Archive for category Sabah
No dam claim: Villagers want it in writing
Queville To | January 28, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
Villagers in Tambatuon are fed up with the ‘confusing’ and ‘vague’ statements from their MP Rahman Dahlan over the controversial RM500-million dam.
KOTA BELUD: Sceptical villagers in Tambatuon, where a controversial RM500-million dam is to be sited, want a written commitment from the Musa Aman-led state administration that it will not go ahead with the project.
Dismissing Kota Belud MP Rahman Dahlan’s “confusing statements”, the villagers said their decision was “not negotiable” and that the dam project cannot go on.
They also took a swipe at village chief, Amin Goling, seen as Rahman’s lackey, for the former’s “full” support for the project.
Speaking on behalf of the villagers, chairman of the Village Action Committee Jahim Singkui said the letter from the state government must state clearly that it “will not” proceed with the controversial Tambatuon dam project.
“We have heard enough confusing statements from Rahman and Amin. Amin’s views are his own, it is not the opinion of the villagers.
“As far as the villagers are concerned, there is no more negotiation. We want a letter from the government to state that it will not proceed with the Tambatuon dam project, ” Jahim said. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia Election Around the Corner?
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Corruption, Elections, Najib Razak, Sabah, Sarawak, UMNO on Thursday, 12 January 2012
Asia Sentinel
by Our Correspondent
Thursday, 12 January 2012
With Sodomy II out of the way, looks forward to March polls — maybe
With the Sodomy II trial of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim now out of the way, it is probably time to start thinking seriously about Malaysia’s 13th general election, which most observers — but not all — believe will be called in March, during school holidays when the classrooms are empty.
Despite euphoria on the part of the three-party opposition coalition, the end of the trial doesn’t mean that Anwar’s troubles are over. One political observer in Kuala Lumpur told Asia Sentinel that the United Malays National Organization, the lead party in the ruling national coalition, will probably do its best to discredit him in other ways. Read the rest of this entry »
Surcharge who?
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Health, Sabah on Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Sdr. Lim Kit Siang, You might be interested in my experience in Sabah, trying to save Government/Taxpayers’ Money:
When I was serving in Sabah, in 1989 I think it was, and called for quotations to buy ‘Dental Drills’ for use in the field by Nurses, to fill Children’s teeth. You may not know that the Children in Sabah had really very poor Dental Health, and there was an urgent need to do as much as possible, by way of stretching both equipment and personnel available. Read the rest of this entry »
Audit: Not even 1pc Sabah computer labs completed
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Education, Parliament, Sabah on Monday, 24 October 2011
By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 24, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — Only two out of 300 computer laboratories for Sabah schools have been constructed since the government began its RM160.73 million project in April 2008, the Auditor-General’s report said today.
Sabah recorded the highest number of computer lab construction projects as well as costs, followed by Sarawak (RM49 million), Johor (RM10.88 million) and Selangor (RM11.95 million.)
The report added Sabah was the only state with unfinished computer labs, and that other states had long since completed the construction of the facilities in schools. Read the rest of this entry »
Save Kampung Tambatuon
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Najib Razak, Sabah on Monday, 17 October 2011
In May this year I visited Kampung Tambatuon at the foothills of Mount Kinabalu and which will be totally drowned in a proposed RM450 million Tambatuon Dam project.
Although the proposed Tambatuon Dam had been mooted for two years, there had been no proper and full consultation by the relevant authorities, including the MP for Kota Belud, who has become the strongest advocate for the Dam project, with the people who would be directly affected with the destruction of their traditional habitat and way of life.
The people of Kampung Tambatuon and concerned communities have protested to the various state authorities against the proposed Tambatuon Dam project. Read the rest of this entry »
Lim: M’sia will have been governed by Pakatan if…
Posted by Kit in DAP, Pakatan Rakyat, Sabah on Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Monday, September 05, 2011
Daily Express Sabah
KEMABONG: DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang said if Sabah and Sarawak followed the political tsunami in 2008, Malaysia will have been governed by the Pakatan Rakyat now.
