times a scam," said its chief, Bahrul Razha Hj Chuprat in a statement, Wednesday.

He said Umno Kota Kinabalu Youth believe there is also a need to educate immigrants with expired visas to return home for revalidation of their visas, enabling them to return to Sabah to seek re-employment.

"We should educate these immigrants that foreign workers with valid visas can enjoy better benefits compared to illegal workers," he said.

At the same time, he said awareness must be created among the locals so that they shed the mentality of "cepat kaya" (making fast bucks) by employing or "sometime exploiting these illegal immigrants as cheap labour".

The locals must also be educated to discard the mentality of renting houses or rooms to these illegal immigrants and sometimes exploiting them by offering poor condition accommodation, he said.

Lastly, Bahrul said, "we should educate our own people not to have the mentality of "cepat kaya" by Ali Baba-ing (sub-contracting) their licences to these illegal immigrants who might not even know the rules and regulations governing the licence.

Daily Express

Seem like Umno Kota Kinabalu Youth is aknowledging there is some fast track citizenship given to illegals....

Aliens in East Malaysia

Aliens in East Malaysia
Posted by St Low
Tuesday, 14 October 2008 09:21
By Sim Kwang Yang, The Nut Graph

TO those in the Klang Valley who read papers like The Star and The New Straits Times, Sabah must sound like the remote edge of the nation. It is out there, a huge chunk of real estate inhabited by exotic people speaking a strange version of Bahasa Malaysia.
Therefore, it would not be so clear to those participating in the national narrative why Sabahans make such a big deal about illegal immigrants. Are they not in all corners of the nation, numbering in the millions, working in jobs deemed neither lucrative nor respectable enough by Malaysian citizens?

Unfortunately, the national narrative does not always take into account the meek voices of Sabahans. Their problems are often considered too parochial to be of national concern.

Ask any Sabahan though, and he or she will tell you that there is no greater security and social problem facing Sabah today than that of illegal aliens. It is a daily nightmare that Sabahans have to live through and watch helplessly as it reels out of control.


(© Charlie Bishop/Dreamstime)Exactly how many illegal immigrants there are in Sabah is anybody's guess. I have been told by a friend from Sabah that one in every two persons in the state could be an illegal alien.

Immigrant facts and figures

Recently, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) deputy president and Member of Parliament (MP) for Sepanggar Datuk Eric Majimbun expressed shock at discovering a MyKad bearing his surname and address.

He was shocked because the card belonged to a Filipino illegal immigrant.

According to news reports, Majimbun said based on the 1970-2000 census, the population in Sabah increased from 636,431 to 2,449,389 (285%) over 30 years. Compare this with Sarawak's 106% (from 976,269 to 2,012,616) and Peninsula Malaysia's 113% (from 10,439,430 to 22,202,614).

He also queried census conducted by the government in Sabah, which showed a 236% increase in the Kadazandusun population between 1960 and 2000. For other bumiputera, it increased by 631%.

The figures tell the story. In Sabah, as in Sarawak, the Malay/Muslim population forms a small minority, an anomaly within the context of Malay dominance demanded by the nationalist narrative of Umno. The politics of race is the politics of counting heads, and by that logic, the chief minister of Sabah cannot be a Malay leader.

The rumour that has been going round in Sabah for decades is that certain politicians have been facilitating an increase in the Muslim population. These politicians allegedly engineer the issuance of Malaysian identity cards to illegal immigrants from the Muslim south of the Philippines and neighbouring Indonesia. This would dilute and therefore marginalise the political significance of the non-Muslim Kadazandusun people of Sabah.
Permanent resident status

Whenever there is uproar in Kota Kinabalu about the dangerous presence of these illegal immigrants, the federal government sends in a task force of sorts. A few thousand of these aliens are then deported. When the furore dies down, these deported foreigners can re-enter Sabah by the next boat or ferry.

To add insult to injury, native Sabahans who try to replace their old ICs with MyKad have been demoted to permanent resident status. This denies them the chance to even vote.

I have been to Sabah many times. In cities and suburbs, there are pockets with almost exclusive Filipino populations that sound, look, and smell more like a slum in Manila or Zamboanga than a piece of Malaysian soil.[color=#FF0000]For Sabahans, the massive and ubiquitous presence of these illegal immigrants feels like an alien growth in their body. Being so muted and so far away, their unease is not shared by Malaysians elsewhere.[/color]
The gravity of this issue drove the SAPP to threaten a vote of no confidence in the prime minister, and subsequently it pulled out of the Barisan Nasional (BN). Recently, even United Pasokmomogun Kazadandusun Murut Organisation leaders have been echoing this unhappiness with the central government.

