Launch of booklet “The Cries of Sabah”


Am in Tawau together with Tunku Aziz for the Tawau DAP Branch-cum-Sri Tanjong service centre opening this morning.

Tonight, will attend a history-making event, the first thousand-people political dinner in Tawau organized by Tawau DAP and the DAP’s sole Sabah State Assemblyman Jimmy Wong at Lau Gek Poh Memorial Hall.

This is another historic first by Tawau DAP. Last year, Tawau DAP organized a very successful and capacity-crowd lunch-time ceramah and during the March 8 general election, pioneered a breakfast ceramah.

There are also other embarrassing “firsts:” in Tawau, as I found during my visit. The power breakdown is getting so regular and prolonged that Tawau’s daily newspaper, Morning Post, was forcibly turned into an evening paper when it could be distributed only at 4 pm!

Tonight, I will also launch a booklet “The Cries of Sabah”.

The following is the Introduction for the booklet:

    Introduction

    The thought of producing this booklet came to me when I received consecutively on Oct. 10/11 two heart-wrenching cries from two visitors to my blog. (The cries of Sabahans; Don’t neglect Sabah, please!)

    I felt very ashamed as a Malaysian that after 45 years of Malaysia, there is still such an ocean of ignorance among West Malaysians about Sabah and Sarawak. Even more shameful is that the Government is guilty of allowing such wide gap of differences – economy, education, health, basic infrastructure – to exist between the people living on the two lands of the same country divided by the South China Sea. Clearly, the Barisan Nasional (BN) is not prepared to create a truly Malaysian nation where Sabahans and Sarawakians can fully feel that they are treated as equal citizens and an integral part of the nation.

    This is why BN has become quite irrelevant, not only to Sabahans and Sarawakians but to all Malaysian communities, whether Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazan-Dusun-Muruts, Ibans or Orang Asli.

    This booklet also chronicles the day-by-day effort made in Parliament in May this year to table a motion for the setting up of a Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah – the worst problem faced by Sabahans – and how it failed because of the lack of support by the BN Members of Parliament, including those from Sabah.

    It starts with the observation on the seemingly change of attitude shown by some Sabah Members of Parliament in the first Parliament sitting after the March 8, 2008 general election where the unprecedented political tsunami swept away five state governments from the control of the BN, and for the first time in the history of Malaysia, denied the BN 2/3 majority in Parliament.

    The contents of this booklet are from my blog postings, each of which provoked heated discussion and debate on the topic at hand.

    In the appendix are the blogs before the “political tsunami” of March 8, 2008, starting with my parliamentary speech on “The New Underclass in Sabah” on 16th April 2007.

    Blog, a modern medium where everyone can express his/her views even anonymously as visitors, has given a completely new meaning to freedom of expression to Malaysians.

    This is why the BN government has invaded the cyberspace and intruded into this new space of freedom.

    There has been a transformation from its initial bewildered and hostile attitude to the blogosphere, highlighted by the “goblog” chapter of the previous “Misinformation Minister” Zainuddin Maidin and the Internal Security Act (ISA) detention of Malaysia’s famous blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin to a more nuanced and engaged posture sending cybertroopers into the blogosphere to fight its cause.

    A new sense of freedom provided by the Internet must be matched by an equal sense of responsibility and I do not apologise for the minimum of moderation on my blog, disallowing language which are vulgar, obscene, inflammatory or inciting hatred of race or religion.

    Although the latest parliamentary effort to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry on Illegal Immigrants in Sabah was not successful, the problems and plight faced by Malaysian Sabahans and Malaysian Sarawakians continue. But let Malaysians join hands as one people despite the obstacles and baggage of BN to change this.

    The struggle must go on…

    Lim Kit Siang
    Parliament
    November 2008

  1. #1 by k1980 on Saturday, 15 November 2008 - 5:58 pm

    Free ride for yet another space tourist is more important than the cries of Sabahans
    http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/NewsBreak/20081115161442/Article/index_html

  2. #2 by cvl on Saturday, 15 November 2008 - 6:12 pm

    YB,
    Do also visit the Kimanis Sabah Gas Oil Terminal. See how Petronas manages its safety committment there [or its lack thereof] and one can only wonder how an engineering requirement to prepare site with graded sand sizing to the motley of quarry waste, beach sand and soil used as ad hoc fill for site preparation.

    In which case, why bother to remove the original top soil in the first place place?[to be only filled in with soil and sand and quarry waste of different soil compaction characteristics]

    You see, even Petronas which upholds itself in the international arena for world class safety and transparency plays truant in Sabah!

    One wonders where the revised EIA is, and what transparency level maintained in a changed engineering top soil refill without calling for a re bid of the tender.

  3. #3 by chiakchua on Saturday, 15 November 2008 - 6:51 pm

    Good work done, I believe. Our fellow Sabahans must be made aware of how UMNOputras has betrayed their parents and now themselves! Its such a pity “1 of 3” (territories) became “1 of 13” (states); they should demand for 1/3 of oil and gas revenue, not the 5 or 10%!