Speaking at the Kampung Kalibatang Lama about 40km from here, Lim believed that the participation of many people in the interior with the opposition showed that it is gaining momentum and prepared to give the Barisan Nasional (BN) a run for their money.
He said during the formation of Malaysia in 1963, Sabah was the richest state in the country but now it was being labeled as the poorest.
“That is why we want to take out the present government. We want the people power to clean them up,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Through my aging eyes – Our Children face a tough future
Posted by Kit in Edwin Bosi, Sabah on Monday, 15 August 2011
By Edwin Bosi
On 1st May this year the Tamanza clan celebrated the “refurbishment” of our forefather’s shelter at the Tuavon Katagazan cemetery. Years ago their graveyards were dug their bones brushed clean and relocated to Katagazan with full traditional rituals. There was no official or designated graveyard then so the dead were buried in the private plot of land. My grandfather Kandavu Tamanza was laid to rest in a 5-acre land in Kg Kibabaig Penampang. My grandmother Lokuja Buko was buried in another piece of land nearby while our great grandfather Tamanza was buried in Kosigui. The relocation involved all three graves. For the Kadazan, relocation of remains involves the high priestesses or Bobohizans and is steep with ancient rituals.
I remember the high priestess and her assistant going though the process of opening a communicating channel between the living and the death. A white cockerel was sacrificed. It was here that I saw the arts of negotiation been applied to the utmost. It appeared that the “bobohizans” were in a trance as they “talked” with the spirits of those who had long departed. My late dad vouched that the voices of his father were actually recognisable through and from the “murmurs” of the main Bobohizan. The deal was sealed fairly quickly with one condition for a sacrificial pig and no substitute. The priestess conceded that our grandfather and his mother were very understanding unlike some of the cases she had dealt with before.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tambatuon dam: A question of need
By Dr Edwin Bosi
Suddenly Malaysia is concerned about food security. In Sabah, food security is been used to justify for the construction of a controversial multi-million ringgit Tambatuon dam in the district of Kota Belud. But Malaysia’s quest for 100% self sufficient in rice appears to be bleaker by the day. Under the 5th Malaysia Plan (1986-90), there was plan to achieve 80-85% self sufficient involving eight areas covering 220,000 hectares of land. The plan then was to achieve 70% to 90% by 2010 for West Malaysia, from 30% to 70% in Sabah and from 50% to 70% in Sarawak by 2010. We are now in 2011 and our reliance on imported rice is not getting less. It is much cheaper to import than to grow rice, it seems.
The inflation is biting hard and with the high cost of “everything” nothing will be produce cheaply. The subsidies that benefited the less fortunate are been withdrawn. The peoples’ income remains stagnant and as prices of commodities ran wild many will be drawn into the poor-income bracket soon. The people in poverty will soon fill into the abject poverty bracket. I wish not to say about those in abject poverty and what the future is in store for them. The millions of non-tax paying illegal immigrants are now legalised and will add more burden to the State. It will be a long journey in a dark tunnel for genuine Sabahans whose natural resource-rich State is now the poorest in Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
How democratic elections still failed Sabah
By Erna Mahyuni
July 14, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
JULY 14 — “How can you say our elections are unfair when BN lost five states in 2008?” I hear that refrain over and over again to the point I want to scream. And stage my own private rally in front of Putrajaya.
Let me tell you a story, of a 16-year-old girl witnessing the 1994 Sabah state elections. I was that girl. Imagine turning on the television to watch a video showing derelict shacks, illegal immigrants (who Sabah natives recognise on sight) living in squalor while in the background a refrain plays, calling on viewers to “Binalah Sabah baru (Build a new Sabah)!”
Nearly two decades later and I still want to punch whoever made that video in the mouth. Read the rest of this entry »
Kit Siang accepts challenge by Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman to a public debate in Kota Belud on the proposed Tambatuon Dam and suggests September date
The Sabah Daily Express on Wednesday 6th July 2011 carried a report of the Barisan Nasional Kota Belud MP Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan challenging me to an open debate regarding the proposed Tambatuon Dam.
