Happy New Yeay 2009

I would like to wish all the readers a Happy New Year 2009.    Let's us forget all the bad things behind and bring forward all the good things with us unto 2009.    In this new year of 2009, may we all have the courage and wisdom to take up all the impossible challenges ahead and also have the strength to conquer new height in our daily lives.

Inconsistent and confusing traffic light flow sequence

This is to highlight the traffic light flow sequence at the junction of Jalan Tanjung Kidurong / Nyabau Road which is inconsistent and very confusing. I do not know how BDA did the programming of the traffic sequence, but one thing for sure, it is CONFUSING.

Normally, the traffic flow from all direction was 1) straight ahead and followed by 2) left turn. However there are times, when the sequence did change. For example, when we travel from hospital to Jalan Tanjung Kidurong, after the straight ahead sequence, it did not turn left, instead, it goes back to the main road again. If you got used to the normal sequence, you’ll surely be confused.

To BDA engineers / technicians, please look into this matter. This problem seems minor, but the after effect could be dangerous and deadly to road users.

House breaking

There has been a frequent incident of house breaking happened of late in Bintulu town. Almost everyday we read reports in newspapers about these incidents. It seems that these crimes were committed by the same criminals, as it involved 3 criminals each time. The modus operandi were the same, after the mission accomplished, they would feast on the food in the kitchen. So, they were termed “hungry house breakers”. My friend made a silly joke. In order to catch these criminals, he suggested that we put signage on our front gate saying “Please rob my house” and put deadly poison in the food.

By the look of it, it seems that these crimes are normal nowadays, it has become part of the daily life of Bintulu residents.

Talking about crime, we should look back at security system within our society. We should conduct an in depth analysis on the subject. Why did that happened? Does our system of security flaws? How efficient is our police? Who are the criminals? The questions goes on and on. It is not whose fault that we should look for. It is the solutions and remedies that we must strive to come up with.

It would be most unfair to put the blame on the inefficiencies of the police alone in fighting crimes. The general public too, must play an important part. The police need to work closely with the public and likewise the public should co-operate closely with them. Only this way, would it be possible to reduce the number of occurrences of house breaking in our town.

Wasted land lots

The land lots at second phase of Sg. Plan resettlement scheme costs around RM13,000.00 to own. This price is exclusive of earth fillings. The house building costs is yet another head cracking expenses, especially so for the medium and low income group owners of that particular land lots.

Amongst the 169 people who were lucky enough to get the land via casting, hardly 20 of them managed to construct their houses as of this date. It is either that they don’t need this land or could not come up with enough funds to settle the land and to build their houses. In fact, there are a lot of people out there who really deserve that small piece of land to build their houses.

According to the terms and conditions of purchase of that particular land lots, owners were given a 6 months period to make full settlement, failing which the land would be withdrawn by BDA and resold to other people. Now that over 3 years has passed by, no action has been taken by BDA to recover that unsettled land lots. From the way it is now, this project was created nothing more than to benefit particular politicians and some influential people.

Whatever it is, it’s another example of a waste of resources and disregards of public interest and rights committed by BDA.

Malfunctioning traffic lights

Excerpt from Bintulu.org news portal

Jepak assemblyman attributes Sarawak economic growth to good leadership

October 20, 2008

“The strong economic growth and development in Sarawak is due the caliber of leadership and good policies implemented by the government said Jepak assemblyman Datuk Zulpilip in his “Hari Raya” open house here yesterday.

The open house held at Kampung Assyakirin were attended by some 1,000 people including Head of State Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin and wife Toh Puan Norkiah, government department heads and community leaders from around Bintulu division.

Talip said Sarawak is endowed with rich natural resources but if there is no good government and good policies implemented, such natural resources would not be fully exploited for the benefit of the people.

Citing Bintulu as an example the state assemblyman said there are plenty of job opportunities created in Bintulu that attracted not only people from other Divisions of Sarawak but also from all over the world.

Talip called on the people to continue supporting government efforts for continued development and prosperity.”

