THE STATEMENT made by the
Director of the Sabah State Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Datuk Ismail
Abdullah, refuting 'allegations' made by DAP Luyang assemblyman Hiew King Cheu
that RM10.9 billion of the federal development funds approved for Sabah under
the 9th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) was not spent is absolutely ridiculous from a
person who is in-charge of the state economy planning unit.
Ismail should have checked
and verify his information and facts thoroughly internally and with all other
associate departments before committing his statement to the mass media. It
looked very unprofessional and shameful for him to make statements in the absences
of established facts and figures.
Ismail should also check
with the Parliament because the information and figures were not plucked from
the sky but these were from the Parliament reply in the 12th Parliament sitting
by the Prime Minister.
It really looks like the EPU
is sleeping on the job and has cheated the people of Sabah on the projects
which had been planned for Sabah. It is because of people like Ismail and
slackness in the unit that Sabah is now twenty years behind West Malaysia in
terms of development. The planning unit still insists on putting “cotton wool”
in the eyes of the Sabahans by refuting true statements made by the opposition
in the interests of the people and for the progress and development in Sabah.
As from the Director of EPU
Ismail that they had not made full use of the allocations under the 9th
Malaysia Plan (2006-2010), so who should be held responsible?
Sabahan must be very
vigilant in order to ensure that RM20.3 billion allocated for the 10th Malaysia
Plans, 2011 to 2015 and now in its mid term, must be completely utilized and
implemented including the arrears that were supposed to have been allocated in
the pasts Malaysia Plans.
It is useless to have plans
that the government is not firm on implementing, and it is true that “plans
without implementations are as good as no plan at all!”
Furthermore, will the 10th
Malaysia Plan face the same situation where the money allocated couldn’t be
completely utilized to benefit the people, but to be push forward into the 11th
Plan? The people are watching and waiting.
Ismail must start cracking
and get to work (turun padang), if he doesn’t want the Sabahan to face serious
economy set back and further jeopardy.
A very good example of
slackness in the government departments is the Sabah Land and Survey Department
where the Title Survey Plans were unable to be updated after so many years.
The list of government
slackness is very long, unless the department heads buck up or else they will
face the music from the people. The people want the opposition assemblymen to
raise more questions in the state assembly on the misdoing of the government,
so “pull up your sleeves and buck up”!
The government must ensure
that projects planned are properly “executed and implemented”, and the job of
the opposition is to “check and ensure” that Sabah is progressing well and to
be developed as plan.
We are not in the “blame
game”, but we are elected by the people to work for the people and to ensure
that all the interests of the people are “well protected and safe guarded”. The
BN government holds the power to spend the allocated funds for the people, and
the people want them to get things done accordingly.
How dare they openly admit
that they couldn’t spend all the funds that were allocated from the Federal
fund to do good for the people? By right they should have ask for more if they
were not given enough. This is definitely a serious wrong doing and a count of
incompetence. If they were some company managers, they could have been sacked
long time ago.
Hiew said he had done his
work in the last Parliament, and the facts and figures he had quoted in his
press statements were based on the written reply from the PM during the last
Parliament session. It is not an “allegation” but if it is wrong then the Prime
Minister or his Ministers and officers will have to explain to the people.
He advised Ismail to check
and confirm, or he should apologize to the people. Besides, the new Sepaggar MP
Jumat Idris had claimed that the KK City Mayor Datuk Abidin still have to
utilize RM4 to 5 millions federal fund in the Sepanggar area.
Sabah is setting new standards in sustainable forest management and conservation and this has earned numerous accolades. Notably from the United Nations, World Wildlife Fund Malaysia, Forest Stewardship Council (FCS) and the Prince Charles Charity.
ReplyDeleteSo much so that several forest conservation-related international meetings and conferences were held in the state over the past few months.
At one of them, the United Nation development programme's resident representatives for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, Kamal Malhotra, described Sabah as a model of sustainable forest management not only for Southeast Asia, but also the world.
"What is happening here (Sabah) is closely monitored by those who are interested in sustainable development," he said.
In recognition of Sabah's efforts, the UNDP has agreed to fund a RM14 million project on multiuse forest landscape planning and management at a 260,00 ha active production forest area at the Kalabakan-Gunung Rara forest reserve in Tawau.
