Penans to be caddies?

KUCHING: Is there any possibility for a Penan whose is wearing only his traditional dress being engaged as a caddie to such personality like Tiger Woods?

This could be possible if the government agrees to a suggestion by Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau to open up a golf course in the Penans’ territory in Baram in order to give them employment opportunities.

The suggestion was made by Ngau when he talked about woes faced by the natives of the Baram in the absence of basic amenities, infrastructure and economic activities in the area.

“This golf course will be part of the effort to increase the value-added of the tourism sector, and with the expected improvement of the road system in Baram soon, the setting up of the course will definitely provide employment opportunities to the locals,” Ngau said when he debated on the state 2012 budget.

Pointing out that a big chunk of the development budget goes to among others tourism development, Ngau said: “I would like to urge the relevant ministry to look into the request from the people of Ulu Baram who have identified places of interest to be developed as tourism products.

“Definitely Baram is very rich with tourism products, but very poor with supporting facilities such as good roads and other related facilities.

“The absence of these facilities makes tour packages become too expensive thus make it (tourism) unmarketable,” he said.

“As part of the effort to increase the value-added of the tourism sector, and with the expected improvement of the road system in Baram, I urge the government to encourage the private sector to open up a gold course in the area,” he said.

“The opening of the course would give the locals (Penans, Kayans and Kenyahs) job opportunities,” he said.

Currently the people in his constituency depend on rivers and jungles as their major source of food, pointing out that hunting and gathering of jungle produce are still the way of life.

“Rivers and jungles had acted like freezers to them in those days, but today there is an alarming drop in all types of fish and animals,” he said, urging the government to create a Penan communal land or Penan Reserve land, where they could still practise their traditional way of life.

Commenting on Ngau’s suggestion (to build golf course), Baru Bian, Ba’Kelalan assemblyman and Pakatan Rakyat’s shadow minister for Land Development and NCR land affair branded the suggestion as very ‘naïve’ to have a golf course in the interior of Baram.

“Once you destroy the forests and vegetation you also destroy the habitat of the animals.

“Secondly, the fertilizers they use to maintain the golf course is detrimental to marine life,” he said, pointing out that the course would not viable and beneficial ecologically speaking.

“It is so expensive to maintain the course and who would go and play? And how many people can get a golf course employment. 100? That will not solve the employment problem,” he said.

Bian suggested that to open up work opportunities other options should be considered for example the ecotourism like introducing home stay and the planting of different kinds of cash crops.

“Construction of roads to the interiors would open up the place too. This will encourage people to go back to their longhouses and take up their NCR land for farming,” he said.

For a golf course with 18 holes, its length should be between 5,000 and 7,000 yards and it needs at least an area of 150 hectares.

The cost of building the course depends on the type of course the government wants and the type of land where the course it is to be built.

Such a golf course may cost several hundred millions of ringgit.

Ngau did not point out exactly where the course could be built, and if it is in the Telang Usan valley it will be submerged under water when the proposed Baram dam is completed.

The dam which is about the size of Singapore is expected to drown between 70 and 80% of the NCR land.

It is projected to cost more than RM3 billion.

Bian hoped that Ngau is not serious with his suggestion.

Why Lihan Jok did not want to contest!

KUCHING: Isn’t it rather unusual for an elected representative to decline defending his seat for the third time, if he is from Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), the party that is the backbone of the state Barisan Nasional government?

Unusual, because there are others in the party who have served five terms or even six terms, and yet they demand to be re-nominated; sometimes, they ask their supporters to demonstrate urging the Party President to consider nominating their “wakil Rakyat” to defend their seats.

For them, they believe there are bigger economic pies, more opportunities to be rich and wealthy and the likelihood to be appointed to government posts of prominence.

But for Lihan Jok, he seemingly does not want all these. Instead he wrote to the Chief Minister and President of the party Abdul Taib Mahmud requesting to be dropped from the list of candidates for the coming state election.

After the last election, Lihan’s fortunes seemed to rise especially after he secured the Telang Usan seat for the second consecutive time with a bigger majority of 2771 votes. In 2001 his majority was 1,029 votes. Certainly, in the coming election, Lihan is still a winnable candidate.

But why does he decline to defend the seat?

According to Harrison Ngau, a lawyer and activist, Lihan is scared of his own shadow that has been haunting him since the state government announced to build two dams – one in Tutoh and the other at Long Keseh, Baram River.