Finally, the deputy president of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili, announced that Sabah BN component parties would get to the bottom of the issue. What he omitted to say was that the massive and long-standing problem of illegal immigrants cannot be solved without focused political will from Kuala Lumpur.

Solutions and preoccupations

The obvious step to take is the establishment of a royal commission of enquiry specifically designed to investigate all aspects of this issue. This should include a thorough vetting of the National Registration Department in Sabah from top to bottom, as well as any political linkage that might exist in this burgeoning problem.

Unfortunately for Sabahans, the people in the power centre in Kuala Lumpur are all too busy with their party elections. They are also busy putting out sporadic fires on the economic front. Nothing can be further from their mind than the daily problems faced by distant, remote and inconsequential Sabahans.

That is all the reason needed for Sabahan MPs to jump ship and join Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's coalition. Provided, of course, Anwar can promise and deliver a comprehensive plan to weed out the illegal immigrants from the Land Below the Wind once and for all.

Without a change of government at the federal level, both Sarawak and Sabah cannot enjoy the fruits of federalism.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sim Kwang Yang was DAP MP for Bandar Kuching in Sarawak from 1982 to 1995. His column, An Examined Life, is published weekly on Malaysiakini.com.

Source : Malaysiakini

Alleged burning of houses in forest reserve

DAILY EXPRESS NEWS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Call to probe alleged burning of houses in forest reserve
19 October, 2006
Kota Marudu: The State Government has been urged to explain alleged dirty tactics used by its enforcement agency in removing houses belonging to 20 local families and their rubber plantations in a forest reserve at Kampung Kaindaingan, Sugut early this month.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) Sabah Deputy Chairman, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, said the people want to know whether there was a directive to torch the houses and poison the rubber plantations of the families who had been residing in the area for more than 17 years.

"I believe you all have a case," said Dr Jeffrey during a dialogue with the affected families at Marudu Inn in Goshen, near here, Wednesday.

During the dialogue attended by nearly 100 people, the villagers, mostly from here, claimed when they started to open up the land in 1988 to plant rubber trees, nobody had prevented them from doing so.

In fact, Jeffrey was told that the villagers had also obtained the Land Application (LA), apart from getting a letter from the Assistant Collector of Land Revenue (ACLR), as well as the then Sabah Rubber Fund Board, which further strengthened their belief that they had done nothing wrong.

However, early this year, the villagers said they received a notice from the Forestry Department ordering them to move out or risk prosecution.

Village head, Salipat K, told Jeffrey that on Oct 2 this year they were told that an inspection was being conducted and that they should move out from their houses and hide to avoid arrest.

"I was very surprised to find out all our houses and belongings had been burned to the ground and our rubber trees died," he said, adding they believed trees were "injected with poison".

"All these years the department's officers have been coming in and out of our place but they never said anything," they said, adding they believed the action was related to an application from a "big company for 42,000 hectares there."

At the height of the commotion, the villagers said seven people were also arrested, some convicted and currently serving jail sentences for encroaching into a forest reserve.

One of those who was remanded called for assistance from Jeffrey to stop the Forestry Department from auctioning his vehicle that he used to fetch water, among other things.

He said the vehicle was seized because it was found inside the forest reserve.

At this juncture, Jeffrey managed to contact Forestry Director Datuk Sam Mannan in Sandakan on the phone to ask about the case.

He said he was told that he (Sam) needed to investigate the matter first before making any commitment.

"He asked us to write a letter but I have asked him to postpone the auction first," said Jeffrey, adding Keadilan wants those jailed to be released as soon as possible.

Jeffrey claimed similar problems were happening all over Sabah, which he said must be addressed fairly by the Government since it involved natives who depended solely on the forest to make their living.

"Even foreigners are getting special treatment than natives in some cases of relocation from government land," he claimed.

In this respect, Jeffrey said Sabah Keadilan would be studying the case from the legal perspective.

Also on hand were former assemblymen, Dason Gaban, Bugie Galadam, Karim Adam, Edward Linggu, Sabah Keadilan Information chief, Haji Ismaily Bongsu, liaison secretary officer, Kanul Gindol and Keadilan Kota Marudu division chief, Anthony Mandiau.

Source : Daily Express

Settlers claim their houses were burnt

DAILY EXPRESS NEWS
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Settlers claim their houses were burnt
21 October, 2006
PITAS: The owners of 20 houses in a forest reserve here have claimed that their homes were razed by an enforcement team from the Sabah Forestry Department early this month after they refused to vacate the Government land that they were occupying.

