Tuesday, March 17

In Iban areas: Projects are waiting for elections

Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) youth chief Fadillah Yusuf said in The Borneo Post today (16 Mar 2009) that it was mere opposition politics to say development projects were being implemented because of elections and by-elections.

“Projects are not carried out just because there is an election around the corner. The truth is for a development project to be implemented, a long period of planning has to take place. If its implementation comes near or during an election time, it is mere coincidence,” said Fadillah.

Perhaps there is some truth in what Fadillah was saying as far as the Malay constituencies are concerned. Plenty and plenty of projects, not ordinary projects, but mega and super-mega projects are being implemented.

But in Iban constituencies especially in the areas controlled by Iban opposition members, the reverse is the truth. Projects are waiting for the elections. Look at Lubok Antu it has waited for 45 years to reap the fruits of merdeka – the simple “merdeka fruits” of electricity, clean water supply, clinics, and other basic amenities.

If there is no by-election, surely the RM12 million will not be made available; the RM40.4 million for communications centres and facilities; the RM400,000 outboard engine rebates.

More goodies and “angpaus” are forthcoming as other ministers have not visited Lubok Antu yet. All these projects are because of the by-election where the Opposition is making a strong bid for the seat.

Again look at Kapit, it has waited 45 years for a trunk road to be constructed linking it with other towns in the State. Until today there are only talks.

How the people of Kapit wish that an YB should die in office so that the construction of the road can be materialized. Cruel it seems to be, but that is the truth. Projects are waiting for elections. No elections, no projects. – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

JT, sad to say Dayak still far behind from others...but my new generation born in 1970's will fight for our right...we will topple BN in next election....we're educated & more matured now...we're not stupid ..God Bless Us..

Anonymous said...

More projects and more durian runtuh means more dead YBs and more particularly rural ones. Any takers? Come to think of it, is there any new projects coming to Bukit Bangunan yet or do we have to wait for a by election? Walk the talk. Don't take the ibans for fools.

I Am Sarawakiana said...

My grandmother used to say it was good to have election every year. She did get a new jetty from Wong Soon Kai I believe. She did also get a new cement path. that was the 1980's.

Now she is in her grave. The river in front of her old house(swept away by the express boats) is too silted up she could walk across the river. Today she would curse too.

How many elections do we have to wait for? We were once too hopeful. There are too many plunderers...too many Goliaths.

My own housewife policy after so many years....- work one day eat one day. Be happy with the little we have. Can sleep well is good enough. No leaking roof and no thieves lurking outside.

Anonymous said...

Tell all the iban leader to resign as a YB so by election can be done so we get mega project, eg, it better for any YB from Kapit area to resign or......., then you can get your truck road. sorry, but that what they want.

Anonymous said...

hi there everyone.
Very interesting topic when it come to develpoment project. I certainly agree with anyone sayaing development is year round as far as malay areas are concern but it is still mee segera promises, mere promises development projects to dayak areas.
MAsing was saing in a yesterday's paper, projeks costing RM12m 'I believe be delivered this year' to lubok antu to turfsealing roads. Ha ha elo tuai, what about your area? enti bala nuan ari kapit ninga, balat nuan kena sipat sida because they have making noise not too long ago asking for develpoment. Nya meh orang politik tu balat agi melit ari ulat sawa leboh ngeluarka jako enggau ngereja pengawa, tak hairan lah saya mereka ini berjaya menaluki minda orang kampung yang sengaja dicacatkan.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes it bugs me that ministers talk like we are idiots. Their lies are so obvious and blatant and so insulting. Or are they so blind that they don't see what an ass they made of themselves? I hope the Batang Ai voters are wise enough to see through their lies and make the right decision by rejecting the BN.

Anonymous said...

Joe,

Please list down promised grants from last 2 elections and indicate what have been fulfilled and what have not.

Thanks.

Ron

stingray said...

Fadillah is just sleep talking and you can see by the way he talk, we know that he is just talking garbage.
As I have said before,if there is any dayak leaders who can show me what the gov't have done to help the dayaks,then I will shut my mouth and let the dayaks see for themselves.So far since 45 long years,I haven't seen anything that shows the dayaks have benefited from gov't handouts.What I only see is stealing ,robbing and raping of NCR land,sidelining the dayaks,ignoring their plight,etc.Can any dayak leaders speak out about this issue since the gov't said they have help the dayaks.Lets hear this from Masing,Jabu,Linggi,Leo Moggi,Daniel Tajem,Joseph Salang.
All this while the gov't have been openly bullshitting about how the dayaks have been helped.They only talk crap!

NEIL said...