  4. #4 by yhsiew on Saturday, 15 November 2008 - 7:57 pm

    The power breakdown is getting so regular and prolonged that Tawau’s daily newspaper, Morning Post, was forcibly turned into an evening paper when it could be distributed only at 4 pm!
    ====================================================

    Vision 2020? UMNO/BN got it wrong, it should be Vision 3030!

  5. #5 by swipenter on Saturday, 15 November 2008 - 8:46 pm

    DAP must intensify their efforts to win the hearts and minds of our brothers and sisters in Sabah and Sarawak as clearly demonstrated by the results of GE12. Without the strong support from Sabah and Sarawak, BN will surely fall come GE13.

    Luanch of this booklet is a good move as this a written document to show your commitment to fight for a fair and just society for all malaysians and that DAP is just not a political party catering for west malaysians’ interest only. Where and when can we get a copy in west malaysia. We in semanjung would like to have a better picture and understanding of our fellow malaysians’ situation in Sabah and Sarawak.

    By the way no mention is made of PKR? Are you two not working closely over there?

  6. #6 by luking on Saturday, 15 November 2008 - 9:40 pm

    tq,with this hand book launched,the people of Sabah and my homeland Sarawak awareners of being shortchanged all tis while, will decides a new future in the next election,with the people’s power.

  7. #7 by chengho on Saturday, 15 November 2008 - 11:21 pm

    Sabahan is known for their high tolerance for race relation . a lots of intermarriage between communities everyone speak very good bahasa malaysia sabah accent . do not destroy that ,do not bring west malaysia culture to Sabah.

  8. #8 by king cobra on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 12:04 am

    Dear Chengho

    Agreed with your point “do not bring west malaysian culture to Sabah”.

    Dear YH Siew

    Maybe u should have said 2020 for WM & 3030 for EM !!!!!

  9. #9 by king cobra on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 12:05 am

    However Chengho , there are already quite a lot of west malaysians who had settled down in Sabah & Sabah may have been infected with west malaysian culture already????

  10. #10 by wuilip888 on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 2:51 am

    Dear YB Lim,
    Thanks for coming to Tawau, Sabah. I attended the dinner and not only me but all of us here need a “CHANGE”. We will wait for that day.

  11. #11 by Jimm on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 8:00 am

    Well, it’s our parents choice in the past to trust their leaders and that gives umno the ultimate opportunity to exploit our East Malaysia wealth.
    “Do teach them what they don’t know” that’s what tdm mentioned to those leaders whereby they gang up together to swindled the national wealth as well as the state wealth.
    Do worry …. all these evil leaders still have their children and grand children around for our payback time.
    Just make sure that justice will take place and their grand children will be the last heir of evil that we ever wanted as Malaysian.
    Let us all pray to our God and seek His help to clean all evil leaders and their entire families network from Malaysia.
    As for Sabahan, it’s your land that you must make achoice for your future generation…. you all are like us here .. seeking for the true Malaysian Malaysia Independence from evil unmo.
    Please make a choice and share it with all Sabahan that love their land.
    We have wireless broadband now tht we can share more truth with all Sabahan , please use IT to save our lands …

  12. #12 by Bigjoe on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 8:52 am

    The biggest recent joke on Sabahan is the recent drop of objection to the RM3b gas pipeline from Kimanis to Bintulu. The idea its developing a petrochemical industry for Sabah in return for the pipe project is a joke as if building a petrochemical industry is like opening a gas station.

    Building a petrochemical industry takes long term strategic planning that involves many variables. As a testament, the biggest petrochemical industry in South East Asia, by a mile, is in Singapore AND THEY HAVE NO gas/oil!! In Terengganu were have been gas/oil for a long time, the petrochemical industry is a quite modest only, in Sarawak, well its a joke.

    The idea that Sabahan will get a petrochemical industry for giving up its gas is a bad joke on Sabahan. Truth be told, it makes more sense to just turn it into power for Sabahan than anything else but that does not have enough goodies in it since the gas would be sold cheap.

  13. #13 by ktteokt on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 10:00 am

    And why shouldn’t Sabah cry? Their neighbour, Brunei, which is such a tiny nation is very, very much richer than them! When the people of Brunei walks across the border into Sabah with B$1, they get to spend >RM2 but when Sabahans walk across the border carrying RM1, they end up with less than B$0.5!

    And to think in terms of geographical area, Sabah is many, many times larger than Brunei. CRY SABAH, CRY!!!!!

  14. #14 by veddy.lum74 on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 10:26 am

    sarawakians should be laughing at sabahans because they are holding a world record that their CM is very soon will be on 28th year term to rule the biggest state in Bolehland!(from 27 years to 28 years,another unbreakable world record!)
    “you are crying,we are laughing!”

  15. #15 by veddy.lum74 on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 10:30 am

    maybe,taib mahmud wants to learn from sami value,buat sampai mati!
    but dont you sarawakians know,you ppl are giving him the mandate!dont laugh,you all should cry like sabahans too!

  16. #16 by Cinapek on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 10:36 am

    I went to Tawau for a short holiday and golf games recently and was pleasantly surprised by the good command of English spoken by many local bumis I met. Perhaps my holiday was too short to make any conclusive assessment but the random people I met in the fast food restaurants and even a lady stranger who gave me directions spoke excellent English.

