Change We Must

Last Sunday, Bukittunggal revealed YB Mong’s Authorization Letter to one Khoo Chee Peng to develop about 70,000 acres of NCR Land at Bukit Bengunan for Oil Palm plantation, and how in the letter he asked for RM1000 per acre as kickback.

Today, I am going to reveal to the world the condition of the long house name Kpg Gayau, one of the many Iban long houses under YB Snowdan Lawan and YB Masir Kujat.

The main reason why I am posting the photos of Kampong Gayau, Pantu is not to humiliated the long house chief TR Medang and his “anembiaks” (people) but my main reason is to reveal to the world on the real meaning of Barisan Nasional Sarawaks’ Politics of Development.

With the state election just around the corner, we could read almost everyday in the newspapers how the “Wakil Rakyat” (people representative) from Barisan Nasional urging the long house folks to vote for them as according to them only Barisan Nasional could bring development to their long houses.

Kampong Gayau the object for my posting today is located in upper Pantu. Politically it is under N25-Balai Ringin and P202-Sri Aman. Ringin. Their “Wakil Rakyat” are YB Snowdan Lawan and YB Masir Kujat, both are from the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) one BN Sarawak component party.

Kampong Gayau is inhabited by about 80 families. It has no electricity and the source of drinking water is a gravity-feed fresh water supply from the stream nearby. Their mean of transport is by river or land.

Politically the long house has been supporting the BN for generations.

They live in fear that if they do not continue support Barisan Nasional, they will never get to see the promised of bring clean pipe water, electricity and basic infrastructure development to their kampong, let alone bringing themselves out of poverty. Instead Barisan Nasionals’ Politics of Development has went on, not only to deprive the villagers (poor Dayaks) of their NCR Land, but went on to enrich the leaders and finance their lavish lifestyles!

Let me share the condition of the long house here … see for yourself the real meaning of Barisan Nasional Politics of Development..

They have their reasons. The point is after close to half a century, how much patience do Dayaks not aligned to them have or can they go on living in poverty while the leaders they have supported and elected to power join in the gravey train and plunder the states wealth and natural resources ala YB Mong Dagang’s kick back?

Dayaks who form about 30% of Sarawak United People’s Party membership will not support the decision of the party to leave the Barisan Nasional, as they need development projects from the BN government.

“This is an indication given to me,” said Jerip Susil, chairman of SUPP Bengoh branch.

“The Bidayuhs (a Dayak ethnic group) who form the majority of the 6,000 members in Bengoh still want to remain in the BN because they still require development,” he said, when asked to comment on the party’s dilemma whether to pull out of the Barisan.

“For me, I cannot make any comment as I was not invited to attend the secret meeting in Kuala Lumpur last week. So for the time being, I have no comment,” said Jerip, who is Bengoh state assemblyman.

Besides Jerip, two other elected representatives who did not attend the meeting were David Teng, state assemblyman for Repok, and Ranom Mina, state assemblyman for Opar.

Jerip was in the spotlight recently when he was strongly recommended by his branch members and the Bidayuh community to be the chairman of the Padawan Municipal Council.

The failure of his party to appoint him as chairman of the council led to 14 SUPP Bengoh branch officials resigning from the party.

Since then relationship between Jerip and party leaders has deteriorated.

‘SUPP irrelevant’

Free Malaysia Today

continue reading…

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

Sarawak Pakatan Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Wanita Vice Chairlady Voon Sia Nie refuted to YB Snowdan Lawan’s statement on the frontpage of New Sarawak Tribune’s on July 26th (yesterday) comparing the opposition’s tactic of the CCOs (communist guerrillas).

“We are not like communist and we are not thieves,” she said adding that “it is not a very fair statement” and asked Snowdan to clarify what does he meant by that statement.

“What is wrong about us coming to the longhouse at night, it a democratic country, we are not “thieves” stealing, we are just campaigning as the State election is near,” said Voon, venting her anger through a telephone interview yesterday.

“That type of statement is not very good and I want to ask him (Snowdan) what is the different when he (Snowdan) went to the longhouses to campaign..nobody is stopping him so what is wrong with us doing it.”

“I believed that this also shows we (PR) are putting out a creditable candidate (Ibi Uding) who is the Sarawak PKR wanita chief and that is why the challenge was thrown directly by Snowdan, indicates that Barisan Nasional (BN) is running scared of our candidate.”

“Wait and see the next State election, PKR central had identified Ibi as one of the potential candidate (in N.25 Balai Ringin) according to the quota for Pakatan Rakyat (PR),” she adding that Ibi is presently concentrating on the fight (campaigning). = Sarawak Tribune

Thief Minister must keep natives in political wilderness

For 30 years Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mamud and his ministers have kept up the story that they are “trying their best” to offer birth certificates and identity cards to natives.

