Solid waste management at Kpg Stungkor Lama in Lundu: Did the govt consult the local community?

Boniface Willy: Notice issued by Sudarsono is defective and bad in law

On Monday the 12th March 2012, the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Resource Planning and Environment, Datu Sudarsono Osman took out an advertisement persuant to Section 5(3) and (4) of the Sarawak Land Code.

The advertisement appeared, among others, in the Borneo Post’s edition of the 12th March 2012.

This advertisement relates to the plans of the state government to acquire 200 hectares of NCR land in kampung Stungkor Lama in the administrative district of Lundu, for the purpose of Solid Waste Management.

The residents of kampung Stungkor Lama and other nearby villages are extremely upset by this proposed solid waste management project and the manner in which they were ‘informed’ about the project.

The Issues

1. Kpg Stungkor Lama is administratively within the jurisdiction of the Pejabat Daerah Lundu and yet

    Lundu was conspicuously missing in the Ministry’s notice referred to above.

2. It is stated in the notice that the residents of kampung Stungkor Lama who are affected by this

    proposed project has 60 days, from the 12th March 2012, to file their claim of  NCR rights over the

    affected land/area with the Jabatan Tanah & Servei.

3. On the 14th March 2012, 3 days after the notice/advertisement in the Borneo Post, an officer of

    Pejabat Daerah Bau confirmed that they have not recieved from  Jabatan Tanah & Servei the

    map of Plot A, delineated in Plan Print No. 3/AQ/ID/45/2011, which is the map of the land to be

    acquired as stated in the ministry’s notice.

4. The same officer from the Pejabat Daerah Bau also confirmed that they were not informed of

    government’s plan to acquire land in kampung Stungkor Lama for the purpose of solid waste

    management.

   AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE ABOVE, THE SAID NOTICE IS DEFECTIVE AND BAD AND  IS NOT

   BINDING ON THE RESIDENTS OF KAMPUNG STUNGKOR LAMA AND/OR THE AFFECTED

   RESIDENTS OF NEARBY VILLAGES.

   ITEM 4 OF THE SAID NOTICE IS THEREFORE RENDERED INOPERATIVE AND WITHOUT ANY EFFECT

  WHATSOEVER.

6. No official from the relevant government department or agency has  ever discussed with the

    residents of kampung Stungkor Lama or the other nearby villages the government’s plan to site

    the solid waste management project in the vicinity of their village.

7. Solid waste management is always associated with environmental pollution, health and safety

    hazards. There will always be problems with foul smell and the presence of vectors of disease

   like  flies. There is also the possibility of fire and foul-smelling smoke during the dry period.

    The dangers posed by this proposed project to the health and safety of the local population and

    to the environment cannot be discounted and taken lightly.

    Of equal concern to the local population, if not greater, is the effect on the commercial value of 

    land and properties in the vicinity of the project. It is not lost on the villagers that the value of

    their land and landed properties will be doomed.

    The villagers of kampung Stungkor Lama and the other nearby villages are shocked that the

    authorities concerned did not inform them about the project.

It would appear that there is a pre-meditated and active attempts by the state authorities to conceal this project from the residents of kampung Stungkor Lama and residents of nearby villages.

The residents of kampung Stungkor are very angry over this shoddy treatment from the state government and by the inaction of their elected representatives, ADUN Yb Ranum Mina and MP Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe over the matter.

They now demand that the state government withdraw the notice issued by the Resource Planning and Environment Ministry immediately. They also demand that, should the government wish to proceed with the project, they must first engage the residents, especially on the impact of the project to the safety and health of the affected residents, the impact to the local environment and to the value of their land and landed properties and thereafter to get their consent and agreement to the project.

By : BONIFACE WILLY ANAK TUMEK

      AJK, PKR CABANG MAS GADING

Need to re-examine why many Sarawakians are working outside the state, suggests Baru Bian

There were complaints about working terms and conditions, salaries different from what was promised, and working long hours without overtime, as highlighted by the Borneo Post in today's issue.