This is what I meant in my previous post, (Problems of Unemployment), the one highlighted in red.

Problems of unemployment

Unemployment is a universal and major setbacks of a modern civilisation. Like anywhere else in the world, unemployment rate in Sarawak is considerably high.

To understand the root cause of this problems, we must relate it to our government’s labour policy. When the government allows the recruitment of cheap foreign labourers into the country, it has some side effects on the local labour market. It has since spoiled the chances of local people to secure employment especially in the manufacturing sectors. When the employer have wide choices of cheap labour supplies, especially from Indonesia, our local citizens are being deprived of their common rights to job opportunities. Not only that, the availability of cheap labour markets also has deprived the local citizens of better pay structures. Take for example in the plywood manufacturing industries, with the Indonesian labourers ready to take up these jobs for a daily wages of RM8 – RM9, surely the employers would opt for these labourers. How could local people survive with this kind of wages especially so, when the cost of living is on the rise. If these cheap labour supplies were not available to these employers, the chances for demanding higher daily wages for locals would be better.

Another setback and disadvantages of over-dependent on foreign labourers is that the country tend to lose in the forms of foreign exchange, that is when the money is taken out of the country or the outflow of cash. So, the government should review this policy, especially the state government, so as to help the local citizens, not foreigners.

Not only Indonesian labourers pose a threat to our local labour markets, the intrusion of skilled workforce from the peninsula are also a threat to the citizens of Sarawak, which deprived us of our opportunities to secure good employment especially in the oils and gas industries. This is very prominent in the case of MLNG, ABF and oil palm plantations where top jobs are dominated by semenanjung people. Others includes such areas as teaching profession, police force and the military.

What jobs are left for us, the Sarawak citizens? Obviously, we don’t have much choices, but to work as labourers (kerja kontrak or berkuli dengan Cina) on a daily rate basis, and this accounts for a large number of local workforce. Others might be farmers by tradition, fisherman and other odd jobs. Some who are lucky enough might be able to secure better jobs such as clerks, teachers, police, doctors, lawyers, but too few.

Where is justice? There’s a proverb “Anak kera disusukan, anak sendiri mati kelaparan”, which match our present situation in Sarawak. People, wake up from your sleep, it’s time to realize your destiny.

Lousy services at post office

Probably you have experienced the worst encounter when dealing or having some businesses at the post office, be it in Bintulu or anywhere in Sarawak. The service is so lousy that, I swear, if possible, I would never ever deal with this department for the rest of my life.

Today, I went there at about 10 o'clock for some businesses. There's quite a number of people who came earlier than me. I took my number and just like the others stood to wait for my turn, as the seats were all occupied. There were probably around 60-70 people at that particular time. After a good three and a half hours of waiting, finally my turn came. Then, I went off at about 1:30 pm feeling relieve and free.

As you would probably know, there are six (6) counters at Bintulu post office. But, only two (2) were opened and serving the public. The other counters were left unmanned and no staff were attending. Was it due to shortage of staff, I wondered. If it was, then it's not a good excuse. Sarawak has plenty of SPM and STPM school leavers or even graduates. Why don't they recruit more staff to fill up these vacancies, so as to improve it's lousy services and reduce unemployment.

If one day, if it is inevitable for you to go there, I would advise you to bring along your pillows, so that you could catch a good sleep while waiting for your turns. From my experience, the average waiting period is about 3-4 hours, and a bit longer during peak hours. That's enough time for you to travel from Bintulu to Miri or Bintulu to Sibu.

From my observations, there’s hardly any suggestion box around where people could channel feedbacks on matters related to the services. Personally, I feel that, they should set up counters specially for people to claim their petrol subsidy, instead of putting together with other service counters. This would minimize the queue.

Looks like the postmaster is not doing anything to improve the quality of service of his department, instead just sitting comfortably in his fully air-conditioned office waiting for the clock to strike 5. If he can’t handle the situations or unable to bring some improvements, it's better for him to relinquish his job and let someone else takes over.