    Perhaps Tawau has not been too tainted by Peninsula’s reluctance to master English and I hope this trait can be emulated in their other lifestyle.

  17. #17 by katdog on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 12:45 pm

    Isn’t it interesting to note that 44% of our governments revenue is derived from oil, of which the majority comes from Sabah and Sarawak? Add to that further how much the lumber and oil palm industry also contributes to our government’s revenue, again which also largely comes from Sabah and Sarawak.

    Now, consider how much money is allocated for development in Sabah and Sarawak? Does the proportion match the contribution by Sabah and Sarawak? Obviously not.

    The UMNOputra’s in Peninsular Malaysia with the help of their cronies in Sabah and Sarawak has hijacked the wealth of the two states and lined their own pockets with it, all in the name of ‘Malay Supremacy’.

  18. #18 by paix on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 1:32 pm

    What Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), the 26th US President had to say about America then also applies to Bolehland: “This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in”.

  19. #19 by vsp on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 2:31 pm

    The biggest tragedy to Malaysia is the propagation of UMNO culture of hate, hypocrisy and false superiority.

    Down with the fascist UMNOputras and all Malays, Chinese, Indians and all the wonderful people of Sarawak and Sabah will be freed from the fetters of fear, ignorance and lies of UMNO.

    Let all the races bloom a thousand flowers of hope, progress and cooperation.

  20. #20 by frankyapp on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 3:15 pm

    Wow,Dap is big in Tawau. Our YB Jimmy Wong is a good person.I appreciated what he’s doing and hope he will continue to do so without fear or favour.Dap is a multi-racial political party but seems and deems to be chinese based .Reason is simple, cos most elected party leaders and YBs are also from the chinese race. I believe Dap has the potential to govern the Sabah state .I know the chinese voters are for the Dap.The KDN group ie the kadazan,dusun and the murut who are a single largest race in Sabah.Dap must find a honest,clean and trustworthy man from this group with a professional degree to lead the Dap to win the hearts and minds of this group and to win the election as well. And with Tunku Aziz,Dap hopefuly will also be able to win a fairly large number of malays/muslim voters. For Dap to win and win big enough to form the state government alone,brother Lim Kit Siang must not compromise too much with PAS (no offence to Pas ) and Anwar Keadilan should give way to Dap in the chinese and KDM majority areas.Think about it,if you want to help us .to ease and wipe our tears,just do it.

  21. #21 by no on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 4:54 pm

    Hallo! We from U Must(say) No Organisation.

    You may call us short name U.Ms.N.O.

    We live up to our name, we only interest our greed.

    The only thing you can stop us is, you have to learn to speak ‘YOU MUST(SAY) NO”

    Don’t you see our name “U Must(say) No Organisation”

    You may call us short name if you like. But please do not forget our full name.

  22. #22 by bystander on Sunday, 16 November 2008 - 10:52 pm

    umno does not care whether sabahans live or die. umno is only interested to bleed sabah dry. time to sing “i wanna breakfree” just like “sing a song of freedom”

  23. #23 by waterfrontcoolie on Monday, 17 November 2008 - 10:23 am

    As far as Sabah is concern, the people over there over the past 45 years are responsible for the current condition. They have been electing useless MPs and State REPs who have been cheating on them. They don’t seem to realize their follies all these years. Even those who seem to be out-spoken currently have been swindling the State’s coffer and the so-called non-natives too have contributed to this.
    Only action left,next GE!!

  24. #24 by frankyapp on Monday, 17 November 2008 - 1:39 pm

    Agreed waterfrontcoolie.No present registered or existing political parties’leaders are honest,clean and trustworthy to help Sabahans to ease and wipe out all our tears in our honest and humble hearts.Take for exmple the top leaders of Sabah UMNO/BN.None dare say there are clean.Our opposition parties top leaders for instant,Keadilan,Pas, and others are not clean either,except the DAP. That’s why I urged YB Lim Kit Siang and his Dap to help us to break off this dirty chain around our necks. I warm Mr.Lim not to simple just take ex-political party leaders to lead the state DAP cos these ex-leaders have one way or the other have their names dirtied/tanished.Instead I urge YB Lim to consider taking in more young and clean ,honest and capable professional bloods as candidates so that we can elect these guys into the State’s assemby.Take P. Malaysia for instant,DAP fielded many young capable professional guys and they won.Do what you did over there in Sabah and you will win big enough to form the next state government.

  25. #25 by king cobra on Tuesday, 18 November 2008 - 9:14 am

    waterfront coolie ,

    can’t totally blame sabahans.

    don’t forget its already 45 yrs.

    -capable sabahans had left this state to work overseas.
    -capable sabahans had migrated & live overseas.
    -capable sabahans had renounced their Malaysian citizenship to take up other countries citizenship eg:if u looke at Australian PM Rudd’s Cabinet one of its minister is a sabahan.
    -Most sabahan parents had also let their children go overseas study , upon graduation , instead of coming back their children continued to live & work there.
    -during DRM’s time illegals mess not cleared up , eventually become phantom voters to keep B END in power.

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