Pakatan budget: what are in store for Sabah and Sarawak?

September 27, 2012

The Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak will have a better deal in the Pakatan Rakyat’s budget 2013 as it pledges that in the spirit of Kuching Declaration, it is committed to fulfilling any and all obligations on the part of the federal government.

The Declaration signed in Kuching recently affirms to honour the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement of 1963, which among others seeks to restore Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya as equal partners, fair representation in Parliament, citizenship, to restore native customary rights over land,  to appoint locals to head federal government departments in the states,  oil justice and equitable development.

“Pakatan Rakyat shall honour the pledge to increase petroleum royalty to the oil producing states to 20%. This is expected to bring additional RM12.5 billion to the states of Kelantan, Sabah, Sarawak and Terengganu in the country so far.

“The disbursement of the petroleum royalty will come with a strict transparency and accountability procedure to ensure that every sen of the petroleum royalty goes to the people,” the Pakatan coalition said.

It said: “Pakatan Rakyat is critical of the favourable treatment given to well-connected corporations such as SapuraKenchana in benefitting from risk-sharing contracts (RCSs) for marginal fields when no similar effort was made to invest in the future of the rakyat from the oil producing states.

“There are enough skills, expertise and resources from the states to develop their own second-tier oil and gas companies that can use the RSCs for the marginal fields as a training ground before competing in the wider oil and gas market, not unlike the experience of Petronas in its formative years.

 “The legacy and benefit of oil and gas resources inn the states can be harvested well beyond the expiry life of the resources itself. The emergence of second-tier oil and gas companies owned by the states retains the skills and expertise in the company that can eventually compete elsewhere, even

when the hydrocarbon resources are fully depleted in Malaysia,” the coalition said.

Pakatan Rakyat will work with the state governments to establish state-owned second-tier oil and gas companies for Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Kelantan and other oil-producing states to benefit the financial investments made into marginal fields through risk-sharing contracts (RSCs).

In the budget, the construction of the Pan-Borneo Highway will be given top priority by the Pakatan Rakyat.

Under the present BN government the disparity of road coverage in the peninsula against Sabah and Sarawak is very glaring.

While the road network has reached 35,734 km in the peninsula by 2009, the combined road network in Sabah and Sarawak is only 10,171.

“Sabah and Sarawak are in dire need of a massive upgrade of its road networks, especially considering that its oil and gas resources have contributed largely to indirectly funding the infrastructure development in the rest of the country.

“Pakatan Rakyat undertakes to commence the design and construction of the Pan-Borneo Highway connecting Kuching to Kota Kinabalu and east coast of Sabah as part of its promise to bring development in Sabah and Sarawak to be at par with the rest of the country.

“A Pakatan Rakyat federal government will also undertake to assess the financial impact and viability of upgrading and extending the rail networks in Sabah and Sarawak which currently stands at 134 km.” It said. 

Devoid of logic?

I have returned from Gawai Dayak celebrations during which I met a lot of relatives and friends. Besides enjoying ourselves during the Gawai, our focus of discussion was on native customary rights (NCR) land, the majority of which has now been ‘sold’ by the government through their agents like Temenggong, Penghulu and Tuai Rumah to big oil palm companies like Tabung Haji.

According to them, the affected landowners have filed their legal action against Tabung Haji, Temenggong and Tuai Rumah as well as against the Land and survey Department and the government.

All the NCR land even up to their ‘kaki tangga’ (door step) have been taken away leaving nothing for the Ibans to plant paddy, vegetables, pepper, cocoa and rubber.

Some of the Ibans have now been given rubber clones, pepper and oil palm to plant together with subsidies. This scheme is under the Ministry of Agriculture.

What is strange is that the majority of the Ibans, if not all, have no land left to plant all these crops as their land have been taken by Pelita-Tabung Haji Company.

What shall they do with the rubber clones and young oil palm trees and fertiliser?

Sell them for a short term benefit?