… and we have irrelevant SUPP and their Youths proudly launching a Project IC ala Sabah Style with the aim of helping foreigners obtain their identity cards and helping them to be Malaysian Citizens.

Tribune.my

They have ludicrously claimed that they unfortunately can’t reach the natives in the interior.

Residing in Middle Baram, one Penan headman in response to the Sarawak Barisan Nasional leadership’s claim said: “Everyone else knows where we are… if they want to they can reach us any time.

“But the authorities always come up with excuses. Now it is nearly 50 years after independence and these excuses are sounding ridiculous.”

Now, with another state election due, Taib is up to his same old tricks, claiming there will be a registration drive soon.

But, each time there has been a similar pretence, numerous malpractices by officials have prevented tribal people from obtaining their identity cards.

“The officials demand RM800 for every identity card…. we know it’s illegal… and they know we don’t have that sort of money,” said another Penan headman.

“An identity card is our birthright and should be free.”

One veteran human rights activist familiar with the situation described Taib as “an old man spinning the same laughable tale”.

“Taib is an old man and as they say, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks… he thinks he can get away with the same laughable old story and that people will again believe him,” he said.

Shocking truths
But things are changing here in the interiors of Sarawak as more and more activists and politicians engage the attention of Sarawak’s 60,000 unregistered indigenous folk.

Elections watchdog Malaysians For Free Elections (Mafrel) has been dutifully visiting these “unreachable” voters and their recent reports on the problems of gaining registration in Sarawak make shocking reading.

According to them, tens of thousands of citizens have been denied birth and identity certificates, meaning they have restricted access to education and health.

At the same time, many others who do have identity cards have been barred from registering as voters.

The state’s tactic is to make registration as difficult as possible by limiting the ways people can sign up and encouraging ridiculous levels of bureaucratic obstruction.

And if someone does eventually manage to overcome the many hurdles — including the inaccessibility of the registration offices and the many confusing documents that are required to get themselves identification cards and then on to voter-registration — they are then informed that it will take at least six months before they actually become eligible to vote!

According to another activist, keeping the natives away from the ballot boxes was Taib’s way of staying in power.

“Taib is frightened at how people might vote. The indigenous people are now more aware of their rights than in 2006.

“They are now demanding their birth rights even if they have to march to Kuching to get them,” said the activist.

Pockets of clashes
A very likely occurrence considering the recent incidents that have triggered rumours of widespread discontent in the wilderness and a probable uprising.

Already Sarawak has in recent months seen several pockets of clashes in the interiors between natives and government-licensed and illegal loggers over the state’s ineffective implementation of Native Customary Rights (NCR) land laws and corrupt government officials.

In the latest incident, 500 angry Ibans from five longhouses in Sebangan and Sebuyau in the Simunjan district stormed the site and office of logging concessionaire Quarry Concrete Holdings Sdn Bhd in a bid to protect their communal forest and land.

Barely a week before that gun-waving policemen clashed with Penan from 10 communities who had put up a peaceful blockade against further trespass by loggers into their turf.

Free Malaysia Today

Read also what Malaysia-Today visitors and commentators have to say.

This is the greatest insult to the intelligence of Ibans and the Dayak community who have faithfully supported Barisan Nasional for 45 years, despite having the first Chief Minister, Stephen Kalong Ningkan ousted by Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub a Muslim Melanau.

Since than power have been concentrated within the family as Abdul Taib Mahmud is the nephew of Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub.

Pay Him Silly A T M, Thief Minister Sarawak said he was confident the Bumiputera would continue to support the government because they believed in organised efforts and good clear policies in struggling for their betterment.

“The Bumiputera are humble. They know they are poor and in difficulty. So they place high hopes on the government to help them out.”

Free Malaysia Today

Under Thief Minister A T M or the ATM Machine of Sarawak Barisan Nasional an evil scheme was hatched in the guise of “Politics of Development” where most development funds are chanelled to Samarahan and now Mukah / Tg Manis Area.

To silent his lapdogs, from the other community, Betong and Miri receive some funds for development and we have seen how many white elephants being built. Eg. Sarawak International Medical Center when in many parts of Sarawak, we do not even have proper basic health care, electricity and clean piped water.

Sarawak International Medical Center remains a white elephant as no decision have been reached by Health Ministry to acquire it and turn it into a 2nd General Hospital sited yet again in Samarahan!

In the 29 years of Thief Minister rule in Sarawak his “Politics of Development” is nothing more than “Politics of Political Bondage and Slavery” to ensure Ibans and Dayaks continue to support Barisan Nasional and wait in anticipation of the implementation of promised development. In some cases, they take decades to be approved such as the road linking Kapit to the outside world.

