District Officer behaves like a little napoleon

KUCHING:  Bau District Officer Simon Japut, who is also the Chairman of Bau district council behaves more like a ‘little napoleon’ rather than a civil servant who should be humble, courteous and be responsive to the people’s complaints, said Mordi Bimol, a special assistant to Chong Chieng Jen, the Kota Sentosa Assemblyman and the MP for Bandar Kuching.

“I am quite frustrated with a statement made by Japut which appeared in a local daily regarding complaints made by the people about poor maintenance and inefficient garbage collection in Kpg Serikin.

“Kpg. Serikin, which is a very popular week-end shopping centre, is also a tourist attraction, and yet rubbish remains uncollected which is an eye-score not only to the villagers, but also to the shoppers and tourists,” he said.

“It is giving us a bad image,” Bimol said, pointing out that Japut refused to accept responsibility.

“Instead he puts the blame on those who made the complaints as politicising the whole issue,” he said.

Last Monday Japut had described the complaints as ‘tidak masuk akal’ (stupid) and that he would not entertain them.

“I am firm in my decision that I will not entertain such stupid complaints,” he added.

“The matter should have been reported to the Bau district council first before going public in the media as this will tarnish the name of the civil servants,” Japut said angrily.

“And by the way, who is this Mordi Bimol? I don’t know him,” Japut said, pointing out that the Opposition should not politicise the issue of rubbish collection.

Responding to the harsh words used by the District Officer, Bimol said: “Local authorities such as council should not take any complaint made by any political party especially opposition as a threat.

“Any political party tries to serve the people and it is the job of the politicians to voice out people’s complaints and problems.

“Media is one of the channels for the public and even political parties to share the community problems. So, local authorities should take this positively, investigate and solve the problem.

“Instead of saying those harsh words, he should investigate on the matter, whether it is true or not, and solve it. I am not pointing fingers...but I just want to share the problems and want the council to take a relevant action on the matter.

“Maybe he should go and visit the place to see the real situation of that place,” he said.

Bimol said that he visited Kpg Serikin last Thursday, and saw the problem, and interviewed few groups of residents.

“They are complaining...so it is my job to help them and voice out this matter,” he said.

He noted that RM2 is collected each day since 2004 from each Indonesian who operates a stall. Roughly there are 400 stalls operating on both Saturday and Sunday in that border village.

“Counting on the amount of money collected for eight years, residents of Kpg Serikin are very frustrated with the poor service provided  by the council.

“They should improve their efficiency to service the people as efficient as they collect the money.

“According to the residents, the garbage collection supposed to be twice a week (Monday and Friday). However, garbage collection is done only once a week and in fact, sometimes only once in two weeks.

“Therefore, the trash containers which are located at the end of that village are always full and spill out,” he said, pointing out that “this in turn causes the problem of bad smell and a dirty environment”.

“We are very concerned on this matter because Kampung Serikin is one of the best tourist attraction places in Bau which never fails to attract tourists every weekend.

“Proven as a good tourism place, it is very important for those relevant authorities or government agencies to work together with the residents of that village to maintain and improve the area to keep the area clean and healthy.

“This little problem might affect the impression of the tourists to Kpg Serikin and might jeopardize the business of the local people.

“So, we must work together to help them to improve whatever facilities needed,” Bimol added.

Another broken promise

13 Oct 2011

KUCHING: What has happened to a clinic that was proposed to be built at Kampung Stungkor, Lundu before the 2002 state election? asked Foo Ah Kee, whose land was acquired for the clinic.

“I have no idea whether the government actually has any plan to construct this clinic, but I do know that there is a real and urgent need to cater for the medical needs of the people,” he said.

Another villager, known only as Madam Tapin, spoke of her problems when she got sick and needed to see a doctor during her husband’s absence.

“It is so difficult to look for someone to drive me to the Lundu or Bau hospitals to seek treatment, and it would be much easier if the clinic had been built as it would a walking distance from my house,” said Tapin, who is in her early 60s.

