Sarawak as a region needs bigger allocation for development

Obviously, the opposition, in dismissing the potential of Sarawak to become the richest State in the country by theyear 2030, is ignorant of the fact that the State government has a concreteplan to achieve the desired objective.

Admittedly, Sarawak,at this stage on development, is like Peninsula Malaysia in the 90s in terms ofinfrastructure development like building of roads, bridges, ports and airports.The state only started development in 1963 and has to run faster in order tocatch up with the development and progress of Peninsular Malaysia.  The special allocation of RM4 billion forinfrastructure development in the beginning of 2011 from the Federal Governmentshould be able to push further the development by year 2013.  

But, it is still notjustifiable for the opposition, which has only been making hot air andrhetoric, to condemn Sarawak as the fourthpoorest state in the country and that its development is being donehaphazardly. 

Both DAP and PKR, incriticizing Barisan Nasional - led State government, conveniently ignore thefact that Sarawak, is about 94% of the totalsize of Peninsular Malaysia but with a small population of 2.6 million or 10%of the population of the latter; some districts or parliamentary constituenciesare bigger than most states there. 

FAMILARISATION TOUR: Dato Aloysius Dris leading the media group and Azam members to the Tokuyama plant. (Borneo Post Photo)

The opposition willdo more good, if apart from making sharp criticisms of Barisan Nasional at thestate level, to drive home the points at the Federal level that Sarawak cannotbe treated just as a state in the Federation but a region that needs muchbigger allocation for development.  

Sarawak has a total landsize of more than 125,000 square KMs with 11 administrative divisions, 31districts and 28 sub-districts. The small population is scattered over morethan 5,000 settlements, comprising of longhouses, bazaars and traditionalvillages, with distances of anything from 10 to 45 KM apart. And 60% of thesettlements each have less than 50 families only. The demographic pattern isalready a real challenge in development.

As the opposition has no experience in developing Sarawak and has no credibility to talk about its progressand development, the comments and criticisms should only be taken as a pin ofsalt. Understandably, the opposition, being urban bias, boasts of itscapability to develop double highways to major towns and cities throughout theState in less than five years. 

But what about developing a good network of roads to connectthe longhouses in the hinterlands of Ulu Kapit, Ulu Baram and Ulu Limbang andthe traditional Kampung along the coastal areas to major towns or cities?  Even places like Marudi, Long Lama, Kapit,Belaga and Tunoh, with huge potential of economic growth, have been bidding forroads to be constructed to connect them to growth centres.

DAP has pledged to scrap SCORE, which it claims to be anunnecessary burden to the people.  But itfails to give the alternative plan to bring development to the hinterlands ofKapit, Baram and Ulu Limbang, which constitute the region in the middle of Sarawak that is still under-developed as compared tothose in Miri in the North and Kuching in the South.  

Of course, the State government, unlike the opposition, hasthe concrete plan to develop Sarawak, throughSCORE, to achieve the desired goal. The response from investors to developheavy industries has been very good.  Itis projected  that Sarawak will be ableto secure more than RM30 billion worth of foreign investment to develop heavyindustries in SCORE development area in the next few years.

Engkabang nursery at SITC, Tatau

Now it has to copewith the demands for more electricity by potential investors to set up heavyindustries towards the year 2020. At the moment Sarawak Electricity Board (SEB)has the capacity to generate more than 2,000 megawatts of electricity from1,000 megawatts during the last 50 years.

The development of Halal hub in Tanjung Manis is progressingwell. It requires more people to do life sciences and research.  The development of hydro dams will createlakes and lots of islands in each of them.  They will make the development of eco-tourismfeasible in areas, which used to be in the middle of nowhere, for the benefitsof the local people. 

Generally, the development of Sarawak in the next 20 yearswill be beyond the imagination of even the present generation of Malaysians in Sarawak.  Sarawakhas the real potential to become the richest state in the whole of Malaysia.  However, the success hinges on thesteadfastness of the people comprising of various ethnic and religious groupsin preserving unity and co-operation among them.