Do Ibans and the rest of the Dayak community want to continue to live under such poverty; waiting for bread crumbs?

Now is the time to tell him he have looted enough of Sarawak’s wealth and is time to show him how to “SCORE” an own goal. It is better for him to leave on his own accord instead of facing the fate of Ferdinand Marcos and Suharto.

Part I

It is only a myth and false hope by PKR that the Dayak Iban in the rural areas of Sarawak are slowly shifting their support to the opposition what with all sort of so-called unhappiness and general unsatisfaction towards the BN government purportedly in robbing of their NCR land, perceived corruption, nepotism, bad governance and you name the rest of them.

The Batang Ai by-election last year was a glaring example. At that time innumerable excuses were given. PKR Jawa Gerang was soundly beaten by Malcolm Mossen. Batang Ai comprised of almost 100% Dayak Ibans. They overwhemingly voted for BN. The brute force of BN’s war chest of dishing out promised development projects and cash admittedly attributed to the embarrassing loss, so they reasoned.

In the recent Sibu by-election, how did the Dayak Iban voting pattern go? Well, the chinese votes went an almost 30% increase towards DAP. The Dayak Ibans? An increase of 3% to the BN!

The majority of Dayak Iban voters are in Pasai, Sg. Aup, Penasu, Rassau, Rantau Panjang, Tutus, Sg. Pinang and Sg. Sebedil areas within the State constituency of Bawang Assan.

1. In Sg Sebedil, only 5 voted for DAP while 151 voted for BN. Comparatively in 2008, 19 voted for DAP and 141 voted for SUPP’s BN.
2. In Rantau Panjang, 74 voted for DAP and 339 voted for BN. In the 2008 election, 101 voted for DAP and 271 voted for BN.
3. In Sg Pasai, 128 voted for DAP while BN got 368 votes, a majority of 240 votes.
4. Similiarly, in Panasu, 130 voted for DAP and 470 voted for BN.
5. Even in Aup, where certain PKR Dayak personalities and leaders come from, lost to the BN. DAP ganered 235 and BN obtained 304.

In total, in those Dayak Iban areas mentioned, the BN won by 1394 votes. (DAP/PR 1113/ BN 2507).

It must be noted that almost all PKR Dayak leaders were in those areas in the campaign, yet to no avail.

DAP/PR won the Sibu by-election but the opposition cannot claim that the Dayak Ibans are behind them, not yet anyway. This demonstrate, at least for now, that the Dayak Ibans are still wanting in terms of basic infrastructures and of course the cash strewn around in any election in Sarawak and everywhere too, a proven but dirty tactics of the BN.

The PKR, and notably their Dayak Leaders must be scratching their heads on how to convince the Dayak Ibans that PKR is a viable, honest, democratic, good and responsible government that can bring progress, stabiliity and prosperity to this country.

With the State election in Sarawak looming, its going to be a herculean task indeed. It is back to the drawing board.

Borneo-Warrior

After more than 40 years of neglect by the government of the day and the Dayak Leaders, they have resigned to the fact that all of them are the same, that is whether they are from Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional.

To them it is their daily survival and bread and butter issues that matters and a hand out of a few hundred bucks goes a long way to having some hard cash in their hands.

In most elections, promises and more promises are made, but sadly to note not many of the promised projects are implemented with urgency due to a variety of reasons offerred by the incumbant government, among them is funding and planning.

When we talk about funding and planning, we can safely say it is a load of bullshit afterall if there is a will, there is a way.

The most important agenda of a responsible government is to ensure proper basic infrastructure, health care and school is provided irrespective of how difficult it is, especially in rural areas.

With the slow pace of honouring election pledges, the Dayaks are actually under Sarawak Barisan Nasional and UMNO’s bondage.

Unless this mindset can be changed, the Dayaks would continue to be Barisan Nasional Fixed Deposit.

How do Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak and in particular Parti Keadilan Rakyat play their role than?

Merely organising functions and gatherings will not do!

Merely questioning the incumbant government will not help either. (With all the noise made, they now sound like empty milo tins!)

Instead, more proactive programmes have to be formulated and Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak and Parti Keadilan Rakyat should start adopting winnable consistuency and implement minor projects that would benefit the rural voters.

With minor projects, at least something tangible can be seen and this would convince the rural dayak voters and show how capable they are.

GLC’s within the Pakatan Rakyat controlled States should exercise their discretion by implementaing projects or undertake commercial activities through their “Corporate Social Responsibility Programmes (CSR)”.

We are also quite sure civil society groups and ngos in West Malaysia will mobilise support of the urban voters to undertake something for the benefit of the neglected rural dayaks.