Rural poor mounting attack on unscrupulous Telcos

Despite DAP Serian’s highlighting of the burden and inconvenience caused by giant Telcos with regard to the unscrupulous charges they made on pre-paid services, no support seemed to have been received from the very leaders who opposed the imposition of the 6% service that the Telcos wanted to impose effective 15^th September 2011 including BN Federal leaders.

The pre-paid mobile users were relieved when the Minister for Information, Communications and Culture Minister announced on 12/9/2011 that the Telcos agreed to defer the 6% service tax.

What actually happened was a nightmare to pre-paid mobile users. It became a burden and inconvenience to them.

Their hope now is hoping that this matter be highlighted, hoping the authorities will act and protect them. They came to DAP service center in Serian, one after another, each day to complain.

Now they are dismayed upon learning that they are being deducted very much more for services that they should not at all be paying.

This came to light when the users found out that every top-up amount they made were used up in a very short period of time. The validity of their top-up credits was also shortened. This means that even though there is credit balance in their phone the line cannot be used because the validity period has expired.

Previously a major Telco company charged 09 sen for any call that is auto-replied, unreachable numbers or engaged numbers. The user is charged even if he cuts the line in a matter or a second or two. Since 16^th September 2011, it was found that this charge was increased to 28 sen. Another major Telco even increases the charge to 36 sen.

Actually these calls should not be charged at all. It’s a matter of no service provided. The line is unreachable or engaged or the other end doesn’t pick up the phone, so there is no service provided.

DAP Serian made a simple calculation on the statement made by the Minister regarding the service tax that these major Telcos were paying to the government in the past 12 years.

He said that since 1998 to 2010, a period of 12 years, the Telcos paid to the government a service tax amounting to RM6b on pre-paid taxes alone. Everyone knows the major service providers are Celcom, Digi and Maxis.

The Minister further said that all in all, there were 26 million customers. If a major player is having a third of the users that would be 8.5 million. And if half of these are using prepaid services, actually more is estimated, that translated to 4 million prepaid users.

If we are to imagine that a third is paid by any of these major players in the past 12 years, that translates to RM2b. Divide that amount by the number of months in the past 12 years, each Telco pays the government RM1.38m per month for the pre-paid users as service tax.

Let’s calculate how much they rake in by charging just 09 sen for unanswered calls, engaged lines or unreachable numbers. If a user buys a credit of RM10 and was charged for 10 calls, that would amount to RM0.90. Multiply that with the 4 million users that would amount to RM3.6 m per month.

This is nuts compared to the RM1.38 million that they pay as service tax to the government. Why are the Telcos saying that they have been over generous by paying on behalf of the users when in fact they are reaping much more from the customers? With the increase to RM0.28, they are certainly raking in more than three times the amount. What a scam.

A parent who used to top up RM30 for two week usage found his credit finished in just four days. Another user who used to purchase RM10 complained that his credit was used up in just two days. Connectivity in the rural areas is poor which causes a lot of computer general replies and they are charged.

Another matter that annoys the prepaid users is the validity period of their credit top-up. For a top-up of RM5, the validity is just two days. Parents used to purchase RM5 for their children and they expect to use the credit to call towards the weekend. But they can’t use their credit anymore. For a RM10 top-up, the validity is 6 days, meaning that the line cannot be used the following week.

Prepaid mobile users are hoping that the authorities put a stop to all these ill-treatment. They would like the Telcos to extend their top-up validity to at least a week for a small top-up and two weeks for a RM10 top-up. The pre-paid users are mainly the poor and students.

Edward Luak

DAP Serian

24 Nov. 2011

DAP to contest Serian seat

18 Oct 2011


SERIAN: The Serian Parliamentary constituency is likely to see a straight fight between DAP-Pakatan Rakyat and SUPP-BN in the coming state election.

“This is because Pakatan Rakyat has agreed to DAP contesting the Serian seat,” said Sarawak DAP Secretary Chong Chieng Jen at the opening of Serian DAP service centre.

DAP has identified a number of potential Bidayuh candidates for the Serian seat against the incumbent from Sarawak United People’s Party Richard Riot who is certain to go for his sixth term as an MP.

The constituency has 29,963 voters, with 24,540 Bidayuh voters, and there are 3,216 Chinese voters, and the rest are Malays and Ibans.

Chong, who is the Kota Sentosa assemblyman said that DAP has now revived its branch in Serian under the leadership of Edward Luak, who is the chairman of the DAP branch here.

“With more people coming in to join the party, Serian is now moving on the right track, and from here we are moving to another milestone, that is, Serian will be contested by DAP.

“We will give the Barisan Nasional a good fight and a run for their money,” said Chong, urging members and supporters to put 101% efforts to ensure that Pakatan Rakyat will capture the Serian seat.

On the service centre, he said that it will serve as an operation that will play an important role in the coming general election.

In opening the centre, Lim Kit Siang, DAP national adviser, asked Sarawakians: “What can you get by joining DAP?

“It will not be able to offer you material benefits, to give you tenders, timber concessions or to give you big cars.

“No, DAP cannot give you that, but it can give you an opportunity to serve the people of Sarawak and Malaysia and to ensure that justice and freedom prevail in the country.

“That is our duty,” Lim said, asking every member to be patient, diligent and committed.