The Daily Express report reads:
“Let’s debate: Rahman
“Kota Kinabalu: Kota Belud MP Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan on Tuesday challenged DAP Advisor Lim Kit Siang to an open debate regarding the proposed Tambatuon Dam.
“Expressing disappointment with the Ipoh Timur MP, he said the latter has been continuously instigating the people of Kg Tambatuon with misleading facts about the issue. Read the rest of this entry »
Let’s debate: Rahman
Posted by Kit in environment, Sabah on Thursday, 7 July 2011
Daily Express | 6 July 2011
Kota Kinabalu: Kota Belud MP Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan on Tuesday challenged DAP Advisor Lim Kit Siang to an open debate regarding the proposed Tambatuon Dam.
Expressing disappointment with the Ipoh Timur MP, he said the latter has been continuously instigating the people of Kg Tambatuon with misleading facts about the issue.
“His intention is very clear which is to score political gains at the expense of national interest (food security), long term benefit to the thousands of poor farmers and solution to the drinking water supply and flood mitigation of the people of Kota Belud,” he said in a statement.
Read the rest of this entry »
LKS backs Sabah Speaker on education autonomy
Jul 3, 11 | MalaysiaKini
DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang voiced support for Sabah Speaker Salleh Said’s call for the state education department to be given more power and autonomy.
Salleh had said reportedly said that many school buildings in Sabah are in a state of disrepair and educational projects are carried out only haphazardly due to the need to refer even simple matters to the education ministry headquarters in Putrajaya.
This, said the speaker, was jeopardising the government’s efforts in developing education in Sabah. Read the rest of this entry »
Muhyiddin should fully devolve Education Ministry powers to Sabah State Department
The Sabah Speaker, Datuk Seri Salleh Tun Said has called for the Sabah State Education Department to be given more power and autonomy.
Salleh said many school buildings in the State are in need of repair and educational projects are not carried out systematically due to having to refer simple matters to Putrajaya jeopardising the Government’s efforts in developing education in Sabah.
The Sabah State Assembly Speaker has received the support of the Sabah State Education Director Datuk Dr. Muhiddin Yusin who has joined in the call for the state education department to be given greater empowerment on decision-making and the implementation of development projects, especially maintenance, training and recruitment of teachers. Read the rest of this entry »
Tambatuon folk fear Bakun fate
Posted by Kit in environment, Sabah on Saturday, 25 June 2011
By Michael Kaung
June 24, 2011 | Free Malaysia Today
PENAMPANG: The villagers of Tambatuon are anxious to avoid the heartbreak that the people of Bakun suffer, according to testimony before Suhakam commissioners who are conducting a study on Native Customary Land Rights (NCR) issues.
Jahim Singkui, who heads the Tambatuon Villagers’ Action Committee, told the commissioners today that the government had ignored pleas against its plan to build a RM450 million dam in the village, which is in the Kota Belud district.
The project would submerge ancestral lands, he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Through my aging eyes: We are at the mercy of Nature
Posted by Kit in environment, Sabah on Thursday, 23 June 2011
By Edwin Bosi
When I visited Tambatuon village in Kadamaian Kota Belud in April 2011 with YB Jimmy Wong and DAP Sabah political leaders it was actually partly a fact-finding mission. We heard so much of Tambatuon through the news media, their fight for survival against a proposed dam that will in the word of Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, BN Member of Parliament for Kota Belud, obliterate them from the map of Sabah. Our casual visit, meeting and walking around the village gave us a feeling that the villagers were genuinely not in favor of the dam at all cost. It is not only showing in their faces but also their environment. They have built a beautiful yet simple and decent life in Tambatuon which they call home.
Sdr Lim Kit Siang took time on 28 May 2011 to visit and meet up with the ex-village chief Singkui Tinggi and other community leaders. He too was convinced of the peoples’ stance against the dam. When the plea of the villagers touched the very heart of Sdr Kit Siang, it does not take long for him to commence the battle for and to save Tambatuon, via the Twitter world. Sadly on that night, Kit Siang soon found out that there is no internet coverage in Tambatuon so the “Twitter war” has to be conducted in Kota Kinabalu.