What Fadillah have said is clearly crap.He don't know what he is barking about.Tell me what project have the gov't give to benefited the dayaks!I see only land grabbing and sowing the seed of disunity among the dayaks.I dare Fadillah repeat what he bark!

stingray said...

masing is now plotting with white hair dictator to cheat the dayaks again.All promises and 'instant noodle' will be just a mirage.They are displaying their evil tactics to lie to the dayaks and achieve their greedy ambition to seize Batang Ai.
Never again must we let these satan rule us .Every effort must be made to denied them of victory.
Let the brave triumphant over the corrupted.Vote PKR!

Anonymous said...

Yes you are right JT, my checking revealed that none the six projects
approved under the mini budget is in Iban areas.Hence the Iban community (including those in Batang Ai) is likely to continue licking thier fingers.

Anonymous said...

Ajihhhh xxx YB Balleh. Awak bisi projek jalai ke Ulu Mujong and Tunok.

Thank you Broken Shield for highlighting Kapit.

NEIL said...

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that dayaks have never been discriminated and sidelined, who still wonders if our gov't treated all races fairly, who still questions whether our economic cake have been equally shared,Bantang Ai will be the answer.

Anonymous said...

More YBs die more by-elections and more projects....like that, ah?

Anonymous said...

Why is it that Dayak constituencies have to wait only for elections or by elections before they can hear of promises and some projects being implemented whereas in other areas it is continuous development without anyone asking for it?
So much for Merdeka and its promises in 1963!

ancient edict said...

The Merry Go Round of BN empty promises to the Rural Constituents go on and on.On the front page of the Borneo Post March 16 Masing said that the State agreed to tar-seal roads within the Batang Ai resettlement Scheme AFTER he had queried why it had not been done after the JKR had proposed it under the 9 Malaysian Plan before.The big question here is why the late Dublin did not raise the query?After all according to Masing the upgrading of the roads was supposed to be done MANY YEARS AGO when the resettlement scheme first started following the construction of the Dam.Masing also said as far as the other key roads in Lubok Antu are concerned JKR is STILL BIDDING for the funds needed for their upgrading.Also another road linking Ulu Engkari and Batang Ai Main Road would also be built-this road around 18 Km will make some 25 longhouses within the resettlement scheme accessible to the major places in Sarawak,it may cost around RM360 million but JKR HAS YET to BID for the money.Does not Masing realise that the massive displacement of people to make way for the Dam require goverment intervention being imperative to development.The people reasonable expectation for the then existing roads to be tar-sealed,clinics to be turned to hospital,rural electrification scheme to be carried out,provision of clean water,modern agriculture to be made available and so on have not materialised.This is breached of the social contract made with the Batang Ai people when the Dam was mooted.Masing himself was involved in the socio-economic studies on the impact of the Dam on the people.To the people there now it damned it,not dam the river.Do not forget the lost opportunities of the people due to these broken promises.Where have the initial funds gone to or was it an empty promises?Jabu cannot allow "outsiders"to see these ugly truth.AND yet on the same page of the Borneo Post 16 March Dr George Chan contradicts Masing by saying that Batang Ai needed to be further developed and that the people must be told in all sincerity that their standard of living could only be improved with the commitment of the BN,and he further said that BN does hot just make promises but fulfill them too,our track record in the last 50 years is proof of that.Has Dr George Chan been to Batang Ai to see the ugly truths?He further could see that Mussen was the perfect person to address problems faced by the people because he was born and raised there.Was not the late Dublin also born and raised there.Just sss the late Dublin track record.I futher refer to the Borneo Post at page 3 17 March where Abang Johari said in the case of Batang Ai the state goverment aimed to transform the rural constituency into a developed area.to tap into its high tourism potentials,to do that we have to give it not just basic amenities but quality ones as only when infrastructure is of high grade the area can attract tourists.Yet Masing is still talking of non existence of basic amenities and worst JKR is still bidding for funds.Abang Johari hoped the constituents will vote for BN again so that the people will see UNINTERRUPTED DEVELOPMENT.Poor poor Masing roads was supposed to be done MANY years ago and where is Masing going to get the funds as Taib says more projects for Limbang and Awang Tengah is smiling.Well Masing recycle your empty promises,as there is no instant noodle,you might as well pre-order a dish for the people and when the meals begins it will not be served.I will also suggest that you and Jabu announce to the longhouses folks in Batang Ai that Hilton Batang Ai Coffeehouse is open to them.No disrespect to Hilton i patronise and is treated well by Hilton.

Anonymous said...