The Labour Department’s Senior assistant director Ahmad Lamat said there is nothing much the government can do to help them.

Today’s Star highlighted that illegal foreign workers are causing the government to lose millions of ringgit in levy and that foreigners are snapping up jobs shunned by locals. Ahmad Lamat blamed this on the locals being choosy due to unattractive wages.

We need to examine the root cause of these problems:

1.     Poor Education policies and amenities

Our people, especially those in the rural areas have little opportunities to complete their school studies and go on to tertiary level.

From the Labour Force Survey (2008-2010) of the Department of Statistics, out of Sarawak’s labour force, only 17% or 166,175 people have any form of post secondary education.

In fact the projected labour force with post secondary education 2011 (projected from Education and Social Characteristics of the population 2000 and Yearbook of Statistics Sarawak 2009) shows that of the total projected number of 150,690, the ethnic breakdown is as below:

Malay/Melanau:        33.44%

Chinese:                      39.49%

Iban:                           15.50%

Bidayuh:                     7.19%

Orang Ulu:                  4.38%

YB Fatimah Abdullah said we have only 25% (this is significantly higher than the figure from the Department of Statistics for 2008-2010) highly skilled workers to date and that by the year 2015, SCORE is expected to create some 290,880 jobs that would increase to 662,065 jobs by 2020.

From the statistics above, clearly, our people, especially the indigenous people, are in no position to take on the jobs that are purportedly going to be created by SCORE. We will need around twice the number of skilled workers than will be available from the whole of our labour force. The government is actually looking at importing foreign labour to fill these vacancies. How is SCORE going to benefit the people, if this is the scenario?

We need to refocus on the very basic foundation of a successful and vibrant society: Education.

PR government will ensure that every child is given the opportunity to further his or her studies. We will raise standards of teaching, provide training opportunities for teachers, and provide better and more vocational training for school leavers.

2.                  No political will to raise wages.

Foreigners work mainly in Plantations and Construction sites, the majority of which are owned or controlled by the CM’s family and cronies, and BN politicians and their families/cronies.

They take the land from the locals for plantations, and then to add insult to injury, offer the lowest wages (around RM18 per day), which is grossly insufficient to sustain even one person, let alone a family.

Ahmad Lamat said ‘Our people are choosy, but foreign workers are willing to do the tough work for a few years just to earn a living.’

We cannot blame the people for not wanting these jobs. They have to go to West Malaysia, Singapore and further abroad to make a living. There, they are forced to just ‘make a living’ by taking on the jobs that West Malaysians and Singaporeans don’t want to do.

The point is that our people cannot even earn a living on the wages being offered here. Why should they just be content on earning a living? We should want them to thrive and prosper. The Indonesians live the most frugal lives here so that they can send to their families the little that they make. Our people have families to support, and hence have to seek greener pastures outside of Sarawak.

There are 112,209 legal foreign workers in Sarawak, according to YB Adenan Satem. That means there are 112, 209 jobs that could be given to locals, if they are paid decent wages which they can live on.

Currently, money generated from plantations and construction projects end up in Indonesia as remittances of the labourers or in the pockets of those who steal from and cheat the rural people.

Is it any wonder that Sarawak is one of the poorest states in the country? Is it any surprise that YB Fatimah Abdullah said that the number of poor in Sarawak is expected to increase?

The solution is to raise the wages sufficiently so that people can have enough to live on comfortably and to aim for better futures for their children, instead of just struggling to eke out a living.

Pakatan Rakyat wants Sarawak to be the richest state. The only way to do it is to eradicate land grabbling, corruption and cronyism and to refocus on the basics such as education and training, and implement policies of good governance. We have formulated policies that will serve the needs of the people, as set out in the PK Budget 2012 released by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in October 2011. A PR government will work on the premise that the people are the boss and our job will be to implement policies that will improve the lives of the population.

Baru Bian

State Assemblyman

N70 Ba’ Kelalan/

Chairman

PKR Sarawak