In a meeting with the people in September 2010, Lihan described the Baram dam as the “gift of God” and the people should not only be thankful to God, but also to the State Barisan Nasional government which is proposing to build the dam.

“I am not ashamed to say that the mega project is a gift of God because as a result of the project the government will build a 60 km road from Long Lama to Long Keseh, benefitting about 12,000 Kayans from nine longhouses along the river,” he said.

The proposed road to link all the longhouses along the Baram River before the dam was ever conceptualized, more a wish for a better life for the people.

“What I am saying is that if there is no Baram dam, there won’t be any road being built. It does not make economic sense just building a road like that. The proposed dam justifies the building of the RM500 million road,” he said.

Lihan’s remarks drew sharp rebuke from educated Kayans and Kenyahs, many of them were his former students.

One former student asked him if he has the brains of a monkey by saying that dam is the gift of God.

Another former student said: “We don’t want that dam. It is not a gift from God, but it is a curse from hell, and we ask him not to lie to the Kayan people. Does this ‘bloody idiot’ hope to get a timber licence or what?”

Another Kayan intellectual said: “Perhaps Lihan thinks Taib (Chief Minister) is God. This road is only marginally beneficial to the ordinary rakyat and will benefit timber robber barons.

The dam, which we don’t need and which the people will also have to pay for, is only an excuse for Taib, his family and cronies to clean sweep all the remaining timber in the area. Then they will take the remaining land for oil palm plantations.”

A Kayan himself, Lihan and the 12,000 Kayans whose longhouses are below the Baram dam may be happy with the “gift of God”, but if you look into a bigger picture, as Burak S. Sam, an Orang Ulu leader sees it, the dam will present a completely different scenario.

“Once the dam is built, more than 10 longhouses comprising more than 10,000 Kayans, Penans and mostly Kenyahs and their farms, crops, fruit trees, century-old graves, livestock will vanish under a big lake which will reach Lio Mato, the furthest Kenyah longhouse in the Baram River.

“Schools, churches, chapels, clinics and places of historical significance to the Orang Ulu community will also be wiped out. The heritage of their forefathers and the pride of the community like Temenggong Oyong Lawai Jau (one of the founding fathers of Malaysian), Penghulu Tama Bulan Lian, Penghulu Jok Ngau, Penghulu Kebing, and Penghulu Nyipa will just remain as fairy tales for our posterities.

“The resulting destruction and annihilation brought about by the flood from the dam is irrevocable and massive. So is this the fate that the so-called God-given dam will bring about?” asked Sam.

With the proposed dam, there are no longer talks of perimeter survey of their native customary rights (NCR) land and all issues of minor rural development projects will no longer be relevant.

The proposed 1000MW dam which is to cost more than RM1 billion is expected to submerge more than half of the Orang Ulu “land”.

Memorandums after memorandums have been submitted to the government expressing the people’s fears and urge the government not to proceed with the Baram dam.

The natives even ask for reports of the studies such as environmental assessment impact, social impact assessment, and other studies to be discussed openly and debated, before the construction of dam begins. But the government refuses to oblige.

A signature campaign to oppose the construction of the dam is being conducted among the Kayan, Kenyah and Penan communities. Their target is to collect at least 20,000 signatures.

The signatures campaign will form part of a memorandum to be submitted to the Federal Government, state government, Suhakam and to the United Nations on human rights.

“Hopefully, this memorandum will exert great pressure on the state government,” said one of the organisers.

Apart from the Baram dam issue, Lihan Jok also faces problems on native customary rights (NCR) land that is being licensed out allegedly by his boss Taib.

Huge NCR land areas in Sungai Tutoh and Sungai Apoh have been licensed to Pusaka KTS Forest Plantation Sdn Bhd.

“He cannot question or ask Taib to cancel all these, even though at the same time the Telang Usan people want Lihan as their elected rep to speak out for them.

“Lihan realises that Telang Usan people are very unhappy with the present perimeter survey of NCR land there which fails to follow their ‘garis menua’ or ‘antara’ (boundaries),” said Harrison.

“With all these problems confronting him and thousands of native people are against the dam, do you think Lihan wants to defend the seat?” asked Harrison, who is a potential candidate for Telang Usan.

Telang Usan used to be the stronghold Sarawak National Party from 1963 until 1987 when its elected rep the late Joseph Balan Seling leap-frogged to PBB.

Ever since then, it has become the stronghold of PBB.