 

 

Indonesian gangsters in Bintulu

Shocked by this reality?    You might ask, how the hell did foreign gangsters existed here?    Well, this is not a myth, the element do exist.     These gangsters are not the organised crimes, like the one being cleaned by Datuk Tiong previously.    These gangsters are the illegal immigrants who have been overstaying illegally here.    Most have connections with the remnants of the ex-Chinese gangsters.    There are few groups which operated and controlled certain area of Bintulu town.    The area of activities includes, but not limited to drug pushing, controlling of prostitutions, snatching and robbery cases.

There has been cases of fightings and killings happening around town recently.    According to some reliable sources, the fightings and killings were as a result of territorial disputes amongst these gangs.    There's also a frequent cases of snatching and robberies, purportedly committed by these gangs.

Looks like there are no safety and security in this town nowadays, which demands the citizens of Bintulu to be more careful.    Judging from the present situations, the police seems to overlook this matter or should I say that the police are not doing their duties.

Is this a wise investment?

Is this one of the long term investment?

It depends on how you view the scenario.

Why certain people can obtain gambling licence compared to licence for coffee shop, coffee house, sundry shop and the likes?

Why is it so difficult to put our hard earned currency into the likes of ASB, ASN....?

When was the last time you received your bonus from this investment?


I purposely don't write long articles on this, so that we could together think by ourselves.

Unoccupied flat units

The flats at Sg Plan resettlement scheme has been sold out since they first opened over 5 years ago. However, until now, there are still a lot of unoccupied units around. Nobody knows, what has happened to all these units. What a waste of resources!

When Suruhanjaya Pembangunan Perumahan Sarawak (SPPS) first allocate the units to the public, they did not properly screen the applicants. Some applicants applied these flat units just for the sake of applying when other people are doing so. The SPPS did not properly identify who really need these houses and who don’t. As a result, most are left vacant even though they have been sold. The SPPS should take prompt actions to repossess these overdue units and resell them to the needy as soon as possible.

Had the applicants been properly screened and the proper allocation system was followed, it wouldn’t have happened as it is now. They should not use the lucky draw system but should be based upon the applicants’ income’s capability and capacity. There are thousands of people who qualified and really needs these houses. What has happened to the gov’t policy of providing low cost housing for the people. What really happened was that, this scheme only benefited a few, not a majority of the people. In this case, only the lucky ones got them. In fact, this project was to benefit certain politicians and contractors, as what was happening everywhere. It is better still they don’t build any at all, so that it was fair to all the people.

If you have the chance to visit the squatters at Sebatang, Openg, Muzako and BDA Pasir Putih in Tanjung Kidurong Bintulu, you’ll be amazed to come across the plight of the people in this under-developed state. Why are people still living in squatters? Sad to note that, the majority of these squatters are bumiputeras. Why hasn’t the gov’t of BN really put up an effort to get rid of this situations. Each time Rancangan Malaysia and annual budget was announced, they have never failed to include poverty eradication measures in their agendas. But, how well were they being implemented? How well has the Politics of Development help the people of Sarawak. What has the people, the voters, got in return for their generous votes? I think the authority have not done enough and have not provide enough low cost housing for the people, when in fact the people needs more.

Coffee shop cleanliness issue and licence issuance delay

When you stop by at a coffee shop in town for a sip of coffee and a plate of noodle, I presume little did you realize the unhealthy environments in which your food and drinks are prepared. What you care is that whether the food is nice or not. Other than that, who cares about the cleanliness. As I observed at most of the kitchen of the coffee shops around Bintulu, the level of cleanliness is very low and disappointing. It is even most shocking to see that, the kitchen of many fast food restaurants are very dirty. It seems that cleanliness is a secondary matter for these restaurants.

What has the BDA enforcement unit done pertaining to this matter? What enforcement measures have been taken in order to ensure that the cleanliness guidelines are adhered to by these coffee shop owners. It seems that the enforcement officers from BDA are shaking their legs sitting in their air-conditioned offices chit chatting about their favourite TV shows or their favourite TV celebrities, when they should be going out to the fields doing their enforcement duties. Even if they do go out for an enforcement assignment, they would do it just to please their bosses, especially when the envelopes containing Agung’s head exchanges hands. What has happened to the coffee shop grading system? I think the system is not carefully and properly implemented.

