PHENOMENAL ECONOMIC STRIDES FOR SABAH

By : STEPHEN YAMAN

DR. HERMAN Luping sounded very backward when he wrote in the Daily Express on Sunday May 13, 2012. On the back of a RM4.416bil allocation of the State Second Rolling Plan (of the 10th Malaysia Plan) to carry out 724 projects, what are the breakdowns of the allocation actually being spent, for what purposes and for how much?

All these look very nice on paper and when announced but if we start auditing and inspecting the projects one by one, we are in for some very big surprises! Over the years, we see so many projects that are not up to the standard such as road constructions and widening all over the state, schools that are under utilized for many rural areas, street lighting all over that are not even working, rubbish every where, blocked drains and overgrown grass, etc. So, he talked about very concerned and efficient state or national government.

And then, he talked about the CM announcing suddenly 20,000 jobs available in Sabah. Is this an election talk when there are so many unemployed graduates and school leavers around? Why is the East Malaysian minimum salary lower than West Malaysia when in fact many foreign companies are paying 15% more for workers who are transferred from West Malaysia to East Malaysia? Is it fair for the government to announce such differences?

In the 45 years in Malaysia, Sabah has transformed from one of the riches to one of the poorest (according to the World Bank Report). What is the basis of his analysis to say that we are doing otherwise “phenomenally”? So, Sabah should have, in fact, done better.

Let us be realistic – in the 1970’s, we used to go shopping in Singapore and Brunei for household things, clothes and liquor when S/B$1 equaled M$1. Today, just driving from Kota Kinabalu to Miri passing through Brunei, the Brunei petrol kiosk would not even accept the RM because they say that the RM is unstable and therefore unacceptable.

We were told to exchange our RM at the bank before filling up petrol. How sad and at the same time disappointing? What do countries like Brunei and Singapore produce for their currency to be very strong? What used to be B/S$1 equaled M$1 in the 1970’s is now B/S$1 equals RM2.45. Sir, are we making phenomenal economic strides?

The exchange rate difference might explain why everything we buy today like rice, sugar, petrol, car, building materials, etc are getting more and more expensive. Our currency has lost its purchasing power by 245% against the B/S$ of the 1970’s!!!

As a matter of public interest, Sabah and Sarawak produce so many basic things that we contribute to the Malaysian coffers but we get pittance in return for our development. Are we proud of this? Why is the Malaysian budget based on per capita (a big economic “jargon”) that makes it sure that we get that kind of budget in return?

Then Dr. Luping backtracked to the ancient British Era when we were run by a British company. The British company was here to “exploit” the opportunities in the colonies all over the world. “Exploit” they did as they were here to make money and nothing else.

Before 1963, the Philippines (No.2 after Japan in Asia at that time) were not even interested in Sabah because they thought that Sabah was like Mindanao. But when they realized that Sabah is so rich in natural resources, they start claiming Sabah as a Philippine Territory when it was already too late.

What Dr. Luping narrated in his story is history and does not bear any weight on the current situation of Sabah as a national “milking cow”. In fact Sabah deserves more. If he cares to do some research on the actual economic contribution of Sabah in the last 49 years, he will be up for some very big surprises. Or, with his position, is he pretending to be ignorant since he was in the position to know all (if not, most happenings)?

Why is it that the Sabahans have to be taken for a ride and treated like stooges by the British and now Malaya (as it was called)? We have been governed by BN since independence and BN says that they are the “Best” for Malaysia.

Can we continue to accept that they are the “Best” and nothing but the best. How can they justify that for Malaysia when they have no other national government to compare with? Can we try an alternative government to make our comparison with and decide for ourselves? So, for the PRU13, is it time for “change” for the people?