A letter from an Orang Ulu

By Burak Sem

My Brothers & Sisters,

I am now on my 'time-off', back to my second home, Bintulu with my family for about two months. In fact, I am already recovered from 'jet-lag' two days ago, and nevertheless, not forgetting of the delays in my emails, which have have fallen behind for almost 9 days.

It's great to be home again, with the weather, foods, friends, relatives, culture and driving on the left side of the road. I am planning to go back to my kampung in Telang Usan in couple of days and hope to catch up with the situations and get myself to well prepared for the upcoming state election.

Disgustingly, the Sarawak political system, from other countries has been tagged to be corrupt, hopelessness, vague and primitive since 29 years under the Barisan National government. Political system in this state of Sarawak is obviously unhealthy and people's rights are abused single-handedly by 'one evil man'. Social justice seems to be a far away dream. And the observance of the law seems ruthless.

It is a sad fact that Sarawak, although it has abundance in natural resources, vast area of lands, mighty rivers that could have placed abreast amount the world's richest countries have remained cellar dweller as among the poorest.

The reason is another sad fact, political career in the country is a very lucrative business that engrossed a lot of "greedy-white devils" lead by the “Old-Goat Father Abdul Taib Mahmud” and they spend a fortune, pour and mobilized out his greed just to grab posts, then recover their expenses with gargantuan profits out of Dayak's coffers and money spinning deals once elected. The end result, true welfare of Sarawak and its people for real leaps of progress does not happen, instead, the deplorable wealth these politicians amassed in just a few years becomes a common scenario.

As long as these traditional politicians in Barisan National reigns in power. As long as corruption is permitted by the top leadership and the political dynasty system continue to dominate, this country will continue to be buried under the ground. A country in misery, a country without hope, a country without future.

Hopes only prevail when we all Sarawakian decide and chooses a new and trust worthy leaders who struggle for our causes and who understands where we are at, this country Sarawak will have hope.

In a democratic society like in America and European countries, governance is always at the hands of the people. But, the state Barisan National lead by “Old-Goat Father Abdul Taib Mahmud” do not want us to know this facts about democracy, but continue to manipulate our minds to think, 'without Barisan National' there will be no hope of developments', 'maintaining stability and prosperity in the country', 'opposition cannot bring development to the people',

The Barisan National lead by “Old-Goat Father Abdul Taib Mahmud” and their dirty policy is slowly, but surely changing our cultures towards supporting their greed, regardless of our strong cultural background. They change our land codes in order to support their family members, elites' business empire, they change our traditions, cultures and corrupting our mindsets, to give us no choice but continually supporting them.

So why do Sarawakian keep silent? The simple answer is we have been taught by Barisan National on 'education and fear' and 'education depending their lies'. Our entire system and way of life are based on producing a feudal society, where the “subjects” are ruled by the “overlords.”

The overlords are the politicians in power, start from those small "Mao Ze Tung" in the civil service, the timber tycoons who benefitted from the "award-negotiated timber licenses”, "family members on free-share contracts".

I don't think it is necessary to change the culture of Culture and Tradition of Sarawak, what is necessary is to change the system within (governance) itself. Unless we will not change our attitude, this country will remain to be at the hands of opportunists, politician with self vested interests and robbers. What is happening in Sarawak, in my own view and what is happening in the state is not just a result of corrupt system and of poor managed government.

Therefore, the change must start within us, especially our youth, younger generations. The youth is said to be the catalyst of change. It is said that the youth is the hope of changing and bringing an ideal system. But how exactly can the youth change the present system when he is surrounded by a corrupt system? How can we do it when not all can study and get themselves involved in worthy activities? How can we do his advocacies when his freedoms are suppressed? How can the youth fight the pain of a corrupt system and maintain his idealism for an ideal system?

Choose Trust worthy YB

Soon we will go to the polls and select our new representatives; we must choose our candidates/YB wisely. We urge all eligible voters to consider their choices carefully because this is a crucial election.

The new set of candidates who will be elected into DUN or Parliamentary will be the ones who will guide this state through the major healing on the damages had caused by the incumbent governance.

Thus, voters must carefully assess the competence and track record of those running for the YBs. And not only that, we must assess their characters, honesty and background check as well.

Those who will be placed in positions of power must not only have the skills to govern but also the character, God-fearing, moral fortitude to be responsible and responsive to the needs of the people.

We urge voters to look beyond the candidates, the party's policies, principles and scrutinize the candidates on what they actually have to offer and what the candidate have done in improving the lives of the people.