When it comes to the application of licence for the operations of coffee house, it has never been a pleasant experience for some operators. One sincere coffee house operator told me that, despite the fact that his coffee house are very clean and well maintained and also fully air-conditioned, he still face difficulties in getting his licence approved. He is not satisfied over the delay in which his coffee house licence is being processed. I think many other operators did face the same problems, who knows. But then, why are those coffee shops whose kitchens are very dirty and in disarray still enjoys prompt renewal process? That doesn’t make sense at all. It looks like there are some bias in which the licence are being processed or issued.

These are the areas in which the local authority is lacking in efficiencies. Or there may be a possibility of Agung’s head deficiency syndrome. To the relevant party, please look into this matter and if possible investigate it.

The kitchen of one of the coffee shop which is not well maintained.

5-foot way vegetable vendors

The scene at the 5-foot way at Sg. Plan, Jalan Tanjung Kidurong, Bintulu new shophouses is an eye sore.   Vegetable vendors line-up at the 5-foot way doing their daily business starting as early as 2pm in the afternoon.   This place also has been self-converted into "pasar malam" too.   As a result the road in between the two shophouse buildings is congested.

The efforts of these vendors, mostly bumiputeras, are commendable.   They work hard in order to earn better income for their family.   The involvement of bumiputeras in business is in line with the government's aspirations.   Unfortunately, they do not have a proper place to do business, as you may see in the following pictures.

In conclusion, I would say that:

-  This reflects the inefficiency of the local authority, BDA or Bintulu Development Authority in maintaining a well organized town.   I doubt whether the enforcement officers are doing their jobs.   This is common diseases within the government departments, regardless of what departments.

-  I order to cope up with this situations, the authority concerned should come up with a practical solution such as building "pasar tamu" in this area which serves as business premises for these vendors besides maintaining clean and beautiful town.

BEWARE OF CONMEN

Beware of 2 shops operating at the ground floor of Parkcity Mall in Bintulu. These 2 shops are bloodsuckers operated by conmen @ gangsters. They have valid trading licence, but the products sold are doubtful. 

Modus operandi : if you walk into Parkcity Mall and passing by these 2 shops, if they think you are vulnerable, they will try to stop you and approach you. Then they will tell you their shops are offering lucky draw if you purchase products from them. They will then try to convince you by telling you about the valuable prizes that you are going to get if you win the lucky draw. If you are convinced, you’ll be asked to press computer buttons to generate lucky draw. Of course you will win 1st prize as the draws has been pre-set. In order to get the prizes, you’ll be asked to pay thousands of dollars. If you have credit cards, they will ask you to sign papers authorizing them to withdraw your money. Once you signed, you are finished. No way you can recover back your money. You will not be in a position to make a complain or lodge a police report since you have sign the authorization papers. Legally you’ll lose. They have black and white, that is your sale and purchase contract, backed up by valid trading licence.

So, be wary and be careful. Don’t be fooled and become their next victim. This has happened to the friend of my friend. He has lost rm5,000 to these conmen.

Pass this message to all your friends or anyone you know wether they are in bintulu or anywhere in sarawak.

Together we fight crime and injustice.

Home of the scavangers

Passingby the place, I can't possibly stand the stinking odour.   I almost vomit.   That place is rubbish dumping site at jalan tanjung kidurong, bintulu.   It is the home of flies, rats and cockroaches.

Probably you would not believe it, when I say it is the home of scavangers too.   They live there and earn their living collecting and selling used tin cans, alluminium, iron, bottles and just about anything that can be sold.   Visiting the site, sending your heart down the sadness alley.