To take 45 years to plan a basic need item is not only an inefficiency but a flavour of utter neglect or a deliberate ommission. Project kilat were dished out not only to tempt voters to cast any iota of dignity left in them but used a threat . No development will be forthcoming if the BN does not win. So naturally voters will be coerced to vote BN candidiates in the hope that promises would be kept. Is it an insult to the rakyat when tax payers money is used as a weapon against the very people who should be entitled to these regardless of election or no election

Anonymous said...

Joe,

"GIVE A MAN A FISH AND HE WILL HAVE FOOD FOR ONE DAY,
TEACH A MAN TO FISH AND HE WILL HAVE FISH HIS WHOLE LIFE-TIME"

There was a subject that I took when I was an undergraduate -"DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION ND SOCIAL CHANGE" in the 70s.

The "FELDA MODEL" in W.Msia has been very close to my heart and continues to be one because of the many success stories.

Early settlers were given land by the Government (as intervenor of change) and the settlers as the masters of their own destiny.

They toil by clearing the lands, developed their own lands into economic undertakings.

The Government provide the necessary infras including collecting centers to market their products.

The 3rd or 4th generations of these settlers are lawyers, accountants, engineers and successful entrepreneurs.

I was also quite impressed with "SLDB MODEL" because this model was similar to Felda Model.

It did not do well due to the drop of rubber prices. It could also be successful, I believe, if more thoughts had been put well ahead by our economic and development planners.

Scheme participants could avoid overdependent on rubber if planners had the people in the scheme as priority.

During the last 20 years we see disturbing trend among the development in Dayaks areas. Huge large plantations are good for the state as our GDP would increase.

However, the irony is that plantations owners "sow and reap" but the Dayaks are relegated to laborers and soon become squatters in their own land.

Richard Leete, UNDP Representative to Msia,Spore and Brunei had these figures

Poverty rates 2002
Sarawak : 5.8
Bumiputeras - 8.0%
- Malays : 5.2%
- Ibans : 10.5%
- Other Indegenous : 6.8

Chinese - 1%

It is interesting to note what happened to people in ASAP, Belaga.

They cannot pay for their own household electricity and water because by their own, they don't generate enough income.

They have to depend on their children to remit money working in Johore, W. M'sia or overseas (offshore). People in Belaga, Batang Ai and soon Bengoh Dam - what do you think after they have sacrificed thousands and thousands of their homeland in the name of development?

FIIKIR FIKIR LAH KALAU LAH SAYA JADI ANOTHER DS IDRIS JALA!

JJ (Jamal Jarjis)

Anonymous said...

Since when Abang Johari concerns too much about the developments in Batang Ai? Of late, he has been talking a lots about Batang Ai. I can still remember what he has said before that Anwar was irrelevant in Sarawak politics, but what he has said proved wrong.

As we can see it, Abang Johari is the most qualified man to be the Chief Minister of Sarawak...be fair the first two Ibans, followed by two Melanaus, and of course the next CM S`wak should be held by two malays consecutively.

UMB said...

Safe except for the Dayaks from the early days such as Ningkan and Tawi Sili, the present batch of Dayak leaders have gone from shifting cultivators to Multi Millionaires. Off course that is because they excel in school and earned their degree by burning the kerosene lamp.

Being a Millionaire is a different ball game all together. You need opportunities. Was opportunity given to you, your relative, your cousins, your parents.

You may have the brain of an enterpreneur. But do you have capital to raise the funds. How often have the ordinary people been declined access to capital. Reasons are varied and defer from one person to another. In a 3rd World Country, your capital is your goods and chattels and landed property.

With NCR Land being taken away, how many ordinary Dayaks have been deprived of starting a business of their won???

45 years is a long time. The present batch of Dayak Leaders have done their best and their best is just not enough and it is high time another group of leaders whether it is from West Malaysia or Sarawak be given their chance.

We have nothing to lose as we have been exploited for 45 years and do not mind gambling with PKR as an alternative for 5 years.

Anonymous said...

i agree with Sarawakian said, no election no project. got election got project got poket money.

I am not against elction, but against corruption during election.

Taib government was very corrupted.

kampung folk are simple, will very happy receive even RM50 free gift during election.

it sad to hear that still have longhouse no electricity supply even the batang air dam generated mega watt of electric need for our state. what wrong with current government?

where is the development money go? go to CMS pocket?

If Masing not a leader of Iban . remove him. if Mawang not a leader for iban , remove him.If Entulu not a leader remove him.

i personally believe there will be a Rentap to fight again injustice, & corruption.

There will be a Rentap for us,Sarawakian a better future.

Anonymous said...

politik pemansang in bolehland

46years agi baka suda. nama penguntung menubuhkan malaysia enggau malaya?