They must not make issues merely to score political capitaland ruin the prospects of Sarawak to developfast. It is the only way to guarantee success in the pursuit of the commonstruggle to push the State far ahead towards the year 2030 and beyond. The factremains Sarawak, once in the backwater lane ofdevelopment is emerging as the fastest developing state in the country. 

Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in hisrecent speech, during the Chinese New Year gathering organized by thefederation of Chinese associations in Miri, says Sarawakis on the right track towards becoming the most prosperous state in the countrytowards the year 2030. Every community must be involved in the process. Thepeople, regardless of their ethnic origins, must remain focused in whateverthey do in order to achieve results. 

When he told the Prime Minister about the State’s ambitionto become the richest state, the latter assured him if it could be done theFederal government would give all the support. The State government, with the experience to undertake very difficulttasks to push development during the past 50 years, should be able to do soprovided the people, comprising of the  Chinese, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Malays, Orang Ulusand others can continue to work together toward achieving the common aim. Thatis the foundation of how Sarawak can grow towardsthe year 2030 and beyond.

Coal-fired generating station at Matadeng, Mukah

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says Sarawakis making conscientious efforts to develop technical education with the targetto produce more than 100,000 graduates and other kinds of technical people bythe year 2030.   The standard of learningamong Sarawakians has gone up.  His onlyinterest is to get the local people to be trained regardless of theirbackgrounds.

Besides, a ¼ million more people will undergo training atthe certificate level. The State government has no choice but to recruit youngpeople from rural areas to acquire all the skills.  Generally, the youth from longhouses learn todo things fast as proof by their ability to work in logging camps or factories.They can even work in factories using new technology. That is the uniquecharacteristics of youth from rural areas.  

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib reaffirms his belief that the peoplecomprising of about 30 ethnic and sub-ethnic groups, each with its own customsand traditions and other backgrounds, share the same future; it cannot be separated.In this respect, any movement, social or political cannot get one race toco-operate at the expense of other races.

He calls on Chinese leaders to work conscientiously tostrengthen the solidarity of the community. They should put their politicaldifferences aside to ensure that they remain united and provide avenues formembers to solve problems together with other races.  The State or the country no longer has anythinglike in the old days. Besides, the State or country will use to the full thetalents that the people can produce in pursuit of greater progress anddevelopment towards the year 2020 and beyond.

benuasains

 

 *Source:

google.com

Sarawak must build political consensus to move forward

As one Human capitaldevelopment consultant rightly puts it every society needs minimum consensus,more so in a developing state like Sarawakwith its diverse ethnic and religious groups and other different backgrounds.Sarawak, unlike Semenanjung Malaysia,has about 30 ethnic groups, each with its own custom and tradition andreligious belief; none of them can form a majority without working together. 

This was amplydemonstrated in Sarawak’s first indirectelections or three-tier system elections in the early 60s. Although PartiBerjasa secured biggest number of councilors but the party could not producethe majority in the State legislative Assembly. In other words, the party, withthe biggest number of councilors, could not translate them into a majority inthe State Legislative Assembly and form an independent state government.  

Worse, some moreestablished parties tried to secure the majority using their own ways ofinterpreting the Constitution and situation; the state was plunged into crisisbecause of that.  

Obviously, thepolitical system then was not good enough for Sarawakto necessitate leaders in Party Berjasa and Party Negara to start talking aboutthe merger with the realization that they could never deliver the promises thatthey had made to the people on their own. The results of the elections did not give a clear voice.

Then Party Negarawas influential in First and Second divisions, now Kuching and Samarahandivisions and Sri Aman and Betong divisions respectively and Parti Berjasa inthe rest of Sarawak.   After three years of discussions, Berjasaand Parti Negara merged to become one party called Party Bumiputra.  That heralded the beginning of a new era inthe arduous task to translate the traditional goodwill and harmony of thepeople to become political consensus which later gave birth to Sarawak’s first coalition government, which was also thefirst in the country. 