We are hopeful that we have learned from our mistakes during the last state-election by voting a 'impersonator', 'thief', 'robber' and 'conman' in as our representative in Telang Usan, and will be better prepared this time.

Remember the following Ten (10) Rules, of a Poor and Immoral Candidate (YB):

1. Do not vote for candidate who cheats and taking monies from his people's MRP and use God's name to cover his guilt;

2. Do not vote for candidate who have track-record, swindle the school funds during his days as ruiral SRK teacher, that made the candidate being suspended by the Education Dept for a priod of time before posted at Ubong Emang School in Long Lama;

3. Do not vote for candidate, who hijacked people's 'belian licenses' and re-issue it under the wife's name;

4. Do not vote for candidate who involved in selling of Rumah Orang Ulu Kuching, (together with Abu Bakar @ Tom Belarek), God knows, how the money being divided between them?;

5. Do not vote for candidate who swindled Rm4 million, already allocated for Long San, Long Semiyang and Long Beruang's micro (mini) dams (needless to mention other monies swindled within the last 8 years);

6. Do not vote for candidate who caused disunity among his own people, even at his own long house in Long Bedian, which result they are having 2 Tua Kampung, 3 chapels, etc.;

7. Do not vote for candidate who swindled away part of the money suppose to be for the prices of 'ngajat' competition performed by our poor OU during Baram Regatta. The fist price suppose to be RM3,000 but somebody along the line gave to the 1st winner RM2,000. The same goes to 2nd & 3rd prices, etc. Again, God knows, where are the balance amount of the prices?;

8. Do not vote for candidate who never prepared his speeches and always talk 'rubbish', and also bluntly-challenged the people in Ulu Baram to build mega hotels at Usun Apau, without knowing there are no road excess to the plateau;

9. Do not vote for candidate who encourage 'Baram dam', in order to benefit his own pocket and personal interest, personal investment. That may cause major destruction to the people of the whole of Baram. Including drowning people’s NCR, cultures, traditions (languages/dialects), cemeteries, ecology/environment, etc.; and

10. Do not vote for candidate who is timid, suffering from inferiority-complex and who is also good "ball-polisher", "suka memuji dan memuja" the senior ministers in order to gain personal favor, which results in humiliating and despising the people who are under his constituency.
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This is not the time to be blinded by 'the voice of serpent of Eden about 'building Baram dam', before major roads will be build. We should be voting for the "best" candidate in lieu of political dictates. We must choose wisely and ensure that our interests — not the YB self interest. We must be reminded all the times that the incumbents, who are a bunch of conman, career opportunist, business politicians, got us into this total mess.

It is time to break the habit of the party line and open our eyes to what is best for this state. We need a government that wants to listen to the people. This is an election that could determine where our state of Sarawak will go in the near future.

Let's vote to ensure we can maintain our cherished Freedoms, Liberties and Rights. We pray, may GOD pours His Blessing upon us and guide us in the right path and show us His Lights and entrust us with His Wisdom.


The future of Sarawak is in our hand

DO NOT put our future in the hand of corrupt Barisan National YB, the “Old-Goat Father Abdul Taib Mahmud”, not YB Lihan Jok, Alfred Jabu or James Masing, because these names are no worse than "Nyihu-Aso-Menga Sihai" in Kayan, or in Kenyan "Cuk-Asu-Nganan Siyai", with similar meaning in BM "Harapkan-Pagar, Pagar Makan Padi".


VOTE FOR CHANGE, "IT'S NOW OR NEVER"

This verse is dedicated to the PR candidate of Telang Usan;

Psalms 1: 1; Blessed is the man, who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

This verse is dedicated to the incumbent BN candidate of Telang Usan (YB Lihan Jok);

Psalms 1:4; The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.


To: Dennis Ngau, Baram PBB Youth Chief:

I am referring to your upcoming Seminar/Forum/Dialog or whatever your intention with our brothers/Pastors from SIB church in Miri, on November 15, 2010.

This verses is for you to reflect, look at yourself 'inside-out' before you bears false witness and sin against our brothers (SIB Pastors);

Proverb 25:18; "Like a club and a sword and a sharp arrow Is a man who bears false witness against his neighbour".

Colosians 3:9-10; "Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him".

Leviticus 19:12; "And you shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the LORD".


'WE SHALL OVERCOME"

Regards
Burak S. Sem