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

Be careful with what you utter, Baru warns James Dawos

Kuching, March 12, 2012: PKR Sarawak chief Baru Bian has slammed Deputy Tourism Minister James Dawos Mamit for insinuating that Opposition leaders cum lawyers have tricked the native landowners into going to court.

Baru said Dawos, who made the insinuation in his statement carried by the Sunday Post yesterday, had also claimed that the Opposition leaders cum lawyers had generated their income by tricking the landowners to bring their cases to court.

Baru took exception to a remark made by the MP for Mambong that the Opposition leaders cum lawyers were eyeing the legal fees, and that was how they survive.

"I know their tricks," Dawos was quoted to have said.

Baru, the state assemblyman for Ba'Kelalan, said:"As a leader of the Opposition and a lawyer who fights for the rural folks, I invite the honourable Minister to furnish the public with specific details about these tricks we have been accused of pulling.

"As he should know, it is no use making vague accusations when the accuser does not have facts to back him up, lest he ends up sounding like a hollow vessel.

"Is the honourable Minister saying that the land grabs that have been the subject of our many court cases are all ‘false information’?

"If he has the ‘real information’ I would be very pleased to hear it and I await his clarification with great anticipation.

"For his benefit, ‘real information’, means information backed by proper and relevant documentation, such as the type we produce as evidence in the conduct of our court cases," he said.

He said the deputy minister should be more prudent in his speech as he may be getting a touch of the contagious ‘foot-in-mouth’ disease from some of his equally honourable colleagues who have been in the spotlight the past week or so.

"It seems to me that by imputing improper motive to us, the honourable deputy minister is by extension casting aspersions on the wisdom and integrity of the Courts, which have been ruling in favour of the plaintiffs in many of our cases. He is treading on thin ice here – let him be duly warned.

"Again, for the benefit of the honourable deputy minister, let me say that no lawyer worth his salt would file an action against the government or indeed any party if no reasonable cause of action exists.

"To do so would be to invite derision from the Bench, ridicule from the Bar and negligence lawsuits from the clients, not to mention a poor reputation for the law firm.

"Let me also say that the rural people will not take up legal suit against the government for no good reason especially when it comes to violation of their rights.

"They have been so oppressed and cowed by the BN government over the years that they would not resort to the Courts unless they had no other recourse.

"Contrary to what the honourable deputy minister says, we do not have to seek these people out; they know where to find us, and they are coming in droves.

"In fact, on many occasions, I tell these folks from the longhouses that I am already too busy with many NCR land cases and that if possible, they should engage other lawyers, but to no avail.

"Perhaps the insightful deputy minister could honour us with the fruits of his wisdom and tell us what he thinks is the reason for this phenomenon," Baru said

On the money motive as alleged by Dawos, Baru said he need not say much except that the honourable deputy minister should take a good look at his greedy BN compatriots and their insatiable leader before accusing the Opposition.

"The unashamed rent-seeking rampage and the unrelenting raping and pillaging of the land by the ravenous BN leeches has done irreparable damage to the state and ruined innumerable lives in the rural communities.

"Just last week, we were treated to the Assistant Minister of Agriculture’s unsavoury letter demanding kickbacks for a land development scheme.

"And the revelation that his party leader and No 1 defender is his alleged partner in the kickback business is equally repugnant.

"Given the track record of the BN, any politician motivated by money would have signed up with any of their component parties, instead of choosing to join the struggle of the Opposition.

"Of course, as lawyers we survive on legal fees, but I wish to inform the honourable deputy minister that money is not everything and that many of these cases are partly taken up on a pro bono basis.

"It is obvious that the BN component parties are desperately trying to cling to power and that incumbent Ministers are falling over themselves to make an impression in the hope of being the chosen ones to contest in GE13.

"However, to parrot nonsensical statements without first engaging in a spot of cerebral activity is just showing the rakyat that they are but a bunch of drowning men grasping at straws.

"Finally, I advise Dawos to be more circumspect in what he says of the Opposition leaders of in future, for we are fully aware of our rights, unlike the natives who have been cheated and robbed by the BN politicians and their cronies.

"As our lawyers are currently occupied with the deluge of NCR land cases, we will overlook his deplorable ignorance this time.

"He should, however, take note that we will not hesitate to take legal action against him should he ever feel inclined to make similar baseless accusations again," Baru warned Dawos.

Baru Bian to take up Press Metal issue

Kuching, March 12, 2012: Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian has said that the party will take up the issue on the Press Metal Sdn Bhd’s aluminium smelter plant in Mukah following numerous complaints from the surrounding villages.

“We have heard of complaints from the people residing at the nearby places.

“We will conduct investigation, and if we find that there are basis for their complaints, we may file a court injunction to stop the plant from operating,” he told reporters after chairing the party liaison committee meeting here on Saturday.

Baru said he had raised the issue on the concerns of the people residing near the plant at the  November 2011 sitting of the State Legislative Assembly.

“I have asked for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report on the plant,  and I believe the government has released the report last December,” he said, adding that he was keen to read the report on the aluminium plant.