The department was believed to have issued notices to the residents of Kampung Kaiboton 1, in Jalan Tangkarason, to vacate the land last year but they had refused to budge.

One of the residents, Ping Sun, 49, claimed that burning their houses was an inhumane, cruel and uncivilised act.

"Even refugees are not treated this way and are relocated to comfortable settlements. We are already living in hardship and poverty and yet our houses are burnt," he said.

Ping said some of the 30 families in the village had opened up the land since early 1988 while the others moved there in 1992.

"We plant rubber and fruit trees and now they are bearing fruit. Although we know that the area is part of the Paitan forest reserve, we have to work the land illegally because there's no land for farming," he said.

Another resident, Jaipin Mohigal, 56, said in the incident which occurred at 1pm on Oct 3, he had no time to salvage his property including an antique gong worth RM60,000, 20 sacks of padi, household goods, clothes and important documents.

Yet another resident, known only as Salipat, said his 7ha of rubber trees were destroyed and he hoped the Government would do something to help the residents who are in dire straits. Forestry Department Director, Datuk Sam Mannan, when contacted, refused to comment.- Bernama

Source : Daily Express

Kota Marudu needs more than wireless Internet

Kota Marudu needs more than wireless Internet
Dr Hams | Sep 5, 08 4:35pm


Having worked in Kota Marudu as a government medical officer has shown me how lucky I am. I am lucky to be educated. I am lucky that I have access to information. I am lucky to have a stable job that pays. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about many of the poor people who live in the remote areas of Kota Marudu.

I’ll give an example of a housewife, whom we shall refer to as Mrs P, who came to me at 38 weeks of her sixth pregnancy. She is from Paitan, a remote district in Sabah.

Kota Marudu is the nearest township that could provide obstetric assessment for her pregnancy. At the 38th week of pregnancy, that was the first time that she could afford to seek medical attention. Mothers should be seen in the first trimester of pregnancy. Mrs P was in the final trimester of her pregnancy.

Mrs P was at full term and she had never been seen by a doctor. She had three living children. Two died full term at birth. Mrs P delivered all her children, she delivered the placenta and she even cut the umbilical cords.

All on her own. The nearest midwife (non-medically trained) requires a thirty minute walk from her home. There are no medically trained midwives near her area of residence.

Mrs P's husband works at a small farm, earning RM50 a month while some of us have RM50 lunches. RM 50 for a family of five when many of us can afford to don RM250 shirts. In Kota Marudu and many districts in Sabah, transportation is a serious and material obstacle, preventing the people from gaining medical access.

It is not made any easier for these people when the local private transportation 'service' charge these financially poor people exorbitant fees for a ride to the nearest township (where a medical facility should be present). Mrs P came all the way from Paitan with the whole family, having to pay RM50 for each member of the family.

She is not the independent city woman who can drive herself to the nearest clinic. She is not the independent bourgeois who can travel in unfamiliar territory without her husband. She is the lady from the village who does not how to read or write. She is the lady who totally depends on her husband. Her husband who earns RM50 a month.

Mrs P and her family are a part of the many residents of Kota Marudu who are subjected to such paucity. The people's predicament does not stop at exorbitant travel fees. We have not even discussed the problems faced with road access. We have villages in Kota Marudu with roads that cannot be accessed during rainy seasons.

Transportation is extremely important in assisting this country's medical services. When sick people cannot travel due to distance, inaccessible roads or lack of financial funds for them to travel, this would delay their access to medical services.

This would in turn cause them to continue to deteriorate in their sickness in the village and by the time they reach the nearest hospital, there is nothing much that the doctors can do. This is very true for patients from the district of Kota Marudu.

If we are able to manage the problem at it's roots (and since the government continuously reminds the people the need for austerity, in the health sector included) the country will be able to cut medical costs in so many ways.

An example is antibiotic usage. The more critically ill the patient is, the more likely that the patient will need stronger antibiotics which is obviously more expensive. The more critically ill the patients are, the more likely that they will need intensive care support, which may include mechanical ventilation.

The education of the people of Kota Marudu would make them more aware of their need for medical services. There is no doubt that the wireless Internet service in Kota Marudu would benefit the students, teachers, lawyers and government staff who live in the town of Kota Marudu.

But it appears that our system, be it health, education or transportation, tend to target and benefit the people who already have access to modern facilities. Why can't we develop the society as a whole? What are we doing for the people of Kota Marudu who do not live in the town and other people of this country who live in remote areas?

We have 16-year-old school drop-outs who are mothers of two and pregnant with their third child. We have a real problem of illiteracy in Kota Marudu. Do you blame these people for being ignorant of their rights as citizens of this country when they don't even have access to education?

