SAPP BRANDED PAIRIN KITINGAN AS ‘PAK TURUT’

By: EDWARD DAGUL

It is apparent that Datuk Johnny Mositun has either not comprehend Datuk Yong Teck Lee’s recent statement or chose to be ignorant of the facts presented.

It is the common belief in Sabah that PBS leaders as well as the other leaders in BN component parties may be in office, but not in power. The vehement denial by Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan as PBS President and Deputy Chief Minister that he is simply a ‘Pak Turut’ to UMNO leadership shows his concern and fear that this sad truth be known to Sabahans.

The PBS Youth police report against the Atama sketch, which incidentally was definitely a viewpoint shared by many Sabahans, reinforces this line of thought.

PBS was once undeniably a formidable opposition in Sabah until it decided to rejoin BN. The excuse given by PBS leaders then was that to effectively rid Sabah of all problems plaguing the State, one needs to be in BN. Sabahans remembers that this act of rejoining BN was rewarded with high positions in both State and Federal governments.

But despite these high posts, have the problems really been solved? Have the leaders in Kuala Lumpur even bothered responding to any PBS demands in solving Sabah’s problems? In fact, what has PBS achieved for the people of Sabah since rejoining BN?

The PBS President had stated during PBS 24th Congress that the PTI issue must be resolved by 2012. It is interesting to note, though, that Tan Sri Pairin stopped short of what he will do if it is not resolved by the deadline proclaimed. After the announcement of the NKRA’s was made by the current PM, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

There was uproar when the newly appointed Minister in charge of NKRA, Datuk Seri Idrus Jala admitted that the PTI issue was not listed. It was deemed not important enough to be included in the Federal government’s list of priorities. As an afterthought, the setting up of a new Special Laboratory was hastily announced with the sole intention to pacify the Sabahans but alas, to date, still no results.

This ‘Mother of all threats’ issue have been attributed by many to be the main contributing factor in Sabah’s abnormal population increase in the years 1970 to 2000 from 636,431 people in 1970 to 2,449,389 in the year 2000. Or an increase of 285% compared to the nation’s increase of 113% or even Sarawak’s 106%.

This highly irregular upsurge has meant that the indigenous natives have been displaced as the majority community in Sabah. Stories of how many natives, mainly KDMs lost ancestral lands, suffer forced evictions from forest reserves etc are becoming regular features in the news. Always proclaiming to be championing the KDM community’s cause, what has PBS leaders done to assist them?

The continued silence by PBS leaders on this and other pertinent issues affecting especially the KDMs has left them feeling hopeless and abandoned. To many in the community, their being left out to dry is tantamount to an act of betrayal. The saying that “it is worse to witness a wrongful act and do nothing than the act itself” is most apt.

For the record, Datuk Yong was only a full Cabinet Minister for a period of 9 years and that was 12 years ago when compared to Tan Sri Pairin’s 25 years. 2 years as the Chief Minister compared to Tan Sri Pairin’s 9 years. So, it is natural for one to assume the longer one holds on to important posts, the more one is expected to achieve.

The question now of whether PBS leaders like Datuk Johnny Mositun or even Datuk Herbert Timbon Lagadan may still wish to remain as UMNO stooges or not is of little consequence. But we urge the other BN members to reflect on the facts, to fight for Sabah’s autonomy and for what rightfully belongs to the people of Sabah. Edmund Burke once said that" All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing”.

Issues such as the PTI issue may be an old issue but it is one that is close to the hearts of Sabahans. Therefore, SAPP will carry on pressing this as well as other issues until they are resolved, unlike PBS leaders like Datuk Johnny Mositun who will happily dance to any tune played by UMNO leaders.

KAPAYAN RIDGE MULTIPURPOSE HALL DISAPPEARED?

DISAPEARED….Hiew, Edward, and Stephen photo in front of the proposed Kapayan Multipurpose Hall site.

By: DAP MEDIA

SABAH DAP Vice Chairman, Edward Ewol Mujie yesterday visited the proposed site for the long forgotten Kapayan Multipurpose Hall after receiving numerous public requests to bring the matter again. The public complaints were received by the DAP Kapayan branch members and the KK MP offices.

Together with Edward were the KK MP Hiew King Cheu, John Lee Kim Seng, Stephen Jimbangan and members of the Kapayan branch. To their surprise, there is a rubbish collection bin centre being built on the proposed site which is so dirty and smelly.

Edward recalled that the proposed Kapayan Multipurpose hall was launched and performed the ground breaking ceremony by the then Sabah Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee cum ex-Sabah Chief Minister in 1996.

It is now almost 15 years and there is no sight of any work is going to commence on the building. What is happening to the multipurpose hall, and whether the government had forgotten all about it, and the ground breaking and launching may be just a political gimmick to cheat the people?

Why is it so difficult to build a much needed for the people in Kapayan Ridge housing area? There are many people in Kapayan who wish to have a hall where they can hold their functions, activities, wedding dinner reception, play badminton and concerts etc..

The government should not have announced the multipurpose hall project in the first place and not to continue later. They people in Kapayan felt very disappointed and they had been waiting for a long time now. In deed the hall is of much importance to them especially in the Kapayan Ridge low cost housing area. The area has a high number of residents now with the increasing number of housing estates being built nearby. Thus, a multipurpose is needed urgently.

The state government, the state assemblyman Datuk Edward Khoo, and the MP for Penampang Tan Sri Bernard Dompok should pay particular attention to immediately get the project started and commence with the construction. If they cannot do this simple task, what can we expect from them? One resident said, we have been waiting for more than 15 years for the hall since Yong Teck Lee made the ground breaking and announcement, how many more years do we have to wait on? All these people really don’t care about us, why should we vote for them next election?

