·
OPENING
Firstly, I wish to record my sincere
thanks to the voters of N81 Ba’Kelalan for showing their confidence in me by
retaining me as their representative in this Dewan. I repeat the promise I made
in 2011 to do my best by the grace of God. I will not only speak up for and on
behalf of the constituents of Ba’ Kelalan but for other Sarawakians as well
that need their voices heard in this Dewan.
I congratulate the right honourable
Chief Minister for succeeding in getting the further 5 years that he had asked
for from the people of Sarawak, and I trust that he will do his utmost to
fulfill the promises made to the rakyat during the campaign, particularly in
relation to our demands for our rights as promised to us pursuant to the
Malaysia Agreement, some of them being Borneonisation, Autonomy, Oil Royalty
and the reclamation of our territorial rights.
·
ELECTION PROMISES
I wish to thank the BN leaders and
the Federal Government for the many promises they made to the people of Ba'
Kelalan during the elections campaign. In one day of campaigning, Ba' Kelalan
was promised RM40.5 mil worth of projects, which must be a record of sorts. I
sincerely hope this was not just another political gimmick to buy votes. The
people of Ba’ Kelalan are keen to know the time frame for the fulfillment of
these promises. If the government fails to deliver, I guarantee the people of
Ba' Kelalan will never trust BN again, especially those 2,320 people who voted
for the BN candidate.
·
SCHOOLS
The Prime
Minister promised, during campaigning, to restore the 183 old and dilapidated
schools in Sarawak. This promise is nothing new, as his Education Blueprint
2013-2025 had aimed to ‘Ensure
100 percent of schools meet basic infrastructure requirements by 2015, starting
with Sabah and Sarawak’ and in February 2014, the then-deputy prime minister
promised an additional budget of RM1 billion for Sabah and Sarawak to rebuild
dilapidated schools. Not surprisingly, nothing came of these. The people are
tired of the BN’s empty promises and I urge the Chief Minister to remind the PM
of this. At least, in acknowledging the shameful state of our schools, the PM
must have been admitting that the BN had failed Sarawak during the last 53
years, and he should have the decency and grace to make up for lost time.
·
SMK LONG SEMADOH
I was very pleased that the Prime
Minister had approved RM35mil for the construction of SMK Lg Semadoh. I had
raised many questions about this during the last term. Although the Ministers
at first denied there had been plans for the school, I managed to find the
gazette for the acquisition of land to build this school, and also one for SK
Long Semadoh. These gazettes are dated 2005, and for the Minister of Energy,
Green Technology and Water to say the projects were put off partly because Ba’
Kelalan ‘fell to the opposition’ is not entirely accurate, as I only became an
assemblyman in 2011. Perhaps the people of Ba’ Kelalan became unhappy over the
broken promise by BN to build these schools. I must say they made a smart
decision to turn to the opposition, because the Prime Minister himself has now
promised them that the school will be built. I hope the BN government makes a
better effort to honour their promises this time round, and I should be
grateful for an indication from the Minister as to when construction is
expected to begin.
·
CHURCHES
The Minister of Energy, Green
Technology and Water also conveyed the PM’s approval of RM5.5 mil for the
purchase of equipment for and repair of 110 churches in Ba’ Kelalan. This is
welcome news indeed, as the churches are in need of funds for various maintenance
needs, having received little or no financial aid from the government before. I
wish to ask the Minister concerned how the fund will be disbursed and when
disbursement will commence. A timeframe would be most useful, if the Minister
can come up with one. It would be most unbecoming and embarrassing if the BN
government were to break a promise made to houses of worship.
·
ROADS
1. BA’ KELALAN TO
BARIO ROAD
None other than the Defence
Minister announced during the campaign period that the second phase of the Ba'
Kelalan-Bario Rd costing RM128.55mil is to be completed by March 2018 under the
Army’s ‘Jiwa Murni’ programme. However, I wish to raise my concerns about the
‘Jiwa Murni’ roads following the Auditor General’s damning report released on
18 May 2016 on the roads that have been built thus far. Some of the findings of
the AG include:
Quality of work was less satisfactory. Road
shoulders and drains were not built… There were potholes, uneven and muddy road
surfaces. Road maintenance was less satisfactory... Besides faded road lines,
there were untrimmed wild plants and grasses along road shoulders… safety of
the roads built were “less satisfactory” as they were steep and winding, with
“no slope protection.”
Mr Speaker, it sounds like the Army
employed slapdash methods to build the initial ‘Jiwa Murni’ roads. The rights
and safety of rural Sarawakians are equally as important as that of the city
dwellers. Is the government continuing to use the Army and their un-named
‘direct negotiation’ contractors even after the AG’s unfavourable report? These
inferior roads will need constant repair, which will end up costing the
government more than it would if professional builders had been engaged in the
first place. Or worse still, as stated by the Minister of Infrastructure
Development and Communications, in response to my question about the poor state
of the Ba’ Kelalan- Lg Luping road during the last DUN sitting, there will be
no repairs undertaken because there is no allocation from the Federal government.