Knowledge is power, and I believe the people of Malaysia have begun to realise this. Are we, those who are more fortunate and educated, going to remain ignorant about the existence of these people?

It has been 45 years since the formation of Malaysia and the fundamental rights of the citizens have not been addressed properly. It is embarrassing and a failure of this country to have these conditions exist.

We should stop trying to break records by baking the biggest curry puff and whatnot. We should stop people from constructing the national flag from dried chillies and sago and then complain about food shortage.

We should stop sending people on travels to infinity and beyond when the people of Kota Marudu, the people here on earth are dying of tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases. We talk about wireless Internet service, but, there are far more important issues to deal with. Our first world facilities do not compensate for the suffering of the people.

Source : Malaysia Kini

The story of Donny John Dion.

The story of Donny John Dion.

DAILY EXPRESS NEWS
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11-year-old pupil found hanged
28 March, 2007
Papar: A broken home and life in poverty proved too much to bear for an 11-year-old boy here last week. He hanged himself.

District Police Chief, DSP Charles Labung Lawai, said Donny John Dion, a SK Kinarut pupil, was found hanged, by his mother from the ceiling of their Kg Suangon home in Kinarut on March 20.

He said from what police gathered, the boy, who had five siblings, had previously attempted suicide but failed. "We believe he was disillusioned with the poverty gripping his family and his father is presently in prison for a drug offence," he pointed out.

He said the 37-year-old mother was away at a neighbour's house when the boy, who was alone at home, hanged himself.

Charles said she (mother) found the body after returning about 2pm and immediately rushed her son to a clinic in Kinarut but by then the boy had already died. He said the police did not find any sign to suggest foul play, adding a post-mortem was conducted at the district hospital.

Source : Daily Express

Don't neglect Sabah, please

Don't neglect Sabah, please
Another Doctor | Sep 8, 08 5:11pm
I refer to the Malaysiakini article Kota Marudu needs more than wireless Internet

I read Dr Hams letter and cannot help but agree with many of his observations. I worked in Sabah for over seven years as a house officer and medical officer. After my housemanship, I was sent to Ranau to serve in the district hospital. What Dr Hams described in Kota Marudu is not something isolated to that district alone in Sabah. It is an often repeated story in the whole of Sabah.

My first introduction to the poverty in Sabah came during my first months there, when a sweet 70- year-old lady from Kota Marudu was sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital with deep jaundice. She lived alone in a small village off Kota Marudu and noticed the jaundice about a month before.

She had no money for the taxi fare and so waited a month to sell off her chickens to have enough money to pay RM50 for the transport to Kota Marudu Hospital. She had to walk two miles to get to the road to get to the taxi.

Having been born, bred and educated in Peninsular Malaysia, I was shocked. When she arrived, she was septic and had a gallstone lodged in her common bile duct. The stone was duly removed but she was found to have a heart problem that required a pacemaker. We arranged for her to get a permanent pacemaker but she refused.

When I pressed her for her reason, she told me that she couldn't afford to buy batteries for the pacemaker, having sold off her chickens. Once I explained to her that the batteries would last for years and we would provide them, she agreed to the pacemaker.

Ranau town itself has roads and is on the main highway between Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu. It developed primarily as a result of the Mamut Copper Mines in the district. However, highway in this context means a two lane road with frequent landslides and potholes, with a two-hour drive to Kota Kinabalu.

Outside Ranau, transportation becomes a problem as tarred roads disappear to become gravel or crudely marked logging trails. Anyone who has worked in Sabah would have the same stories to tell, of extreme poverty and poor transportation.

During my 2 years in Ranau, I've heard and seen it all, patients with cerebral malaria, a condition unheard of in Peninsular Malaysia, coming in after 48 hours to the hospital from places like Kaingaran and Karagasan, with relatives having to push the ‘pirate taxi’ through the mud, spending RM50 on fare during the monsoon season, the equivalent of 2 months income, this too when petrol was only around RM1.20 a litre in Ranau.

Patients having to delay treatment for life threatening conditions because a bridge washed away along the trail (I won't even call it a road) to Tambunan. Emergency surgery such as caesarian sections, appendectomies and even ectopic pregnancies had to be performed in our little district hospitals by Medical Officers with little more than 4 months housemanship experience.

Medical emergencies such as myocardial infarctions, which in Peninsular Malaysia would be managed in a Coronary Care Unit setting, had to be managed in the district hospital level. I'm grateful however, that my staff in that hospital were the best I've ever had the pleasure of working with and were dedicated enough to want to make a difference in their patients’ lives.