POSTAL VOTE ON SCORE BOARD FIRST

By: DAP MEDIA

THE result of the postal votes received by the candidates should be posted on the score board before any other results coming in from any other polling streams and centre. This is a peculiar and not normal practice happening now a day during general elections or by-elections.

The Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament Hiew King Cheu who is making the call claiming, that this is highly irregular and unreasonable for the results of the postal votes to be listed and made known very last on the score board. The postal voters had cast their votes always one day before the actual polling day, and the votes for each candidate were counted by the representatives and dully signed to confirm the result of the postal votes cast. Since the results were confirmed earlier, why this is the last be posted on to the score board and computer?

Sometimes the numbers of postal voters are not the same as listed in the electoral and being added on. Many people feel that this is not fair and they want the Election commission to explain why this can happen, and why can’t they put the result on the score board first?

Hiew urges the EC to rectify this in order to show some fairness and transparency in the election process, and to allow the elections to be conducted in a fair manner. There had been many incidents of arguments and disputes on the postal votes system had occurred during elections. The EC must be seen to be fair to all and to review the complaints and suggestion from the various parties to streamline the postal vote system.

The qualification of the postal voters must also be checked and updated. It is understood that many uniform servicemen who had retired and left the service are still listed as postal voters. They must be re-registered as normal ordinary voters by the EC/SPR after receiving confirmation from the arm forces, police or their department concerned. The person who left the forces should also go to the EC/SPR to register themselves as ordinary votes and get their name removed from the postal voter list.

On the other hand, the suggestion by the Election Commission to adopt a ‘proxy Voters’ system is a system which is highly unreasonable and will induce more ‘foul play’ into the voting and polling system. How can we ensure that the person being appointed as his or her proxy is genuine, and who can certify it? It is more viable and important to allow the one million oversea Malaysian voters to cast their votes in the centre set up by the EC in the various Malaysian High commission offices or Embassies.

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NATIONAL BUDGETS AS ‘PAPER TALKS’ ONLY'?

Dear Editor,

CHINESE New Year is a celebration of the family, a time of reunion and bonding. To the Chinese community, no matter how busy we are, however far away we may be from home, we should and always try to keep these traditions alive. For some of us who are working or studying abroad and cannot make it back for the Chinese New Year, at least we make it a must to call our parents and families back home. This is also to show our respect and care to the elders to maintain this custom and to renew the bonds of family and kinship in the Chinese’s way.

Year 2010, the year of the Tiger, was not a pleasant year. Globally, people living from different countries were attacked by disasters such as typhoons, earthquakes, floods, landslides, volcanoes etc-etc which caused the loss of thousands of valuable human lives. Economically, this had also caused some of the Nations to lose billions of dollars and will take years to recover.

Political turmoil’s and political unrests happened in so many countries. Demonstrations could be seemed here and there by public to show their unhappiness. In serious situations, people lost their lives in the demonstrations.

In Malaysia, we were not good too. In year 2010 also, we had about 10 By-Elections due the certain deaths of the elected members of the Parliament and State Assemblymen and other political reasons.

In our own Sabah State, it cannot be denied most of the Sabahans are still living below the poverty line, even though the state produces richest natural resources among the Malaysian states. Agricultural sector, it is the largest palm oil producer, yet it is the poorest state.

There must be something wrong somewhere. Comparatively, the infrastructures were also very poor. Every year’s national budgets, some of them were only ‘paper talks’. Practically, we really didn’t seem the actual implementations. Take an example the so called ‘High Way’ from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan and then onward to Tawau. After donkey years, it almost remains the same condition.

In the Kota Kinabalu town itself, we can experience that a small fly-over can take years to complete.

The Kota Kinabalu City General Hospital, the Sabahans still ‘Hoping’ to see a proper and a public hospital be built by the Government after losing the old one after almost two & half years.

Recently, some of the ‘Taman-Taman’ in the Bandar Kota Kinabalu experienced the flash floods, partly was due to mismanage of the frequent maintenance of some of the big and small drains by relevant Authorities. When a complaint was made every time, it was sad to say, there would be always one thousand and one reasons to brush it aside, there are many other problem need to be addressed.

More broadly, we, the public wants the Government, especially those leaders who are policies makers will change their attitudes and mindsets in doing so, their grievances be heard and solved.

Chinese New Year is good time to celebrate our traditions and remind ourselves that our family, relatives and friends remain relevant in today’s modern society.

I wish all Malaysians, and all our Sabah brothers and sisters a Happy and prosperous Chinese New Year, the year of the Rabbit.

Best Regards,

DATUK LIEW TECK CHAN

Sapp Deputy President Cum Likas State Assemblyman

FILTHY GRAND MILLENNIUM KAPAYAN SIDE DRAINS

FILTHY….Edward, John and Stephen checking on the filthy Kapayan Grand Millennium road side drain.

By: DAP MEDIA

SABAH DAP Vice Chairman Edward Ewol Mujie, Karambunai Branch John Lee Kim Seng and Kapayan Branch Chairman Stephen Jimbangan during their CNY greetings walk-about in the Grand Millennium shopping complex received complaints from the shop operators in this popular shopping area on the big road side drain which is filled with stagnate water and rubbish everywhere.

Their inspection confirmed that the road side drain is actually blocked and plenty of rubbish accumulated on the dirty smelly water. The whole stretch of drain is very long and it is believed that the authorities had never come to do the clearing and clear the blockage. The shop owners fear that certain diseases and sickness including the dengue fever may occur anytime now.

The DAPs urges JKR, Health department, and the Penampang Municipal Council can act upon this block drains immediately by sending some workers to clear the blockage and all the rubbish in the drains.