Fifty-Six years for Progress to reach Baram?

BARAM: Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu Ak Numpang has urged the Orang Ulu Community to be patient, saying that they may have to wait at least 10 years for the vast Baram district to experience progress and development.

“The government has development plans for Baram. Within the next 10 years there will be opportunities for the rural district to get out of vicious poverty cycle.

“The key, of course, is the people of Baram must work hand in hand with the government, with the Barisan Nasional and with one another,” he said at the opening ceremony of PBB Telang Usan triennial delegates assembly last Saturday.

From Jabu’s remarks, the people of Baram will only benefit from the fruits of Merdeka 56 years after Sarawak has obtained her independence through the formation of Malaysia. For the past 46 years, the district has been neglected, marginalized and suppressed.

If I am not mistaken, there was a proposal decades ago to build a trunk road from Miri to Marudi. The proposal was not approved because there were no economic activities there. Furthermore, the state government did not want to disturb, like in Kapit, the boat express services there. But who own these boat expresses?

Jabu admitted that another 10 years then the people of Baram’s rural district – the Kayans, Kenyahs, Berawans, Ibans, Penans and Kelabits – will “get out of vicious poverty cycle”.

By the time, when development eventually comes, if the promise is to be fulfilled, many of those who are now 46 years old or more (if they are born before and during Sarawak’s independence in September 1963) will be dead by then. Sad that they will never taste the fruits of Merdeka.

Jabu warned them of course they must support BN, otherwise forever they will never see development.

The Baram District has abundant wealth in the form of timber, and timber related products, bird nests, good land for agricultural activities and the reason why the people are poor is because the forests have been stripped off their contents leaving nothing for the people to survive on. No wonder the timber blockades are never an ending process. – The Broken Shield

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com

Salang tells State leaders: Don’t divert federal allocation on infrastructure

MP Julau-cum-Deputy Minister of Information, Communication and Culture Joseph Salang has made it very clear to the State powers that be not to take away federal allocation for infrastructure development in Sarawak’s rural areas.

“The money must be rightly spent on such areas only. The implementing state agencies should follow the federal directives. There are reasons why the fund is specifically allocated to certain areas.

“The money should not be diverted else where,” he said when referring to RM4 billion federal allocation to upgrade infrastructure in the rural and interior regions of Sarawak and Sabah.

Salang’s warning is timely. Otherwise most of these monies will go to only SCORE areas, Mukah and Betong, thus other areas will be deprived of infrastructure development. It had happened in the past when allocation for the Simunjan/Punda Road was diverted to Kota Samarahan; allocation for a Pantu Secondary school was diverted to Betong. Many more had happened that you and I did not know.

Despite we are the richest State in the country with timber, oil and gas and land resources in plentiful, we are among the poorest in Malaysia. Why?

We know why Salang is so concerned about the federal fund being taken away, because at the moment the State government has no money. And we and Dayak leaders like Alfred Jabu, James Masing, and William Mawan should support Salang for daring to voice his concern rather than involved in the “sirat” issue.

A contractor friend of mine in Sarikei complained that the government owes him RM1 million, saying that the government has no money to pay him. Complaints of other contractors receiving no payment are also common.

Hotels will not receive service orders as a form of payment when civil servants go on travelling. Either cash or don’t stay in the hotels. That is the order from hotel managements.

According to my friend, the contractor, many will go bankrupt if the government does not pay for the completed projects: the contractor will go bankrupt, many of his workers who have houses and cars to pay will also go bankrupt and the hardware shoppers will also suffer.

So the question is: Why are we in this state of financial uncertainty and bankrupt? And where have the monies gone to? - The Broken Shield

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

BN MP still awaiting Kapit-Sibu trunk road ~ Malaysiakini

Taken from http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/107585

Kapit MP Alexander Nanta Linggi has blamed the big gap in development between Kapit - located in central Sarawak - and other divisions in the state to the lack of infrastructure development.

"Although there is much talk about the digital divide between urban and rural areas, the development gap in Kapit is far more pressing," said Nanta, who is from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), a member of the BN coalition.

"It is still a big issue here and we are still talking about it," he said at the 16th installation-cum-award dinner of the Kapit Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

"Kapit had over the years given the BN government a strong mandate in the general election because of its pledge to implement development projects, including completing the road that was to link Sibu with Kapit," he said.

"Kapit's economy depends on infrastructure development. The pledges, therefore, must be fulfilled and any development meant for the division, must also include the road link from Sibu to Kapit," added Nanta.

