KM lancar Skim Bantuan Deposit Perumahan, kerajaan akan salur RM10,000 sebagai deposit untuk pembeli rumah pertama

 “Pelbagai usaha telah dilaksanakan untuk memperkasakan usaha Mutiara Mortgage & Credit Sdn Bhd seperti memperkenalkan Pakej Pembiayaan Perumahan patuh Shariah yang komprehensif.

Gambar: Ketua Menteri Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg

Sejajar pengumuman saya pada Oktober 2021 yang lalu, Housing Deposit Assistance Scheme (HDAS) telah diperkenalkan dan akan  diurus oleh Mutiara Mortgage & Credit Sdn Bhd.

Inisiatif ini adalah merupakan Skim Bantuan Deposit Perumahan yang ditawarkan kepada golongan B40 dan M40 di Sarawak untuk membantu pemilikan kediaman sendiri.

Melalui skim khas ini Kerajaan Negeri akan menyalurkan bantuan deposit sebanyak 10% atau maksimum RM10,000 untuk deposit pembelian rumah mampu milik kepada pembeli rumah pertama.

Ini adalah skim seumpamanya yang julung kali diperkenalkan di negara ini untuk membantu rakyat kita dalam golongan yang berpendapatan rendah.

HDAS turut diperluaskan bagi pemilik tanah yang ingin membina rumah di atas tanah sendiri.

Milikan tanah mestilah tanah yang diperuntukkan oleh Jabatan Tanah dan Survei dibawah Skim Pembesaran Kampung (SPK) dan Skim Penempatan Semula (SPS).

Bagi proses ini, peserta boleh menghubungi atau membuat permohonan terus di pejabat Mutiara Mortgage & Credit Sdn. Bhd.

Pada waktu yang sama, bagi inisiatif membina rumah di atas tanah sendiri, Mutiara Mortgage akan memperkenalkan Program Rumah Spektra Mutiara di mana kos pembinaan rumah akan dibiayai oleh Mutiara Mortgage melalui produk Mutiara Dream Home Financing Scheme (MDHFS).

“Rekabentuk rumah yang standard dan telah ditetapkan, selesa, mempunyai 3 bilik tidur 2 bilik air dan berkeluasan minimum 750 kaki persegi.

Harga kos pembinaan dianggarkan berjumlah sekitar RM90,000 hingga RM160,000 yang akan dibiayai melalui pembiayaan perumahan dengan mutiara.

Dengan adanya inisiatif-inisiatif seumpama ini, ia amat membantu rakyat Sarawak dari segi peningkatan pendapatan boleh guna isi rumah (nett disposable income) sekaligus meningkatkan nilai kekayaan (wealth creation) masing masing.

Penduduk di luar bandar turut diberi perhatian khusus agar tidak terpinggir dalam proses transformasi ini.

Dalam masa yang sama, pembeli rumah generasi muda turut sama menikmati kemudahan dalam urusan membeli rumah dengan adanya skim bantuan deposit dan kadar keuntungan pembiayaan yang amat rendah berbanding dengan pinjaman perumahan oleh pihak bank komersial.

 Dari segi tempoh pembiayaan pula, jika mereka dapat membeli rumah pada usia muda, maka bayaran bulanan menjadi lebih rendah kerana tempoh pembayaran yang lebih panjang.” - Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg. (February 7, 2022)

Baru Bian says declaring 118,163ha area as Ulu Trusan Protected Forest will deprive Lun Bawang community of their NCR lands

 MIRI, February 7, 2022: The Lun Bawang community is objecting to the state government’s proposal to declare 118,163ha in Lawas as the Ulu Trusan Protected Forest (UTPF).

Picture: Ba'Kelalan State Assemblyman Baru Bian

Ba’Kelalan State Assemblyman said the proposal, when gazetted, threatens the community’s very existence as natives of Sarawak.

“The new proposal has not been published in the Gazette as required under Section 8 of the Forest

Ordinance yet, as was done in 2015.

“However, the community at a meeting held on Saturday has resolved to send a petition to Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg to strongly object to the proposal,” he said in a statement.

He said several issues should be noted about this proposal, saying that it will extinguish the NCR lands of a large proportion of the Lun Bawangs, thereby depriving them of their hunting, foraging and fishing lands.

“This will effectively rob them of their livelihood,” Baru said.

He added many are questioning why the government is targeting their NCR lands, asserting that “without our lands, we have nothing. Without our lands we will die. Without our lands we lose our identity as Lun Bawang.”

“All the villages along the alignment of the Sarawak-Sabah Link Road are affected although these

villages are not within the boundary of the proposed UTPF.

“The question here is - why earmark these areas as proposed Protected Forests when they are clearly land and forests which the Lun Bawangs are dependent upon for their livelihood?

“Further these areas had already been logged during the last 30 plus years and are still under valid Timber Licences?” he asked.

He said the SSLR is expected to bring economic growth to this area, and with it, land value is expected to increase.

“By extinguishing the rights of the people, the government is depriving them of the future benefits the SSLR is expected to bring,” he said.