But that is not the point: The point is why giving them when you know they have no land to plant those crops.

Are these parts of the ‘election goodies’? Or are those from the Ministry of Agriculture plain stupid?

BEWARE OF BN CHEATING!!

*GE..voting procedure 2012.URGENT! PLEASE READ AND TAKE NOTE!

*PLEASE bring along your own pencil ERASER. It is VITAL that we get this information across to as many people as possible.

*Just take note, people...  Read on. *

*The Voter Agent training recently conducted at the PJ Civic Centre brought to the fore some very critical issues which every voter ought to know. *

*These are as follows:

1.    As soon as you enter the polling station, you will be ushered to Kerani 1, who will check your personal identity against your NRIC. He/she will then read out your name, NRIC number and the Siri/Bilangan number in accordance to the list provided by the Election Commission (SPR).

2.      Once all that is verified, Kerani 1 will pass your NRIC to the next officer, Kerani 2.

3.      Here, Kerani 2 will hand you a ‘Kertas Undi,’ which is identified by its Serial Number. As a voter, please know your rights. You have the constitutional right under our Election Laws to NOT accept the ‘Kertas Undi’ that the officer assigns to you. You CAN and should ask for a different ‘Kertas Undi’ from a different book. To do that, just say to the officer, “Encik (or Cik), saya minta Kertas Undi dari buku lain atau dari bawah.” Translated, that is, “Sir (or Madam), I like to request a different ballot paper from a different book or from below.” This must be done so that the voter CANNOT be identified via the SPR’s master list. It will take just ONE voter to upset the whole sequence**, which will eventually affect the SPR’s master list for that voting centre. The aim of doing this is to SAFEGUARD every voter’s identity. No one has the right to know how you want to vote.

4.      Once your ‘Kertas Undi’ is issued to you, just stand there and do NOT leave immediately. Instead please CHECK BOTH SIDES of the ballot paper in order to ensure that there are NO pencil markings or any other form of suspicious markings on it. If there are, REJECT the ballot paper issued to you and instead request for these markings to be either erased to your satisfaction or for you to be issued with a new ‘Kertas Undi.’ Also do NOT accept any loose-lying ‘Kertas Undi,’ which may have been strewn about because it was rejected by someone else earlier. ALWAYS ask for a fresh ballot paper from the book. An alternative, as suggested by certain other people via email, is to bring along your own eraser so that when you see any pencil marks, you can rub them off completely yourself.

5.      Kerani 2 will then hand the ‘Kertas Undi’ to the next officer, Kerani 3. Kerani 3 carries a seal, which will be used to stamp your ‘Kertas Undi.’ PLEASE watch carefully that the officer stamps your ballot paper FULLY and CLEARLY. After that, see that it is folded into two before the ballot paper is handed over to you.

6.      You can now proceed to the voting booth.

7.      At the booth, please ensure that the ballot paper has only your ONE marking of a single X. If for whatever reason, suspicious or otherwise, you overlooked some pencil marks of numbers or markings on the front or back of the ballot paper (ie other than your own mark), please ERASE those markings completely. REMEMBER, these markings can and will render your ballot spoilt – so be extra cautious. The most careful approach is to check your ‘Kertas Undi’ thoroughly before you accept it from the officer. REMEMBER to check it in front of the relevant officer so that if you have to reject it, he is right in front of you.

8.      Do not be afraid or cower in fear when you have to express your objections because there are representatives from the various participating political parties who will be there to observe the whole voting process and they are there to assist you as and when you need.

As mentioned earlier, it is this kind of information that BN/UMNO does not want others to know. They thrive on public ignorance so that they can do whatever they feel like brazenly.

One way to stop them is to send this information to as many of your friends as possible so that everyone, on voting day, knows exactly what to do, knows his/her constitutional voting rights and is aware of Print this out and keep it safely. When Voting Day finally arrives, it will be handy for you to access and read again.*