Change We Must

Looks like PM Najib do not believe Sarawak Barisan Nasional stories any longer!

From MOE, we were privy to some information that there is a long list of schools for construction in Rural Sarawak. Just stay tuned for who is awarded the contracts and to comfirm who the cronys are.

Will ADUN for N28 through is directorship in a 99.99% chinese owned construction company get something out of MOE this time around.

The ADUN for N28 Engkilili’s name was leased to this 99.99% chinese owned construction company to make it look like a Bumi Controlled company to secure projects and obtain credit from Banks and Suppliers.

Is the Federal Government, Treasury and MOE that stupid not to see through the scam!

PM Najib will show Sarawakians, and the Three Musketeers and their gang of thieves that “if there is a will there is a way”.

It does not take 47 years or even 5 years to implement any project.

How?

The team of technicians and surveyors from EPU and JKR, fresh from shooting the rapids at Kapit are now already in Miri and are laying the ground work for survey of the route for the RM100 million road linking Long Lama to Miri.

What say you Deputy Thief Minister Alfred Jabu? and Minister of Lying Portfolio Dato Silly James Masin? What did the two of you say about implementation of infrastructure and development projects promised in the Batang Ai Buy Election?

Certainly you do not want us to harp on it. Neither are we paid to remind you. However rest be assured that we will volunteer to remind the Rural Voters in Sarawak, what this blog entry means and what a Senior UMNO Executive just revealed to us?

We also further assure you that we are getting our contacts to whisper into the ears of PM Najib especially how useless most of you guys from Sarawak Barisan Nasional are besides offerring him a tip of two on how to preserve his Fixed Deposit.

Taken from Zulhaidah.com

This is the question that many is asking, including the strategist in UMNO and Barisan Nasional in the Federal Capital.

My answer is if Pakatan Rakyat have done more in rural areas targetting the winnable seats there is a high chance of toppling Taib Mahmud’s regime in Sarawak and his Politics of Development which is nothing but a thin viel to camouflage “Politics of Bondage and Slavery”.

What more is there to do? The Ibans and Dayak community want something tangible to see. Merely creating awareness and harnessing support via the network of NGO will not do, in my opinion.

With the State Election around the corner which i speculate to be after the budget 2011 and implementation of some projects announced in the 10th Malaysia Plan in rural Sarawak, Pakatan Rakyat may have lost a better opportunity to topple Taib Mahmud’s regime in the immediate State Election. At best, Pakatan Rakyat can hope to make inroads and deny them the two thirds majority in the Dewan Undangan Negri Sarawak.

On the surface Sarawak seems ripe for political change. Despite being the richest state in terms of natural resources, it is ironically also the second poorest, a situation which speaks of endemic corruption and poor governance.

But capturing Sarawak is anything but straightforward. BN has held this state in an iron grip since it joined the Federation in 1963 through a coalition of native parties led by PBB. Taib Mahmud, the white-haired Rajah of Sarawak has ruled for 29 years. The tenacity of BN’s rule has been aided by misuse of state resources, tight control of the media, ethnic divide and rule and outright vote buying aided by the inaccessibility of its terrain and the abject poverty of the natives.

The importance of wresting control of Sarawak from BN goes beyond the state government. Sarawak has 31 parliamentary seats, a disproportionate number compared to its population and usually swept by BN at every general election. Capturing the state government will level the playing field for the coming battle in the general elections and will be a precursor to the capture of Federal power.

Malaysia Chronicle

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Coming from IP address 219.93.35.0 – 219.93.35.127 and 218.208.0.0 – 218.208.255.255, we hope the authorities have opened the files on Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and investigate whatever is reported and not tracking blogs and news portal carrying news on alleged corruption of Sarawak State Government leaders.

Any attempt to surpress the truth via threats of legal action will not go down well Voters and impair the image of Najib’s Administration at Putra Jaya.

Over the past several days Sarawak Report has revealed a number of facts relating to the Taib Family’s vast foreign property investments. Our investigations have exposed a real estate portfolio worth hundreds of millions of US dollars in Canada, Australia and the United States and we have shown how they are owned and directed by Taib’s own brothers and children.

However, so far, the Chief Minister has failed to respond to our allegations or to answer two questions, ‘Where did the money come from?’ and ‘How much of this property does he beneficially own?’.

Indeed, the Chief Minister has made only one significant response to our well-documented exposes. This week he forbade all newspapers in Sarawak to publish news about the lavish riches enjoyed by himself and his family. Such an act merely shows the extent of his dilemma and his embarrassment. Clearly he cannot deny the Taib family ownership of the properties in question, because it is all documented in official registries in different countries, which are available on-line to the public. He has therefore only silence and suppression to turn to in order to hide his embarrassment.

This is a sign of weakness and failure in an old man. Surely he knows that everyone in Kuching is talking about his greed? Does he plan to ban all conversations including the phrases ”Chief Minister” and “unexplained wealth” in the same sentence?