Baru, who is a lawyer by profession, noted that Section 29 of the Ordinance on ‘Revocation of Forest Reserve and Protected Forest’ is noteworthy in that it provides that upon revocation, ‘such a forest reserve or protected forest or part thereof shall cease to be reserved or protected, but the rights or privileges which have been extinguished therein shall not be revived’.

He said once the NCR over an area is extinguished and the area is declared as Protected Forest, the NCR over the land will not be returned if the area is degazetted as Protected Forest in the future.

“The Lun Bawang people will not allow their lands to be taken from them in this manner and eventually alienated to some big corporations later.

“We are suspicious at this moment of this second attempt to extinguish our rights in view of the fact that this area is expected to greatly benefit economically with the imminent relocation of the capital city of Indonesia to Nusantara.

“We are asking whether the state government is deliberately depriving us, the Lun Bawangs of such an opportunity to better our lot,” he said.

“And we don't want at the end of the day, ‘Lun Bawang, Iamo Na Bawang’, (we are called ‘People of the Land, but with No Land’).

“This cry was heard even more loudly Saturday afternoon at our meeting, which wasattended by some hundreds of landowners and village representatives of the Lun Bawangcommunity and representatives from all the affected villages.

“We will continue to fight for our lands, our heritage and our existence.

He noted that the UTPF was first proposed in 2015, but was suspended after over 3000 people signed a petition which was presented to the former chief minister the late Tan Sri Adenan Satem.

“Interestingly, when I spoke to him about it, he said that he had no idea about the proposal.

“According to the information we received, the latest version of the proposal involves an areatotalling about 118,163 ha compared to 120,855 ha in the 2015 proposal, impacting villages which are located along the SSLR alignment.

 “At least 36 villages, possibly more, will be affected, involving lands that are clearly NCR lands. “According to our calculation, the farthest portion of the boundary of the proposed UTPF is only 3.9 kilometres, which is at Long Telingan and the nearest is about 1.2 kilometres at Long Lidung.

“We estimate that two-thirds of the Lun Bawang people stand to lose their NCR lands that include their "Tana Bawang" or "Tana Kenen" (Pemakai Menua) "Amug" (Temuda) if this proposal goes through,” he said.

Lorry assistant killed after lorry, laden with oil palm fruits, overturned after a road accident

 SERIAN, February 6, 2022 - A 20-year old lorry assistant was killed when  a 10-wheel lorry, laden with oil palm fruits, overturned following a head-on collision with a multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) along Jalan Kampung Paon Rimu yesterday evening. 

Picture: Bomba personnel retrieve the body of the lorry assistant from among the oil palm fruits.

The driver of the lorry, however, escaped with minor injuries. 

Three persons in the MPV have been brought to the Serian hospital with injuries. 

A statement issued by the Serian Bomba station identified the lorry assistant as Alexander anak Alon. 

Operations commander Julie Umar said the station received a call from the general operations force seeking assistance from the Serian Bomba station regarding a road accident at Jalan Kampung Paon Rimu about 6.30pm yesterday. 

He said the lorry driver informed that his assistant could be buried under the oil palm fruits after the lorry had overturned. 

“He (lorry driver) then contacted him assistant on his handphone and although it was ringing, it was not answered,” Julie said. 

He added the Bomba personnel had to employ a bulldozer to lift the lorry and after some hours, they located the deceased’s body,” he said.

Body of former soldier, who fell into a river two days ago while fishing, has been found

 BETONG, February 5, 2022 - The body of a 49-year old former soldier Baki ak Nyambong was found at a spot, about 50 metres from where he was said to have fallen from a boat  at Batang Skrang, Kampung Lidong, two days ago. 

Picture (left): The body of the former soldier (covered with white material) as the SAR team members are in the process of taking it out from the boat.

A statement from the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) said the body was found by the villagers at Daru area about 8.30am this morning. 

It was later surrendered to the police who brought it to Simanggang police station for further action. 

According to Betong Bomba station, it received  a call about the incident about 6.35pm two days ago. 

“Based on the information from the deceased’s elder brother, the deceased fell from the boat while they were fishing at Batang Skrang. 

“The incident happened at a spot about 1km from the jetty of Kampung Lidong,” the operation commander Henry ak Jugah. 

He said a search and rescue team was then formed to locate the former soldier. 

Other agencies involved in the SAR operation were the police, civil defence department as well as the villagers.

Dawn fire completely razes Rumah Rangsa in Meluan to the ground

 JULAU, January 31, 2022- A dawn fire completely rendered 77 residents of Rumah Rangsa anak Jimat in Meluan, homeless, a spokesman for the Fire and Rescue Department (BOMBA) in Bintangor said in a statement today. 

Picture:This is what left of the longhouse after the fire incident

The Bintangor BOMBA immediately dispatched a fire engine with seven fire fighters to the longhouse upon receiving a distress call about 4.05am on the fire incident. 

However, upon arrival one hour later, the 17-door longhouse was completely razed to the ground. 

Rumah Rangsa is about 60km away from Bintangor town. 

According to operations commander, Nicholas Belulin, there were no reports of human casualties. 

He said the residents of the longhouse made efforts but failed to put off the fire from spreading to other doors. 

He said the fire was believed to have started from door number 6 before spreading to other doors of the longhouse. 

A Proton car was also damaged as the owner did not have time to drive it to a safe place.