Dr. R. Palan, aFellow of the British Institute of Learning and Development, says the consensusis breaking down in most countries in Europe and in the Middle East.  But it is thriving inSarawak. This is being reinforced by thephilosophy of the Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib of building politicalconsensus through his politics of development. 

Dr. Phalan recentlyco-authored a book entitled People Development: A leader’s journey in theTransformation of Sarawak – Taib Mahmud, with Dr. Sabariah Putit, ChiefExecutive Officer of the Centre for Modern Management (CMM).  He believes civil servants can playapolitical advocacy roles in promoting consensus in the society. 

Newly merged PartiBumiputra also tried to merge with SNAP but the gap between them was quitewide. Sarawak’s third Chief Minister, DatoHaji Abdul Rahman Ya’kub (now Tun Datuk Patinggi Haji Abdul Rahman Ya’kub) wasappointed on July 7, 1970 following the inconclusive results of the Stateelections. His appointment came about following the agreement between PartiBumiputra to form the first Coalition government with SUPP, then viewed as theChinese - based party.  

The formation of thecoalition government between Parti Bumiputra, which represented 2/3 of theMalays and Ibans, Bidayuhs and Orang Ulu, with SUPP represented about 80% ofChinese, provided a working mechanism for the government in the services of thepeople, State and country. 

Then Sarawak was inthe backwater lane of development and facing internal threats in the form ofarmed communist insurgencies from local Communists organization and externalthreat from Sukarno’s Konfrontasi (the late President Sukarno’s crush Malaysiacampaign).  

Undoubtedly, thethreats of armed communist insurgencies also created consciousness amongpolitical leaders and the people to work together to solve the securityproblems and more importantly to bring development to the people. In otherwords, they agreed that they could still work together without necessarilyunifying the parties through the policy of unification. 

Meanwhile, DatoAbdul Rahman, as Secretary - General of Parti Bumiputra, worked tirelessly withthe late Tun Jugah ( then Tan Sri Jugah) who was the President of Parti Pesakato merge Parti Bumiputra with Parti Pesaka. The merger gave birth to PartiPesaka Bumiputra Bersatu Sarawak (PBB) after three years. Since then, it hasemerged as the strongest and most organized party that provides the backbone ofBarisan Nasional in Sarawak.  

Chief Minister,Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his recent speech during a dialogue withlocal heads of departments, says the government must work with at least theminimum of consensus in order to deliver what it has promised to the people.The Bumiputras still believe in having consensus among them while leaders ofthe non Bumiputras must endeavor to promote and strengthen links with thepeople on the ground in order to build greater consensus among them.   

He says theintroduction of the politics of development was his desire to consolidate thegood nature and goodwill of the people comprising of various ethnic andreligious groups in the state.  The bestway to succeed is to build consensus in politics.  That explains why community development underhis leadership started with the words politics of development. It could beanything else like Sarawak’s strategy for development or the economic policyfor social development in Sarawak. 

But he decided toadopt the politics of development as the philosophy of socio-economic andpolitical development with the belief that the best way to succeed was todevelop consensus among the people as the basis to develop consensus inpolitics in order to succeed in the transformation from a developing to adeveloped state by the year 2020 and beyond. 

He considers himselfquite fortunate because he became a politician first as nominated member; hedid not have to fight his way up like chopping other people down.  He was asked by the consensus of the Malaycommunity, which had lost quite heavily in the indirect elections, to representthe community. He agreed to do it for five years; now he does not know why hehas been staying for quite some time. Initially, he did not want to stay beyondfive years.  

Pehin Sri Abdul Taibsays the idea of democracy was not understood by the people in the early yearsafter Merdeka. It must be linked with the idea to do things in more concertedmanner and the ability to unite the people and share sound and meaningful ideaswith them. The greatest link in all these things was to stay in touch and sharecommon aim with the people.  

