GRINDING
.....The STAR Chairman doesn't buy the BN propaganda that the state is not in
the grip of grinding poverty.
By : JOE FERNANDEZ
SABAH strongman Jeffrey
Kitingan isn’t buying the increasingly shrill propaganda barrage emanating from
the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition… that the influx of foreign labour into
Sabah provides the clearest proof that there’s continuing development in the
state and that it isn’t the poorest in the country as depicted by recent
figures.
It’s an issue being flogged
to death by both sides of the political divide in Sabah and Sarawak.
Jeffrey surprisingly waxed
more eloquently than usual late this week in the local media on a nightmare
scenario in the state. He hesitated in the temptation, for once, to go as usual
all over the place. The opposition, he hastened to add, wasn’t being blind to
the reality and accused the state government of being in a state of denial on
Sabah’s 'grinding poverty'.
He noted that jobless
Sabahans, driven out by cheap foreign labour, are fleeing in ever increasing
numbers to Brunei, Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia, among other places.
Meanwhile, their foreign
replacements in the local job market abandon their employers not long after
they arrive and often, even before or as soon as they do. They prefer to join
other illegals in the state to do their own thing, including joining the
underworld and underground economy, rather than put up with patently slave
labour conditions.
In short, the foreign labour
influx into Sabah is allegedly a thinly-disguised scam of sorts by desperate
employers to dupe the authorities into compliance with short-term remedies.
And, there are also people
smuggling and human trafficking going on under the guise of bringing in foreign
labour.
The long-term answer lies in
paying Sabahans a living wage to reduce reliance on foreign labour. However,
employers are balking at paying even the minimum RM800 per month, far from
being a living wage, announced recently for all workers in the state.
Patently, it’s a vicious
cycle which sees the foreign poor entering the official statistics on poverty
in the state as they continue, allegedly, to get their hands on MyKads by the
backdoor.
Impoverished hordes
The Philippines and
Indonesia in particular are seen as callously continuing to dump their
impoverished hordes on the state by both the front and back doors. The World
Bank itself, pointed out Jeffrey, cautioned in one study not so long ago that
“Sabah was chasing its tail in poverty eradication given the influx of illegals
and other foreigners”.
The message is implicit in
the World Bank report cited by Jeffrey: Sabah has to better manage foreign
labour influx to ensure that locals are not driven out of their jobs. Any
foreign labour cannot be allowed to overstay and swell the number of illegals
and the poor in the state. There must be better monitoring of the coastlines by
the authorities for the influx of illegals and tighter rein on approving work
permits. Obviously, all this will help mitigate the chasing of the tail
scenario on poverty as painted by World Bank.
Jeffrey, the State Reform
Party (STAR) chairman, doesn’t want to get into polemics with BN component
parties on the poverty figures in the state. He thinks those interested can
either Google the figures themselves or read the Hansard.
Still, he couldn’t resist
making reference to a statement in the recent session of Parliament by Minister
in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mohd Nor Yakop, on the poverty situation in
the state. Mohd Nor surprisingly disclosed that Nabawan, with a 70% poverty
rate, was the poorest place in Malaysia. Pitas in northern Sabah, which
hitherto had that dubious distinction, was close, having in fact suffered an
increase in poverty.
Mohd Nor’s statement,
according to Jeffrey, tallied with the contents of a World Bank Report released
in December 2010 in Kota Kinabalu to the state government. The report confirmed
that Sabah and Sarawak were the poorest and second poorest states,
respectively, in Malaysia.
It appears that the World
Bank Report was based on figures from the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), which
reports to Mohd Nor, and the respective State Planning Units in Kota Kinabalu
and Kuching.
It would be surprising if
the state governments concerned and the federal gvernment continue to be as
candid in future with the World Bank on poverty figures.
Alternatively, the illegals
with MyKads in Sabah are likely to be excluded in future figures on poverty in
the state.
In that case, it would
simply mean Sarawak would overtake Sabah as the poorest state in the country
and the latter relegated to the category of second poorest.
Big picture
The political fallout from
the World Bank Report 2010 continues to this day and isn’t likely to cease
until the bank itself reports significant progress in Sabah and Sarawak on combating
poverty.
Looking at the big picture,
Jeffrey attributes the grinding poverty in Sabah to “internal colonisation
policies being pursued in the state by Putrajaya”.
The continuing influx of
illegals is only part of the story, according to Jeffrey.
He wants the state
government to stand up to the bullying by the federal government and demand the
return of the control of its oil and gas resources and, elsewhere, enter into
negotiations for a fairer and more equitable revenue-sharing formula.
“It will be a pyrrhic
victory if Petronas returns control over the oil and gas fields after they are
depleted. This would be the Mother of All Theft,” Jeffrey warned in one
statement in the local media. “We may be running out of time, perhaps 15 years
at the most.”
Sabah, like Sarawak,
belabours Jeffrey, are “Nations in Malaysia like Scotland in the United
Kingdom”.
Hence, he sees no reason for
Putrajaya to manage more than defence, foreign and national economic planning
for Sabah and Sarawak. He wants the rest of the government’s work to be left to
Sabah and Sarawak in line with their autonomy in Malaysia.
More money in the hands of
Sabah and Sarawak, pleads Jeffrey, is the way forward in dealing with the
grinding poverty in both states.
No comments:
Post a Comment