Meanwhile, he continues to support the ill-treatment and attacks by logging companies and police against native peoples who are trying to protect their rightful lands from rapacious timber and plantation companies. He is doing this even though the Malaysian Federal Courts have upheld that ownership of Native Customary Rights Lands cannot be removed by the State.

Why does Taib Mahmud always support the actions of the timber companies against his people? Could it be because they are paying him in kickbacks and that this is how the Taib family afford their International Property Empire? He needs to reassure the world that this is not the case, but it seems he cannot.

Again Abdul Taib Mahmud needs to explain how he and his family came by their riches and he must reveal just how much of the Taib family property empire is owned and directly controlled by him.

Sarawak Report

Post Taib Mahmud era in Sarawak, will the Ibans and Voters in Rural Sarawak ask this question?

Don’t live to regret.

When the opportunity is presented take it and don’t look back.

Be proud that you have made that decision for your future generations and that you were there to join hands with Pakatan Rakyat to Save Sarawak and Save Malaysia from further destruction and looting.

“[Mahathir Mohamad has] … created a legacy so monumental that no one could have presumed his mantle.”

YB Dominique Ng Kim Ho

BETONG: Some RM1 billion worth of projects will be implemented in Batang Lupar parliamentary constituency under the 10th Malaysia Plan and beyond, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said the projects would be implemented in phases based on their priority, urgency and the availability of funds.

Borneopost

For more than half a century, we have yet to see real substantial development and most was chanelled to Samarahan and latter Mukah.

Many projects under 9th Malaysia Plan have yet to be approved and implemented, let alone more than RM70 million promised during the Batang Ai By Election.

It is promises and more promises by Barisan Nasional and it is only because without Dayaks and Sarawak, Najib and Muhyiddin Yassin would be jobless like you and me.

Can you believe them again, besides in the Federal Capital, the talk is Federal Government do not have the funds to carry out what is pledged now to Sarawak.

Stop trusting Barisan Nasional, UMNO and PBB.

Change We Must!

In view of the shocking developments as inevitable results of the sudden oil price hike, I would like to raise several issues with regards to the situation in Petronas which I believe most people are not aware of.

This is especially pertinent in the face of several revelations, such as the fact that the oil wells in Sabah will dry up six years from now.

The issue has also been raised that Petronas “could go bust in 2018″, forcing us to ask: Where have all the huge amounts of Petronas money gone to?

Had Petronas been managed so badly that despite it being the nation’s biggest money earner, it is now facing the possibility of going bust (bankrupt)?

The first problem with Petronas is the fact that it was designed to be a secretive organisation. The Petronas agreements have been classified secret. Why? What clauses are in the agreement that the people should know? This secrecy also include the secrecy of Petronas’ detailed annual report which is shielded from public scrutiny, making it an organization without public accountability.

The other shocking revelation that has come to my knowledge is that 80% of the oil produced by Petronas is not sold directly to the world market but is channelled through six ‘option holders’ who obtain the supply from Petronas below market prices. These option holder agents are the ones reaping the benefits in the oil price hikes.

Who are these people?

Why are there in the first place? Why had such a system been created for Petronas? Are these people in fact representing certain private interests?

It is also understood that this supply through the option holders is sold by contracts with a binding agreement for 20 or 30 years, causing huge losses for Petronas when oil price increases, as Petronas would then have to continue selling at the old agreed price.

Only 20% of Petronas’s supply is sold through direct open bidding.

Because of these arrangements, Petronas is sadly not maximising its revenue by dealing direct with the open world market. Instead it has been incurring incalculable losses for the nation and for the people.
How much this monstrous loss is, we will never know.

The Members of Parliament and the state government should boldly raise up this very important issue in Parliament or directly with the federal government for the benefit of the oil-producing states.

As soon as possible, leaders of the oil producing states should seek for a review of the oil royalty rate and push for a differentiation of prices and benefits for the oil-producing states and the non-oil-producing states.

This review is being offered by the alternative government which is committed to giving the oil-producing states at least 20% oil royalty.

This is a window of opportunity for all of us to demand for a review of the Petronas agreements, and to make Petronas more open and transparent.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat also demands that the system of having the six option holders be abolished. A new system should be created in which the three oil-producing states are in control of the marketing arm of Petronas, to make Petronas trade directly in the world market with the aim of maximising revenue for the benefit of the nation.

Obviously, Petronas is a huge business organisation which is not accountable, secretive, and has been open to a lot of abuses, including the decision to use its revenue to bail out various individuals who faced bankruptcy as results of the Asian economic crisis ten years ago.

It the federal government truly wants to be responsible and accountable to the people as it claims it wants to be, it can begin to prove its sincerity for excellent governance by looking into the Petronas.

DATUK DR. JEFFREY KITINGAN

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