But poor transportation does not only affect the access to healthcare. Having no roads to be able to transport their agricultural produce for sale means that these people are stuck in a never ending cycle of poverty.

At most, some of them get RM20 to RM50 by selling their produce to middlemen to be sold at the monthly tamu or market at prices that are perhaps only 10 percent of the value of the goods. These innocent people are also preyed upon by traveling cloth merchants, mostly foreigners, who offer them ‘easy payment schemes’ to buy cloth for clothes, and when they cannot pay for the cloth and the interest accumulates, they end up having to marry their daughters to these men, who often have wives back home in Pakistan.

One of the cases I could never forget was of the family who came to Ranau Hospital just as I was leaving, a family who had failed crops, were hungry and unable to get food. The father collected some toad eggs and fed them to the whole family in a desperate attempt to stave off hunger. When they arrived at our little emergency room, one of the children were dead and two passed away within 10 minutes of arrival in our casualty unit due to poisoning.

Education is a problem in parts of Sabah outside major towns like Kota Kinabalu at the moment. Many children would be lucky to be able to get to a school or even afford to get to one. Most of my patients outside Ranau were lucky to even have a primary school education and a vast number of women marry in their teens.

I've had 14 year olds delivering babies in Ranau, most of them have never ever stepped foot in a school. The education level is so poor that many women feed their children condensed milk thinking that it's better than breast milk.

But at the heart of it all, these mothers want the best for their children but are not empowered with the knowledge to help them. Major towns in Sabah have electricity courtesy of the Sabah Electricity Board, but smaller villages have either diesel generators or rely on candles or lamps when night falls.

How can children study in these conditions? Like many doctors in the districts, I had to learn Dusun to communicate better with these patients who could speak little else.

Forty five years after the formation of Malaysia, the promise of a better life for these poor Dusun, Murut and Rungus patients in the districts of Sabah is a pipe dream at best. How can our politicians claim to have brought development to the state and have neglected these poor people, many of whom still wear the cheap t-shirts and caps given free by political parties from many elections ago.

How can I claim to be proud of Putrajaya with it's beautiful bridges and lamp posts and the Petronas twin Towers when our fellow Malaysians in Sabah are so neglected?The cycle of poverty and illiteracy one sees in the districts in Sabah brings despair to the heart. Eradication of poverty must tackle the real issues of education and transport and not just handouts to poor people.

By all means, declare Sept 16th a public holiday, but remember it in it's real context, where we made a promise to our brethren in Sabah and Sarawak to treat them as equals in Malaysia, and give them the development they've been long denied.

Source : Letter to The Editor Malaysiakini

RM23m Repair Bill Inflated

DAILY EXPRESS NEWS

RM23m repair bill inflated, says MP
KK Member of Parliament, Dr Hiew King Cheu and the majority of professionals present at the forum were not in favour of the proposed demolition of QEH.

"We need the building, there is no other replacement as yet. Its extent of damage is not at a critical stage. I would support the demolition if the whole building were crumbling.

"As it is, only certain portions are structurally damaged and these can be salvaged. From the engineer's point of view, the beams can be repaired," he pointed out.

On Ikram Sabah's Executive Director Vincent Tan's estimation that the structural repair of QEH will cost at least RM23.76 million, Dr Hiew, an engineer by training, said the figure could be exaggerated.

"You don't need that kind of money to repair partial damages. It won't cost that much, could be much less."

At this juncture, he said it was not fair and that the three professional bodies - Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM) Sabah Branch (headed by Joe Chow), Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) Sabah Branch (headed by John Chee) and Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) Sabah Chapter (headed by Sim Sie Hong) - should be given a chance to take a closer look for an unbiased and uncorrupted decision.

"They should have a say as this is a matter of public interest."
Dr Hiew reiterated his earlier call for a Master Development Plan for QEH, saying the smaller single-storey structures behind the Tower Block should be replaced with proper buildings.

He, however, said construction of the proposed Twin Tower Block (adjacent to the existing QEH) should start immediately.

"Go ahead with the project," he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Hiew, who left before noon to catch a flight to Kuala Lumpur for the current Parliamentary sitting, said he would meet up with Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai to urge the latter to speedily approve the funds for the construction.

"You have fantastic hospital buildings in Lahad Datu and Pitas but a lousy hospital in the State capital. The Government has money to buy the first SMC and now the second SMC, and maybe buying the third SMC. Who knows?
"But no money to build a proper State hospital," he lamented while claiming that his mother once slept on a mattress on the floor at QEH.

Source : Daily Express

This how UMNOed BN treat Sabahan...............