Read the rest of this entry »
‘Tambatuon dam is unnecessary’
Posted by Kit in environment, Sabah on Tuesday, 14 June 2011
By Stephanie Sta Maria | June 14, 2011
Free Malaysia Today
PETALING JAYA: An academic from the Faculty of Agriculture in Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (UPM) cast doubt on the necessity for the proposed Tambatuon dam in Kota Belud.
According to Christopher Teh, the dam is not the sole means to increasing Malaysia’s rice productivity as there was still plenty of room to increase the yields of existing paddy fields.
“Each field has a maximum potential yield of 10 tonnes per hectare but the current national average only stands at 4 tonnes per hectare per year,” he said.
“I’m not against increasing land acreage but between that and increasing the yields, the latter is a better choice. Let’s use what we already have instead of opening up new paddy fields and incurring higher costs.”
Read the rest of this entry »
“Yield Considerations” – Iskandar replies to Kota Belud MP Rahman on Tambatuon Dam controversy
Posted by Kit in environment, Sabah on Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Yb Rahman,
I had opined that our existing acerage in Malaysia can be used to fully meet our rice security consideration (i.e to overcome the 35% shortage) provided our Yield (Mt/hectare) can be increased to 5.0. The 5.0 yield factor is backed by research materials that you had referenced in your report.
In your rebuttal to my June 4, 2011 feedback, you have clearly acknowledged this point albeit you put it as “I wish it was that simple. Here is the reason”.
You said the current yield average of 3.3mt per hectare is for the whole country and production yield differs based on location. In summary, you had alluded to point out that production locations in Peninsular Malaysia(PM) are already yielding at 5.0 or higher and has little room for additional yield. The national average, however, drops to 3.3 due to the low yeilds in East Malaysia(EM) and Kota Belud being one. I quote “However, our national paddy production yield average has been dragged down by low yield areas namely in Sabah and Sarawak!”
Read the rest of this entry »
Twitter Power – Tambatuon dam controversy – Why MP Kota Belud never visited kampong? (5)
Posted by Kit in environment, Sabah, Twitter on Friday, 10 June 2011
Twitter sequel Part 5
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
dredwinbosi Jun 07, 12:33am
@mpkotabelud @limkitsiang Food security should not be an issue if we don’t have a surge in pop of legalised illegal immigrants.
dredwinbosi Jun 07, 9:00am
@mpkotabelud @limkitsiang@junzwong Tambatuon is already a natural tourism attraction, no need a man-made lake.
Read the rest of this entry »
RM450m Tambatuon dam controversy – Why MP Kota Belud never visited kampong? (4)
Posted by Kit in environment, Sabah on Sunday, 5 June 2011
Twitter sequel Part 4
Iskandarbak Jun 04, 8:42pm
@mpkotabelud u back from Spore? hoping to get ur response on my feedback to ur post in ur blog re: dam in Kg T
Iskandarbak Jun 04, 8:46pm
@mpkotabelud I just checkd ur blog. U have updated it with d translation. But, i dont see my feedback comments there. I had also emailed u.
mpkotabelud Jun 04, 8:47pm
I got ur reply. On the move now. Tak dak masa utk think. Soon will reply. RT @Iskandarbak:
Read the rest of this entry »
Consideration for the Construction of Dam in Kota Belud
Posted by Kit in environment, Sabah on Saturday, 4 June 2011
By Iskandar Basha Abdul Kadir
4 June 2011
Dear Yb Rahman,
Thank you for writing about the Jelapang Padi Initiative in your blog.
The key objective and the Complimentary/Spin-Off objectives that you have stated in your blog are as follows:
Key Objective
To become self sufficient in rice production for national security. This includes price control and distribution within Malaysia.
Complimentary/Spin-off Objectives
Flood control n mitigation, hydro power, clean water for consumption, tourism, multiplier effects, jobs, etc Read the rest of this entry »
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