This solar-pump clean water project at Kampong Kelanaan in Melalap, Tenom is the fourth mini-infrastructure project by DAP Sabah Impian Malaysia team which I had to privilege of launching since Friday, firstly a water gravity project at Kampong Pangas Ulu in Keningau, secondly, a water gravity project in Kampong Magatang in Sook, Pensiangan, a third a solar-pump clean water project at Kampong Molosok, Dalit, Pensiangan.
For 50 years, the fifty households in Kampong Kelanaan in Melalap comprising Lun Dayeh people had to depend on rain for their water supply.
Despite repeated pleas by the villagers in Kampong Kelanaan for help to resolve their water, road and land problems, no help was forthcoming at all, although the State Assemblyman for Melalap is none other than the Minister for Rural Development Datuk Radin Malleh.
In desperation, the villagers of Kampong Kelanaan sought help from DAP Sabah Impian Malaysia, which ended the 50 years of dependency of Kampong Kelanaan villagers on rain for water supply by building a solar-pump clean water project in seven days with five DAP Sabah Impian Malaysia personnel, five volunteers from Penang, Johore and Selangor and gotong-royong effort by 50 villagers.
The whole project cost RM50,000!
This is the best example of the criminal neglect of the development needs of the Orang Asal and ordinary rakyat and why there is an urgent need for change of government both in Sabah and Malaysia, for any government which prioritises the needs and welfare of the marginalized would not have left the Kampong Kelanaan villagers to depend on rain for their water supply for 50 years.
Travelling to Kampong Kelanaan had been quite an experience, as it involved 15 kilometres of the roughest terrain which would be unusable during wet weather.
The last three days visiting the interiors of Keningau, Pensiangan and Tenom provide ample proof that after more than half a century of nationhood, the most basic infrastructure needs are still unachieved luxuries in many parts of rural Sabah, and why there is a need for a government with a revolutionary change in mindset which prioritises the needs and welfare of the Orang Asal and the ordinary people instead of money-making opportunities for the cronies.
The three pledges of Batu Sumpah in Keningau on freedom of religion, land and native customs will be the primary objectives of Pakatan Harapan parties in Sabah in the forthcoming 14th General Election.
(Speech at the launching of solar-pump clean water project in Kampong Kelanaan, Melalap, Tenom on Sunday, November 26, 2017 at 11 am)