Echoing Malhotra, WWF Malaysia Chief Executive officer Datuk Dr Dionysius SK Sharma commended the visionary leadership of the state government under the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Aman for its political will and for "walking the talk" in implementing programmes and initiatives to protect and conserve the environment.
"Sustainable development will determine if we get to keep this planet, and Sabah, with the leadership that it has, will be able to keep this part of the world intact," remarked Dr Dionysius.
Sabah's forest conservation effort has also attracted the attention of Charles, the Prince of Wales, whose foundation is involved in funding numerous rainforest conservation programmes.
State Forestry Director, Datuk Sam Mannan was recently invited by the Prince to share Sabah's success in sustainable forest management at the WWF Global Forest Trade Network (GFTN) Anniversary Forum in London.
ReplyDeleteIt is heartening to not that these strict practices have helped Sabah improve the way it manages its forests. This was evident particularly in terms of phasing out short-term logging licences that did not adhere to sustainability principles.
Through new practices, long-term forest management plans were designed and reduced-impact logging was introduced.
The state also started giving priority to the protection of High Conservation Value Forest, which are home to diverse wildlife and plants, and also serve as watersheds. By commiting to sustainable ways of logging, Sabah has also safeguarded the interests of local communities whose lives depend on the forest.
Switching from conventional logging to sustainable harvesting was perhaps one of the most difficult decisions the state government had to make.
This was due to the fact that Sabah was hugely dependent on timber for revenue and opting for sustainable forestry management means making sacrifices such as losing short-term monetary gains and doing away with the old ways of logging.
Time and resources were instead allocated to finding the best ways to harvest timber without negatively impacting the environment and communities.
Despite uncertainties when the State embarked on the bold decision to push for a sustainability harvested forest, it has passed the litmus test and proved doubters wrong.
"For Sabah, this is not just talk. We have success stories, among them the Deramakot Forest Reserve which has been certified as well as well-managed forest under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification scheme," Musa said.
From the Deramakot experience, Sabah expanded sustainable forest management practices statewide in 1997, allowing it to continue creating jobs and revenue and at the same time preserving its forests and biodiversity.
SABAH HAVE EXPERIENCED A WONDERFUL INVESTMENT YEAR LAST YEAR WHEN IT CONTRIBUTED RM11.6 BILLION, OR NEARLY 10 PER CENT OF THE TOTAL NATIONAL INVESTMENT OF RM162.4 BILLION. THE AMOUNT OF INVESTMENT COMES SECOND ONLY TO SELANGOR, WHICH IS NUMBER ONE IN MALAYSIA IN TERMS OF INVESTMENT AS OF 2012.
ReplyDeleteSabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah, who is also State Industrial Development Minister said that Sabah can do better this time around.
ReplyDeleteTan, who helmed the ministry before the 13th General Election, was also pleased with investments achieved in the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) since it was launched five years ago, saying it captured the biggest investment among the five development corridors in the country with about RM5 billion.
ReplyDeleteTan also attributed the state’s ability to attract investments to good governance and fund management.
ReplyDelete“We have a very high budget in terms of revenue and expenditure. It ranges, I think, from a RM3.5 billion to RM4 billion.
ReplyDelete“So when you have the ability to manage that high budget, that is also a very clear indication of good management and good governance and this leads to investors’ confidence towards the state administration,” he said.
ReplyDeleteWith the Industrial Development Ministry’s special attention and assistance, Sabah would be able to attract more investments into the manufacturing sector and subsequently bring industrial development to a higher level
ReplyDeleteBekas ketua menteri Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak meminta peruntukan
ReplyDeletepembangunan persekutuan kepada Sabah disalurkan kepada kerajaan negeri
bagi memastikan pelaksanaan lancar semua projek di negeri itu.
beliau berkata terdapat keperluan untuk
ReplyDeletemenerima pakai pendekatan yang berbeza khususnya dana untuk
infrastruktur, perumahan, pertanian atau projek pembangunan luar bandar
demi kebaikan rakyat dan negeri itu.
Salleh, yang juga Timbalan Pengerusi Badan Perhubungan Umno Sabah,
ReplyDeleteberkata ini adalah selaras dengan konsep sistem persekutuan di mana
lebih banyak penuruan dan agihan kuasa perlu dilaksanakan.