Their sentiments are shared by at least by 5,000 people from nine Bidayuh villages in the locality.

When the proposal to build the clinic was announced just before the state election in 2002, the people applauded it even though they knew it to be one of the election ‘goodies’.

Once completed, it would provide out-patient services, mother and child healthcare services and maternity wards for the villagers and at the same time it would help to reduce the pressure exerted on the accident and emergency (A& E) departments of Bau and Lundu district hospitals.

Now more than nine years later their joy turned into frustration and anger as they felt cheated by the State Barisan Nasional and its elected representatives for failing to fulfil their promises.

“This is another broken promise by the Barisan Nasional,” said Boniface Willy Anak Tumek, a member of Sarawak PKR political bureau.

Willy has been exposing the BN’s unfulfilled promises made during the state and parliamentary elections, and such projects included roads, bridges, water, electricity, rural growth centres (RGC) and land titles to native customary rights (NCR) land.

Checked with the medical department, Willy said that it is confirmed that such a clinic would be constructed under the 9th Malaysia Plan but it is given a low priority by the Ministry of Health.

According to Willy, the villagers are very upset with the way they have been treated for the past nine years.

“How is it that after nine years we are still not considered as deserving of this most basic of public service which every citizen by right is entitled to enjoy?

“Election after election we have proven our loyalty to the BN government and helped to return them to office. It is very upsetting to know that they have placed no value on our support at all.

“This is not the first time that we have been treated shabbily,” complained Tapin’s husband.

Willy said that the villagers are now demanding that the Minister of Health Liow Tiong Lai, the MP for Mas Gading Tiki Lafe, Assistant Minister of Public health Jerip Susil and their Opar assemblyman Ranum Mina to ensure that the clinic be built before the 10^th Malaysia Plan expires.

“We would like to remind Ranum that the clinic was promised to us, in part, to persuade the voters to vote for him and elect him to high office.

“And he owes us this clinic,” said Willy, a committee member of PKR Mas Gading division.

Health problems of rural people ignored

KUCHING: Rural people in Bau district have to spend at least one day or even more to attend to their dental problems at polyclinic at Tanah Puteh, Kuching or to Kota Sentosa bazaar just because there is no dental unit at the Bau district Hospital.

“They have been doing this for the past 19 years since the opening of the hospital,” said Boniface Willy Tumek, a member of PKR Mas Gading Division.

“This arrangement is very inconvenient to patients from Bau especially those who are poor and have to depend on public transport,” he said.

He said that the government has approved a proposal some time ago to construct a two-storey building partly to house a dental unit in Bau, but for reasons undisclosed the construction of the building has been delayed.

“As a person coming from the area, I am inclined to ask what has happened to the project. Can our three elected representatives – Peter Nansian (state assemblyman for Tasik Biru), Ranom Anak Mina (state assemblyman for Opar) and the MP for Mas Gading Tiki Lafe do something about it?” Boniface asked.

“Tiki should be in the forefront in the health problems in the area, not because he is the MP for the constituency, but more so that he is a specialist doctor,” he said.

This is the second major project that apparently has been abandoned in the Bau and Lundu districts; the other abandoned project was the RM500,000 bridge which was supposed to be constructed across Batang Kayan near Kampung Selampit.

On the condition of the 68-bed Bau hospital, which was officially opened in 1993, Boniface said it is woefully inadequate to fully meet the medical and health needs of the growing population of the district.

“Currently there are five resident doctors serving at the hospital, comprising the hospital director and four other medical officers to serve the needs of more than 50,000 people of the district,” he said.

Due to lack of space, he said that the physiotherapy unit is housed at one of the buildings originally intended as a living quarter for the doctors.

“Equally pressing needs at the hospital are to have separate wards for the paediatrics and the maternity units.

“There is no separate government medical clinic in Bau town so health screening and out-patient treatment, including mother and child health (MCH) services are conducted from the A&E unit of the hospital.

“This has caused severe congestion at the A&E unit on most days, causing inconveniences to the patients and making working conditions a lot more stressful for the staff,” he added.