At times, I was puzzled thinking what makes them scavangers.   Is it that they wanted it that way?   Is this their destiny?   Or maybe it is easy for them to earn their living by being scavangers.   Are they the victims of global modernisation?   Or is it they rather become scavangers than working and contributing to the growth and development of their state?   Is there not enough jobs for them in their beloved Sarawak?   Then, why are there thousands of foreign workers from Indonesia and Bangladesh flocking into our state and enjoying good working conditions and all the benefits as compared to these scavangers?


Who enjoys the benefits of our oil and gas industries such as MLNG, ABF and our fluorishing oil palm plantations.   As far as I know, all the good positions in these industries are being dominated by outsiders, the West Malaysians.   These outsiders conquered our land.   What has the state government done?   Nothing.   The state government under the leadership of Taib Mahmud has turned deaf ears and blind eyes regarding the plight of the Sarawakians.   What is the meaning of Politics of Development?

Our state government did not give priority to Sarawakians in terms of job distributions.   The rights and benefits of Sarawakian, being the indeginous people is not protected by the policy of Politics of Development.   Our rich state is being colonised and conquered by the west malaysians the same way as the British used to colonise malaya during the pre-merdeka era.   Nobody dare to speak up and fight these unfairness.

Sarawakians, wake up and may God give us one Tunku Abdul Rahman who can lead our way towards independence and away from being further colonised in the modern world.

 

Ferry service in Dalat

Dalat is a small town located about 35 km from Mukah. The majority of populations are Melanaus, Chinese, Iban and Malays being in small number. Up till now when other towns are growing very fast in terms of development, Dalat still lag behind in terms of infrastructures.

The ferry service between Dalat bazaar and kampung Brunei is very saddening to watch. The ferry is made of wooden materials which rot very fast due to exposure to water and heat. In that situations, it would be very dangerous to users, for one thing, there is no insurance coverage in case the unwanted incident happen. User's safety is not guaranteed.

Vehicles queuing up and waiting to board the wooden ferry.

The constructions of the bridge connecting Dalat bazaar and kampung Brunei has been stagnant after it started more that a year ago. What has happened to the project, nobody knows. It seems that, the local authority is not giving priority to the projects.

Where is the wakil rakyat concerned? It seems that the wakil rakyat is sleeping soundly after unopposed win during the last state elections. No actions has been taken to speed up the bridge constructions on the part of the wakil rakyat. Come next elections, I hope there's someone coming up to give a challenge to the incumbent.

Sago worms (in Melanau is Si’et)

Sago worms is one of the local delicacies that can be found in Sarawak, particularly in Mukah, Oya, Dalat, Bintulu and Matu Daro area. The sago worms can be found from the fell sago (2 weeks after the sago is fell). It’s normally sold for RM5.00 per packet (around 30 worms) at the local wet market.

The best way of preparing it is by frying mixed with onions, chillies and ginger. It’s best when taken while drinking liquor or beer.

The worse road in Sarawak

If you have been frequently travelling along the road linking Selangau and Mukah, probably you would know better what I mean in this articles. Needless for me to explaine further. However, not every readers have experienced that dreadful journey or aware of the conditions of the road that I am talking about. Actually, this is a century old issue, which has been pending for quite some times. However, for humanitarian sake and a sense of responsibility as the citizen of Sarawakian, I feel obliged to highlight to world about the plight of the users of the road concerned. The conditions of this road is so poor that I really pitty my Kancil when I travelled to Dalat recently during my not-so-pleasant journey. Imagine the damages that the road has done to the vehicles passing by all this while.

I notice that, there are some repairs work going on, but the works are done at a snail paces. The reconstructions of the new ones seems to be meeting the dead end and the work has stopped for no obvious reasons. As you may notice, below are the pictures I took along the way.

Where are all the revenues from our oil and timber exports? Understandably, all those revenues goes to the federal government and used by them to build better roads and sky scrappers for themselves. What can the 5% royalty do to improve our infrastructures? Nothing much. We deserved more than that. These revenues should be used by the state government to build better roads and ammenities for Sarawakian.

So, fellow Sarawakians please wake up. It's just the right time to have a change. Come next elections, please cast your vote wisely this time. Use your eyes and see around. Use your head and think.