Many legitimate questions have been raised about the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) to be launched by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Sepanggar Bay container port, 35 km from Kota Kinabalu, next Tuesday, including:
• Why the SDC is the last “corridor” to be announced and launched by the Prime Minister when it should be the first as Sabah has the worst poverty rate in the whole country.
• How the SDC will eradicate poverty in Sabah, which is the worst of all states in the country, with an incidence of poverty of 23% in 2004, much higher than the two other poverty-stricken states of Terengganu (15.4%) and Kelantan (10.6%). Sabah has also the worst hard-core poverty rate at 6.5% as compared to the next three states with the highest incidence, i.e. Terengganu 4.4% and Kedah and Kelantan 1.3%.
• How the SDC will end the long-standing socio-economic marginalization of the Kadazan-Dusun-Murut (KDM) community as the new underclass in Sabah.
• Whether it is possible for Malaysia to implement five “development corridors” simultaneously or is the “corridor” concept more hype than reality.
A poster raised a pertinent question on my blog on the SDC when he said the Barisan Nasional is “simply trying to hoodwink the rakyat into throwing support for the BN”.
He said that declaring a “corridor” would usually mean that such a “corridor” or region is the focus of intensive development efforts. However the Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Aman has announced that the SDC will cover the whole state of Sabah and not just confined to certain areas – making nonsense of the “corridor” concept!
As this poster asked – “Corridors lead from one room to another. Can your entire house be all corridors?”
However, there is an even greater concern about the SDC, whether it will just end up as a “corridor for corruption” in Sabah.
When Abdullah became Prime Minister four years ago, he pledged to clean up graft and corruption in the country. This, however, had been one of the greatest failures of the Abdullah premiership, which is reflected by Malaysia’s worsening position in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index from No. 37 in 2003 to 43 in 2007.
Corruption in Malaysia has become more rampant and blatant in the past four years with Sabah leading all the other states not only in having the worst poverty rate but also the most serious corruption problem.
Instead of a clean-up of corruption in the state, Sabahans talk about a “Mr. Vaccuum Cleaner” who plunges Sabah into as new dark age in corruption.
When he comes to Sabah next Tuesday, Abdullah should announce concrete safeguards to assure Sabahans and Malaysians that the SDC will not end up as a “corridor for mega corruption” in Sabah
(Speech at DAP ceramah in Tawau on Monday, 21st January 2008 at 9 pm)
#1 by k1980 on Tuesday, 22 January 2008 - 9:52 am
The best corridor for Sabah is the Exit Corridor which was followed by Brunei in 1963
#2 by oknyua on Tuesday, 22 January 2008 - 9:54 am
“When he comes to Sabah next Tuesday, Abdullah should announce concrete safeguards to assure Sabahans and Malaysians that the SDC will not end up as a “corridor for mega corruption†in Sabah.” YB Lim KS
No doubt AAB would announce anything on the card, after all the scrips have been written. But your hope that SDC would not end as a “corridor for mega corruption” is going to end in disappointment. Since the days of Mustapha, each politician promised and announced countless poverty eradication projects, but each ended in disappointment.
Disappointment on the result is one aspect, but disappointment on the characters of Sabah leaders is harder to take. What Musa Aman plan to announce is nothing new. Almost all the previous CM did the same – but each ended in disappointment.
Back in the 80’s you hardly find Sabahan in W Malaysia. Instead we were the ones going there, telling friends back here what a rich state Sabah was. Today, it is the reverse and many Sabahan ended up being labourer and low-earning jobs in W Malaysia.
The constituency where that “Bocor” MP comes from was in fact one of the richest in natural resources, but the population is poorest in the state. In the last 20 years, that area had been exploited to the maximum. If you see how the Orang Sungai lives, you thought you are in another world. YB Lim must go there just to see this. Then move further inside and see the Rungus people.
The only people interested in helping the poor there is the SIB church. DAP is right to have Pastor Jerry on its side. If DAP works well with the SIB, I am optimistic that a repeat of PBS’s Pairin may be seen this election.
#3 by Godson on Tuesday, 22 January 2008 - 10:43 am
What else can the corrupted BN MB do, they cant think of anything good for the rakyat, so the only way is repeat and repeat and repeat the corridors all over Malaysia. Theres one corridor cut thru my toilet. WTf. Doing too many different things at one time they will lupa.( I cant remember …)
MALAYSIA BOLEH CORRIDORSsss..ZZZzzzzzzz.