He says the thingthat binds him together with the people in all his long years in politics is toknow how best to serve and help them. He must know how poor people can becomebetter or illiterate people can get good education. Obviously, the spirit of politicalprocess must be kept alive among people, young people, who are yet to be testedof their knowledge with the reality of the situation, in particular. 

He says he hasconsultations with the people in his house, after prayers. The people tell himthings happenings on the ground.  Theprocess of consultation is very important especially with young people, whobelieve they know more about the economy, finance and management than thegenerations before them. They want to be consulted on socio-economic and politicaldevelopment of the state and country. Besides, the process of consultation isalso to give opportunities for the people to come and see him. 

He is happy that thepeople remain united in spite of attempts by certain groups to createdissension among them.  The people havebeen able to reject the negative propaganda being spread by the opposition intheir attempts to discredit the leadership and the government. Obviously, thepeople are determined to preserve a more positive situation and environment forthemselves and reject the negative one that does not have proper direction butjust a political foray of the opposition.  

Pehin Sri Abdul Taibsays the new generation, who are equipped with knowledge and good education,must be motivated to develop positive attitude and outlook in the future of thestate and country. For example, they must appreciate that when the people areinter-dependent of each other, it is in their own interests to be absorbed inthe development of the growing economy towards the year 2020 and beyond. 

He says he hascovered more than 80% of more than 5,000 settlements comprising of traditionalvillages, longhouses, small towns and bazaars, some of them repeatedly,throughout the State. He covered more than 50% of them during the early yearsimmediately after Merdeka.

benuasains

 

 *Source:

Penerangan Photo

Some foreign NGOs want Sarawak to remain backward, primitive

It is not the intention of this column to defendpoliticians as they can do that themselves but when repeated accusations andallegations are made against them, the general concerned is that the world mayview the people of Sarawak as being backward and stupid people, who are blindlysupporting their leaders, how unworthy they may be as alleged by the Oppositionand its supporters.

Worse, the world may consider the local peopleas followers of cults like followers of People’s temple in Jonestown FrenchGuinea,  Branch Davidians,  Waco, Texas, USA,Shoko Asahara, Japan , CharlesManson Family in Long Angeles, Children of God in Huntington Beach, Califonia  and others, who were prepared to sacrificetheir own lives for their belief in their leaders.

Malaysians in Sarawak,with 80% rate of literacy, can differentiate between virtues and vices.  Their values are further enhanced by theirfaiths in their religions be they Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and others.  Even their customs and traditions abhor liesand falsehood being spread by words of mouths or through the media, the socialmedia in particular.

But, after reading all the lies and falsehoodbeing spread by Clare Rewcastle Brown through her blog,  the conscience of the people are beingpricked to look at her from our own perspective. First, she is not a Sarawakianbut a Mat Salleh, a white Caucasian, from Britain.  Obviously, she is very arrogant and believingthat she does not owe us to tell the truth. She has been using derogatory wordsand foulest languages in her attempts to malign Sarawak,the leadership in particular.

She is not an angel nor is she a woman of virtuein indulging in activities to smear the good name of Sarawak.If she is an upright person, why doesn’t she write about controversial paymentsof bonus of 1.5 pounds to the General Manager of Royal Bank of Scotland andgenerous payments of bonuses to other executives of the bank, which only twoyears ago had to be rescued by the Government using the tax payers’ money? Whydidn’t she write about the fund scandals involving several MPs of Labor andConservatives parties during the dying days of Labor government led by GordonBrown?

Besides, why had she been silent on the phonetapping scandals that involved News of the World, the newspaper with a verywide circulation in Englandowned by Rupert Murdoch, Labor MPs, senior Police Officers and some higher upsin her society?  Remember the case of theDeputy Prime Minister having affairs with his personal assistant, while theHome Affairs Minister short circuited the approval of visa for the maid of hisgirlfriend and hosts of other corrupt practices being exposed by BBC but not byClare.