Among the complaints that he had received were that trees and grass near the smelting plants had turned brown and died, fish had died and people were suffering from strange sicknesses.

He said he wanted to know whether these claims were true.

“If there is such a thing, then I think it is very serious where people are suffering from certain sicknesses, I think we should call for an investigation if there is any connection between the sicknesses and the smelting plant,” he added.

“We should find ways and means to find the redress, including injunction in court if there is such proof,” Baru said.

“Certainly we will go to the court if there is connection with the leakage,” Baru, who is a well-known native customary rights (NCR) land lawyer, said.

He said if he was not happy with the EIA Report, Sarawak PKR might consider assigning independent experts to conduct the EIA.

Baru, who is also the state assemblyman for Ba’Kelalan, said the DAP state assemblyman for Kidurong,  Chiew Chiu Sing, had also raised the issue at the State Legislative Assembly sitting.

Press Metal, the first ever aluminium-smelting plant in Malaysia, started operation in 2009, with an initial production of 100,000 metric tonnes.

When in full operation, the plant is capable of producing 300,000 metric tonnes per annum .

SUPP Sibu branch is rude, arrogant

I can't help but describe the SUPP Sibu branch leaders as very rude and unbecoming by naming Vincent Lau Lee Ming as the SUPP-BN candidate for Sibu parliamentary without consulting the party first and Chief Minister and State BN chairman Taib Mahmud.

They think that they are bigger than the party and State BN by announcing Lau as the candidate first?

They did the same when they named Robert Lau Hui Yew in the 2010 by-election following the death of Robert Lau Hoi Chew, catching party president Dr George Chan by surprise.

They insisted that Hui Yew was a winnable candidate, but was soundly beaten by Sarawak DAP boss Wong Ho Leng.

If not because of the postal votes, Wong would have won by over 2000 votes, despite the fact that Prime Minister Najib and his deput, Muhyiddin Yassin and Chief Minister Taib Mahmud helped in the campaign.

Millions was literally promised to the Sibu voters during the campign, but the people, especially the Chinese, were smarter.

Hui Yew gained most of his votes from the gullible Iban voters, despite the fact that they were the most depressed and suppressed group.

The DAP also gained substantially in the Malay/Melanau areas. In fact, the DAP actually won in two of the biggest Malay/Melanau polling districts.

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SUPP Sibu branch yesterday unanimously recommended Temenggong Vincent Lau Lee Ming and Lanang MP Datuk Tiong Thai King to represent BN in the 13th general election (GE).
Its chairman Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh said both Lau and Tiong were winnable candidates, and both even enjoyed great support from the Bumiputera community.
“We are here to recommend two candidates for the forthcoming GE. For Lanang is Datuk Tiong Thai King. He is to defend this seat because he is the incumbent.
“For Sibu parliamentary seat (which is now with the opposition), we recommend Temenggong Vincent Lau Lee Ming to be the candidate to win back the seat for BN,” Wong told a press conference at SUPP Sibu branch office yesterday.
Wong, who is also Second Minister of Finance and Minister of Local Government and Community Development, added that the party had to pick winnable candidates.
“It is a unanimous decision, even full support from the Bumiputera community.”
Asked why Lau was recommended for the candidacy, he replied: “Lau is the person who can win.”
Asked when the recommendation would be forwarded to the BN, he said this would be done as soon as possible.
Earlier, a vice chairman of the branch, Daniel Ngieng, said they were confident of defending Lanang and wrest Sibu from the DAP.
“This afternoon (yesterday), SUPP Sibu branch had a meeting, represented by all committee members, including women and youth sections. We unanimously resolved to recommend Datuk Tiong Thai King and Temenggong Vincent Lau Lee Ming to represent BN in the coming GE.
“We all feel that the coming GE for SUPP Sibu and SUPP as a whole is a very crucial challenge.
“As such, we have taken great pains to ensure that the election (preparatory) work should be done very conscientiously. We also took great pains to discuss, resolve, and recomment Tiong Thai King and Temenggong Lau to represent BN-SUPP in the two parliamentary constituencies,” Ngieng said.
Meanwhile, to a question, Wong admitted that a Temenggong could not participate in active politics, so Lau has to give up the post.
“He has to resign if he is chosen as a candidate (by the top BN leadership).”
Sibu used to be a BN stronghold. In the 12th general election in March 2008, Datuk Robert Lau won it for BN-SUPP, but he passed away on April 9, 2010, due to an illness. He was then holding the post of Deputy Minister of Transport.
In the ensuing by-election, BN-SUPP fielded councillor Robert Lau Hui Yew, but he lost to state DAP chairman Richard Wong Ho Leng by a slim 398 votes. Ho Leng garnered 18,845 votes while Hui Yew polled 18,447 votes. Independent candidate Narawi Haron only managed to get 232 votes, and thus lost his deposit.
In the last general election, Tiong (BN-SUPP) polled 19,476 votes against Wong Kee Woan (DAP) 14,612.