According to Boniface, the average occupancy rate of the hospital is at low of about 37% but this is not because of low numbers of the sick needing in-house (warded) treatment,

He said the availability of relatively good roads has made it easier for the sick to head directly for the Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching to seek specialist treatment and by-pass the Bau hospital, thus contributing, in no small way, to the severe congestion in the wards at the Sarawak General Hospital and under utilisation of the wards at the hospital.

Boniface said: “There is every reason to upgrade the Bau hospital to accommodate these much needed services in proper settings and the rakyat in Bau are now demanding for such an upgrading.

“In fact the government should upgrade this hospital to a specialist grade hospital. Such a hospital will serve as a referral centre for patients from Lundu District Hospital, who are in need of specialist treatment and this will help ease the congestion at the Sarawak General Hospital.

“The Lundu district hospital currently has a patient’s referral rate to Sarawak general Hospital of 63%,” he added.

He said that the people in Bau have been loyal ‘fixed deposit’ supporters of the BN government and giving them a specialist grade hospital will be one fitting and meaningful way for the government to reciprocate and to reward them for their fervent and untiring support.

“Towards this end, the people now call on the Federal Minister of Health Liow Tiong Lai, and their three elected representatives especially Dr. Tiki to take immediate and appropriate actions so that soon they may have a specialist grade hospital in Bau to serve them,” he said.

He urged the government to commence on the construction of the dental clinic as soon as possible, preferably before the year end.

He said Tiki who is a medical doctor and a native son of Bau should be able to help especially he was a deputy federal minister possessing the necessary network needed to deliver the hospital.

KROKONG DECLARATION

BAU: The three-day Borneo Forests Conference which was attended by representatives from Sabah, Sarawak, West and East Kalimantan ended on 9 July with calls to their respective governments of Malaysia and Indonesia to recognise the rights of the indigenous peoples of Borneo.

The conference was jointly organised by Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA), Borneo Resource Institute Malaysia (BRIMAS), Building Initiative in Indigenous Heritage, PACOS Trust, Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara, Indonesia, and Jaringan Orang Asal SeMalaysia.

Called the Krokong Declaration, it reminds the two governments of their international human obligation to incorporate their rights into the national laws.

It also calls on the two governments to:

Ø ensure the full and effective participation of indigenous peoples in all development policies, plans, assessments and implementation related to indigenous peoples subject to our free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).

Ø impose a moratorium on development projects that have been identified to be implemented and planned in our territories that have violated our rights and do not have our FPIC.

Ø review all existing laws and regulations that undermine our rights as indigenous peoples.

Ø urge the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia to stop and investigate all forms of violence against our people, arising from all the common issues below.

The declaration says: “We, the indigenous peoples of Borneo coming from Indonesia and Malaysia gathered together for the very first time in Krokong, Bau, Sarawak, in the beautiful land of the Hornbills to discuss the common issues faced by the indigenous peoples of Borneo.

“We, the indigenous peoples of Borneo, have very distinct cultures and relations to our land, territories and resources. We strive to maintain these distinct values through our Adat and norms that have been passed down to us from our ancestors for generations. We have lived and nurtured our traditional knowledge, innovations and practices since time immemorial, making us the true custodians of our land, territories and resources.

“We, the indigenous peoples of Borneo have suffered social injustices resulting from the imposition of development aggression on our lands, territories and resources. All these have been done without our free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). We have not been included in the decision making processes, thus we continue to be marginalized and discriminated regardless of our basic human and customary rights to land, territories and resources, as stated in state, national and international laws.

“We call upon our governments, Malaysia and Indonesia, who adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), to fully uphold the rights contained in the Declaration.

“We, the indigenous peoples of Borneo declare our solidarity and unity in declaring the Krokong Declaration to be respected and recognized towards its implementation in Malaysia and Indonesia.