“We must have the determination to ensure justice and freedom prevail, and this is our biggest challenge,” he added, pointing out that it took the party 28 years to claim six seats in the 2006 state election, and 45 years to make an impact in Peninsular Malaysia.

Now the six seats have now increased to 12 seats, he said.

Lim said that their mission is not to topple the state government as it had already held its state election.

“We are going to change the Federal government and its policies, and when the Federal Government is changed, the state is certain to change, a fundamental change.

“And only then you can see the full operations of democracy, freedom and justice in the country,” he said.

Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim DAP national vice-chairman, who was present at the function, told the people to regard their votes as their most valuable ‘properties’.

“Don’t sell your votes. Your votes are your most valuable properties. If you throw away your votes, then you lose your power to bring change to the government.

“The coming general election is very important. It is an opportunity for you to change the government.

“Malaysia and Sarawak need change after 50 years or so under the Barisan Nasional rule,” he said, adding that they should not complain, if they do not want to change.

Villagers torched machinery

Photo: http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=128722

KUCHING: About 500 villagers from 10 Bidayuh villages in Tebedu on Sunday 8 May burnt seven heavy machinery, four lorries and five logging camps after their elected representative Michael Manyin and the Police failed to look into their complaints.

The value of the destroyed properties believed to be worth several millions of ringgit.

Last month they met Manyin and lodged a number of Police reports regarding a certain timber company allegedly encroached into their native customary rights land.

Instead of peacefully settling the issue, Manyin who was recently elected as the representative of Tebedu said that when the problem was reported to him he was told that the villagers initially rejected their land being used for road construction.

According to Manyin, when the company offered them lucrative compensation, the villagers agreed and the only ‘trouble makers’ were the ones whose land was not affected.

He said: “They were not part of the group that received RM40 per square metre compensation for land affected to build the timber road, and they demonstrated by blocking the access road.

“They also destroyed a timber bridge,” he said.

But Manyin’s statement was hotly disputed by Bisa Duda, a spokesman of the villagers who demanded Manyin to apologise to them.

His statement that they were not offered the lucrative compensation was considered by the villagers as “insulting and embarrassing”.

Bisa said that the villagers were not interested in the compensation as they do not want the company to encroach into their NCR land.

“We are not after the money. We do not want the company to use our land and the jungle in our area as these are our ancestral properties,” Bisa said.

He accused Manyin of telling lies as the villagers never agreed to and allowed their land to be used for the construction of the timber road.

In Yesterday’s incident, the villagers went to the camp at about 10 am and torched seven machinery, four lorries and five workers’ camps.

The Police who also arrived at the scene could not do anything as they were not only outnumbered, but the villagers were emotional and angry.

When contacted today, one of the leaders who did not want to be identified said that they had to take the law into their own hands as their elected representative and the authorities failed to safeguard their interests.

They had failed to stop the logging activities and the villagers could not tolerate it any more.
“We have made several reports to the authorities and yet the logging activities still continue,” he said, pointing out that their crops, fruit trees and their land have been destroyed.

He also said that they had warned the workers to stop the logging activities, but they simply ignored their warning.

“We give them ample time, and when they fail to adhere to our warning, we have to take action. We have to burn down their camps and machinery.

“We really mean business,” he said.

Serian Police Chief ASP Awangku Ahmaddin Awang Wang who was present at the scene was not available for comment.

It is not certain whether anyone has been arrested.

Sale of Python meat – where are wildlife enforcement officers?

In Sarawak, a python meat is not only considered as a delicacy, but one that it is believed to have some medicinal values particularly among the Chinese such as purifying our blood, arthritis, skin diseases, etc.

It is little wonder that pythons are a common sight especially in a town like Serian. I never missed seeing pythons that have been cut into pieces weighing a kilo or more every time I visit Serian.

During my “balik kampong” for the Gawai Dayak celebrations, I noticed at least two pythons – one weighing about 100kg that had been cut into pieces and another but smaller one.

I saw a big crowd watching piles of python meat at the Serian Open market (see pictures above) and asked them where the slithery animals had come from. They told me that some Dayaks had sold them to the towkay at RM3.50 a kilo and the towkay in turn sold the meat to willing buyers at RM15.00 a kilo. So the towkay made a profit of RM11.50 a kilo.

They told me that this open sale has been going one for some time. But what baffles me is: where are the enforcement officers from the Wildlife Department? Don’t tell me they do not know about it.

Under the Sarawak Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998, Section 29 (2) any person who hunts, kills, captures, sells, offers for sale, or claims to be offering for sale, imports, exports, or is in possession of, any protected animal, or any recognizable part of derivative thereof, or any nest thereof, except under and in accordance with the terms and conditions of a licence, shall be guilty of an offence. Penalty, imprisonment for one year and a fine ten thousand ringgit.


The Nabau or python?

Since we are on the story of python, let me relate to you some bizarre story of a big snake being circulated in Kapit. During our recent visit to Kapit, this story of a big snake eating a human being in Belaga causing my hair standing on end.

Could the big snake be the “Nabau” that was seen swimming in the Baleh river several months ago? Or could it be a python?

I tried to contact the Police in Belaga to confirm the story and to find out what has happened to the snake. Some how or rather my calls could not get through. Now look at the video. – The Broken Shield

Source: http://www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com/