He warned that Kapit would suffer greatly if logging, on which it depended for its wealth, slowed down.


Vast tracks of untapped agricultural land

Kapit could not depend on indigenous fish like ikan empurau, semah and tangadak or fruit trees like dabai and langsat as they were seasonal and unreliable.

"We must venture into other businesses such as crop planting to ensure steady incomes," he said, and stressed that the construction of a road would open up vast tracts of land for agricultural activities.

Nanta is not the only one who had been urging the government to build the Kapit-Sibu trunk road.

There were other leaders before him including his grandfather Temenggong Jugah who made a similar call more than 40 years ago when he was the MP for Ulu Rejang and as minister for Sarawak affairs.

Then came Nanta's father Leonard Linggi Anak Jugah, who was the MP for Kapit (1978 to 1986), and a relative, James Jimbun.

Nanta, who fought for the road to be included in the Ninth Malaysia Plan was said to be furious when there was no allocation for the trunk road in the plan.

Trunk road may remain an illusive dream

It appears that the promise will remain an elusive dream if the argument put forward by the state government is any indication.

According to sources close to the state government, Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud is not in favour of the Kapit-Sibu trunk road.

They reckoned the trunk road will turn Kapit into a ghost town because visitors will not spend the nights there as they do now.

Secondly, the road, they said, is not economically viable as there are no economic activities between Sibu and Kapit.

This is despite the fact that the road will pass hundreds of longhouses and thousands of hectares of fertile land.

Thirdly, the government does not want to deprive express boats and tongkang that ply between Sibu and Kapit of their business.
One other reason, according to the sources, is that the government wants to concentrate on upstream development, where in addition to the Bakun hydro-electric dam (above), there is the Murum and Baleh dams to be built.

Roads and other infrastructure worth about RM7 billion will be built between Kapit and these areas, which will form part of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewal Energy (SCORE).

Although Kapit may not be linked to Sibu in the near future, it will eventually be connected to the fast growing town of Bintulu.

Bulk of RM3.3 billion goes to PBB constituencies

When the prime minister announced RM3.3 billion for infrastructural development in Sarawak in his 2009 budget speech on 29 August, initial response from Sarawakians including people from Kapit was of that excitement and joy. But when full details are revealed, the people living in coastal areas, Mukah and Betong are really the beneficiaries as the bulk of the money will be expended in their areas.

The projects mentioned include roads linking Sarawak new federal administrative centre, Jalai Nanga Buai to Ulu Spak in Betong, Jalai Tanjong Assam to Saribas, Betong, Jalai Awat-Awat to Kuala Lawas, Bengoh dam in Kuching and integrated wastewater management system in Kuching. And all these areas happen to be in constituencies held by elected representatives from Parti Bersatu Bumiputra (PBB).

It is natural for the people of Kapit to be angry with the government when they find out that Kapit Division is not mentioned in the budget. After all, they have not only been loyal BN supporters, but have also been waiting for 45 years for roads to be constructed linking Kapit with other towns in the State. And they have expected something to be given to them as rewards for their loyalty. Thus, Kapit has created a record of sorts that can be included in the Malaysian Book of Records or even the Guinness Book of Records as the only town in Malaysia having no road links with other towns in the State and in Malaysia. Even Pulau Pinang has a bridge linking it with other parts of West Malaysia. (In fact the second bridge has been proposed.)

But a SUPP leader asks the people of Kapit to wait patiently and for how long? Another 45 years? And the statement from YB Yong Khoon Seng, deputy federal Minister of Works makes the people of Kapit even angrier, when he said: “The project will come, don’t worry. Just don’t jump to conclusion regarding this matter because we have already planned for the road to be constructed. But it may take some time”.

The road, he said, might be constructed (I stress the word “might”) between Kapit and Song or Kapit and Sibu, pointing out that it would be a State road with funds might (again the word “might”) come from the federal government directly or indirectly. The word “might” indicates uncertainty. Between Yong and James Masing, Masing being the State Minister should know better if there is a plan for the State to build the road to be funded by federal funds.

Considering the importance of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) and the construction of 12 dams in the State, it is likely that the federal funds will be concentrated on the development of SCORE infrastructures along the coastal areas from Bintulu to Tanjung Manis and as well as infrastructures leading to the proposed 12 dams. The possibility of Kapit being excluded in the 2010 budget and in the 10th Malaysia Plan or even the 11th Malaysia Plan is very real unless and when drastic changes take place in the country such as the formation of PR government.