“We are further united by the common threats that face us: mega dam projects, mining and other extractive industries, oil palm plantations, deforestation and forest degradation, and climate change on our island of Borneo. We recognize that these threats are faced by indigenous peoples in Malaysia and Indonesia as well as around the world.

“In Borneo, the development of mega dams has displaced and involuntary forced resettlement of indigenous peoples causing losses of our customary land and source of livelihood, identity and culture. It will also contribute to climate change because of the emission of methane and carbon dioxide from forest clearing and from flooding of reservoir. Water-borne diseases like Malaria and Chikungunya happen more often in areas that surrounds the dam.

“The expansion of oil palm plantations is escalating in alarming and unprecedented proportions that destroy our customary land, territories and resources. This trend brings grave concern to us because it has adversely affected our social culture and livelihoods and unjustly deprived us of the very source of sustenance.

“Additionally, extractive industries such as mining and logging continue to encroach into our ancestral domains which have resulted in land and environmental quality degradation that further impoverish our people. All the extractive industries have contributed to climate change by emitting green house gases (GHGs).

“We are also adversely affected by climate change. Our rivers and land are drying, frequent occurrences of flash floods, unpredictable weather patterns and seasons that threaten our food security. Climate change mitigation schemes such as REDD can create potential threats to the ownership of our forests and our rights.

“All of the common issues above have increased the violation of our human rights in the form of intimidation, wrongful detention, criminalization, killings, deployment of gangsters and the use of para-military force against Indigenous Peoples. Likewise, our traditional values, institutions, governance system and knowledge as well as cultural heritage are being eroded as a result of these,” the declaration says.

The declaration also pledges that they work together as one people and one Borneo to respond to these threats in a united and systematic manner that will ensure the survival and dignity of our peoples.

It says: “We therefore, will work for the establishment of the Borneo Indigenous Peoples Alliance (BIPA) as the expression of our united stand for life and dignity.”

The Krokong Declaration will be submitted to the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia as well as to the State and provisional governments and the United Nations.- The Broken Shield.

The PKR pledge on NCR Land

A Sarawak PKR leader has warned the Bidayuhs that the land on which they are standing now may be taken away from them.

“Be careful if anyone takes away your land, you will have no more land on which you stand,” said Baru Bian, a member of PKR political bureau at a dinner last night at a Bidayuh village in Bau.

"Like Lun Bawang which means natives of the country, Bidayuh as he is given to understand means someone standing on the land. But one day, Bidayuhs will have no more land on which they can stand as their land may be taken away. They will stand on the air” said Baru who is a Lun Bawang from Lawas.

He said that land especially the NCR land issue is a very hot issue now as the government is leasing them to giant companies for the planting of oil palm. And as a lawyer, he said he is currently handling more than 100 court cases against the government.

Altogether there are more than 200 cases pending in the High Court, he said.

“So we have to be very careful, as there are companies which want to take away our land. Even the governor’s NCR land is being taken,” he said, adding: “Land is our life. Without land we will die.”

Baru said that PKR had now made its own land policy when it took over the administration of the State government.

“First, we will survey all NCR lands and declare them as NCR land reserves. This is to be done along the line the Malay Land Reserves are being done in the Peninsula. No non-natives can buy or deal with them.

“Secondly, any NCR land owner wants his land to be surveyed and given title, the PKR government will comply with his request. This is being done in the States under the administration of the Pakatan Government,” Baru said.

He said in Sarawak the State government refused to survey NCR land saying the government had no money.

“That is not the reason. The reason is that government fears that once NCR lands are being surveyed, the whole of Sarawak will be under the NCR land,” Baru said.

He called on Bidayuhs to work together with PKR to see a new dawn is coming to Sarawak.

The dinner which was attended by 2,000 Bidayuhs from the three parliamentary constituencies of Mas Gading, Mambong and Serian was organised to welcome the visit of Anwar Ibrahim to Bau.

Datuk Sri Daniel Tajem, the former president of the defunct Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak was also invited to the dinner where he met Anwar who called him “Chief” and Chua Jui Meng who described Tajem as the “greatest”. - The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com