The Works Minister, during the
elections campaign, had said that the ‘Jiwa Murni’ roads are ‘just basic
roads’, which would be handed over to the state government’s JKR for
maintenance and will be upgraded in future.
However, the Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communications
had said in December last year that it would be impossible to repair the roads;
what was needed was rehabilitation of the roads, which would cost RM1.8mil per
km, and there was no money from the Federal government. This leads me to wonder
how the Federal government is going to honour all the promises it made during
the elections campaign amounting to over RM350 mil.
I hope the Government will take
corrective measures and even alternative means in this matter to ensure that
the people are provided with safe and proper roads to use. I would be grateful
for a response from the Minister on this worrying issue.
2. LONG SEBANGANG
TO LONG SUKANG ROAD
On the ongoing road construction
from Lg Sebangang to Lg Sukang, I hope it will not end after 3.5 km as rumored.
Many NCR claims have not been settled yet and I urge the government to take
this seriously as genuine claims must be compensated.
3. LONG SUKANG TO
LONG LUPING ROAD
In order to promote tourism in the
highlands, I would suggest that the Government consider building a road between
Lg Sukang and Lg Luping and to reopen the old Lg Semadoh airstrip. This would
provide a means of reaching the hinterland of Ba’ Kelalan, and the encourage
tourism in that area, which could, to an extent, make up for the downturn in
economy.
·
‘HUDUD’ BILL AND STATUS OF MALAYSIA
I commend the Chief Minister for
his firm stand that hudud will not be implemented in Sarawak, and that PBB will
not support the ‘Hudud Bill’, recognizing that Sarawak is a multiracial state
with Muslims constituting only about 25% of the population. I also wish to
commend Mr Speaker for your insight into the ramifications of the Bill should
it be passed, ie the discrimination against Muslims and the violation of
Article 8 of the Federal Constitution, and your view that the Bill should be
thrown out for being unconstitutional.
In the light of the above, I
request the honourable Chief Minister to remind the Prime Minister and his
Ministers that our founding fathers intended that Malaysia should be a secular
country, as documented in the many papers and reports relating to the
establishment of Malaysia, and the Supreme Court’s decision in Che Omar bin Che Soh’s case. I was
disturbed to read in the Borneo Post dated 4 May 2016, the Prime Minister’s
remarks on ‘Malaysia’s status as Islamic country’ in a report headed “Malaysian
Syariah Index successful in defining clear definition of Islamic country –
Najib”. It is our duty to remind the Federal government to stick to the
agreement that was made in 1963 between Sarawak, Sabah, Malaya, and Singapore.
·
ROONEY AND OTHER CONVERSION CASES
Rooney Rebit is a lucky man, for
his case to have come up during the election campaign period, and the Chief
Minister managing to persuade the NRD to withdraw their appeal against the
decision of the High Court to allow him to have his religion changed in his IC.
I hope that this will not be a
one-off case that is resolved during an election campaign, but that there
should be a policy decision for such matters. In order to avoid lengthy and
costly legal processes, a Special Council could be set up to resolve such matters.
If we are to truly subscribe to a system of democracy where no individual is
forced to remain in a religion against his or her will, there must be an avenue
for them to seek easy redress.
·
HELP FOR THE STATELESS BORDER SCOUTS AND RANGERS
Mr Speaker, the government must
address the plight of the stateless Lun Bawang border scouts that was
highlighted by the SPDP deputy president in March. I need not go into detail
about what these men and other border scouts have done for Sarawak, save to say
that the least the Government can do is to legitimize their status as
Malaysians in their old age so that they can live out their lives with peace of
mind. It must be a bitter pill for them to swallow that other foreigners who
have contributed nothing to Sarawak are able to get blue ICs without any
difficulty while they, who have served us well, have been given the runaround
by the NRD for decades.
The Chief Minister appears to have
a strong influence on the NRD, as shown by the swift response to the Rooney
case, and I strongly urge him to intervene in this matter, not only for the Lun
Bawang border scouts, but for the many Sarawakians who are unfortunate enough
to not possess any birth certificates or identity cards.
In connection with this matter, I
wish to also urge the Government to assist the SRVA Baru in their quest to
locate ex-servicemen such as former Iban Trackers, Sarawak Rangers and First
Battalion Malaysia Rangers intake 1 to 4, as highlighted in the newspapers
recently. The cost of living allowance of RM300 per month for them is hardly
sufficient, bearing in mind the increase in the prices for goods and services
since the imposition of the GST. The Government should increase this allowance
to ease the burden on these retired servicemen. The provision of the RM3000
funeral expenses is welcome, but they should be able to enjoy a decent life
while they are still on this earth.
·
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I would like to wish
my Dayak friends Happy Gawai and a
fruitful harvest for 2016, and to my Muslim friends, Selamat Berpuasa.
May God Bless Sarawak and all her
people, and let justice and righteousness flow like the mighty Rejang river
from this august house and flood this beloved Fair Land Sarawak.
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