Yeah, uncle Lim u got Pastor Jerry on your side. Good job.
May God bless sabah.
#4 by Godson on Tuesday, 22 January 2008 - 11:10 am
Hey, you know what? This AAB wants to get himself into the stupid malaysia book of records as the PM who shouted the most corridors in the shortest time. Please lah, AAb the rakyat are hungry and they need more jobs and a house to call home. Please wake up lah. You cant cheat them with all your corridors and your sh_t. Look around you, go to sarawak and sabah and listen to the needy, NOT YOUR BRAINLESS MPs. We are sick of all your [deleted]
DAP SARAWAK has done a great job.
#5 by oknyua on Tuesday, 22 January 2008 - 11:27 am
YB Lim, if you can tie yourself with the SIB and the Anglicans in Sabah you have a very good chance.
When PBS beat Harris Salleh, PBS was a 28-day old party. Pairin utilised the Kadazan-Murut theme, but what actually happened was the involment of the Churches there. Many volunteers worked day/night just to remove Harris. Churches held prayer meetings all over the state. Many volunteers are my personal friends.
Pairin and Bernad Dompok know this. Without the church and its organisation, there was no way Harris, with the whole state behind him, could lose. Theresa could attend Mass in Kota Kinabalu more often. Theresa, make some statements in front of the church with a Cross behind you. Take pictures and use them. Pastor Jerry mobolises the SIB which usually is supported by the Anglicans and the Charismatics.
This is something to think about. The sentiment of Ma Zhu fatwa and Pastor Jerry’s confisticated books in LCCT is there. Ride on it YB Lim.
#6 by Godson on Tuesday, 22 January 2008 - 12:59 pm
oknyua, i like your comments. Well said.
God Bless Sabah and DAP.
#7 by Jonny on Tuesday, 22 January 2008 - 10:46 pm
The ARMno does understand this. Hence, its growing influence in Sabah, land of the rich, land of the plentiful resources, the state in Malaysia whereby the rich are rich. Poor is very poor. And the government is broke.
Mykads easily given out to converts. Easily given out to migrants (illegal or not, is a different case altogether).
Sabah is our own country. But why we do not feel safe when walk there? It seemed like we landed in neighbouring country.
And worst, safety issue is just not in Sabah. Now is everywhere else and the police is sleeping. Or they wait to action only after the crime has been committed and the culprits long gone. This also is safety. The policemen’s safety first.
Sabah is still the land of the rich and plentiful. That very much depends on which side of the fence we sits on.
All throughout, the whole of last 4 years have been extremely bountiful and good business. Also depends very much on which side of the fence we sits on.
God Bless The Land Below The Wind & Malaysia!
#8 by thaksan on Thursday, 24 January 2008 - 12:46 am
LoL… notwithstanding what have been said above, just want to point our the interesting choice of the words Mr Vacuum Cleaner = )
Vacuum Cleaner = Sucker
#9 by motheriseve on Saturday, 2 February 2008 - 2:42 am
Further Down the Development Road
we construct with glasses, but not transparency;
we offer many products, but not our sincere services;
we drive many cars, but not going anywhere…
our heart gets colder and harder like the concrete and metal we get closer and closer to.
we get more wooded furniture to get more landslides, worse air;
we give more money to unseen privilege givers to also give away our honesty;
we become polite not anymore to make sincere friendships than customer relationships;
we teach not anymore to souls but to make walking resources.
we tour no more for understanding than be commercially understood and exploited upon;
we praise the sky no more, for it’s like a dirted pool of cotton candy;
we journey with pleasure no more, than to curse from jams to tols;
we get paranoid on our streets, because we have neighbours no more.
our kids will learn to be ‘modern’ not knowing their hearts will be broken;
our houses will be cluttered without room for substance;
our hearts gets blurrer and blinder, till the clothes of development be unveiled;
till the Truth finally befound, that would have maybe been too late to stop many a feet from shuffling, many a minds from cheating, many a hands from toiling, many a mouths from persuading, many a women from proving, many a men from asserting, many a children from wanting, many a ministers from pushing, many a voters from…