Remember, Clare claims herself to be aninvestigative journalist with some years of experience with BBC.   Why has she not written about the corruptpractices and abuses of power happening right under her nose?  At this point in time she is the classicexample of the old adage she can “see dirt in other person’s eye but cannot seemole on her own nose”

Obviously, she is a mercenary writer, not ajournalist, who believes that Sarawak, withher limited knowledge of the State, is an easy pick for her work. She claims tobe fighting for a cause to stop corrupt practices in Sarawak but what about theabuses of power and corrupt practices, as exposed by the mainstream mediaincluding BBC happening in Britainand the decadence of her society as highlighted in the London riots.

Clare writes in her blog from the points of viewof the Opposition, who cannot claim to be the mainstream movement in Sarawak. Her sidekick Peter Jaban, father of apes, is ajunior high school dropout and a drunkard, only serves as a facade to convincethe world that her information are reliable. That is his business but it is thebusiness of the people Sarawak that he workswith foreigners to smear the good name of the State and undermine the unity andsolidarity of the people comprising of various ethnic and religious groups.

Obviously, he also serves as conduit forinformation, mainly half truths and lies being spread by the opposition forClare in her evil work to put Sarawak in avery bad light in the eyes of the world. Hence, he commits  treachery and a traitor to his own people,State and the country.

Ofcourse, Clare is envious of the fact that Sarawak, after only 49 years of Independence, has beenable to achieve progress and development by leaps and bounds as compared to 100years of rules by the British. Sarawak hasbeen experiencing uninterrupted development for the last many years, the momentit overcame the security threat being posed by Communist Terrorists’Organization in the 70s.

NowSarawak has been doing quite well in spite of the fact that it is almost as bigas Peninsular Malaysia in term of land surface and a small population of about2.6 million people, who are scattered over 5,000 settlements throughout thenooks and corners of Sarawak. All the settlementsare very small and 60% of them have less than 50 families each.  The demographic pattern imposes a bigchallenge, which the British colonial government could not overcome before, inthe development of the State.

Generally,things are looking up for Sarawak, which is migrating from  over dependenton  agriculture and agriculture basedactivities  to heavy industries and tohi-tech industries at Bintulu, Tanjung Manis, Kuching, which has a lot ofhi-tech industries.  Generally, thedevelopment looks quite good because Sarawakfor the last 30 over years has averagely been spending more than RM3 billionfor development.  Now Sarawakis being served with continuous network of roads both in the coastal andinterior areas from hardly 100 KM being constructed by the British colonialgovernment.

Obviously, Clare gets all her input from theOpposition, who sees everything being done by the government from a verynegative point of view.  Of course, theperson to be attacked must be the leader, as much as Tony Blair and GordonBrown were vile by the British media and the public in the waning years of theLabor Government. Obviously, Clare is not civil and prepared to go very low inher attempts to malign Sarawak, the localleaders in particular.

The State Assemblyman for Belawai, Datu Haji Len LatifHaji Salleh, in his speech during June 2011 sitting of the State LegislativeAssembly accused Claire Rewcastle of trying to reclaim the Britain’s lost empire of Sarawak.The setting up of on-line radio, initially clandestinely, actually reflectedher evil intention of not wanting to see the people of Sarawakto be free. Her sidekick, Peter John Jaban @ Papa Orang Utan, believed to havemore than 20 wives, should not be lost in the brick jungle of Londonbut in the jungles of Sarawak.

DatuHaji Len

DatuHaji Len, now the newly appointed Assistant Minister of the development ofTechnology and Environment, calls on all concernedSarawakians to step up efforts to refute all the baseless allegationsbeing spread by Clare through her blog and clandestine radio. They must bedenied of the pleasure of seeing Sarawak andSarawakians remaining backward andprimitive.

Heregrets that certain groups and individualsincluding those who did not even stand in the election are bad losers. They found it hard to accept thefact that the State Barisan Nasional had won with two-thirds majority and giventhe mandate to govern the Stateagain.  The State Election, held once every fiveyears, is fundamental to our democracy which is based on the traditions and conventions of the Westminster system.

He chides a pressstatement by Lim Guan Eng, the Secretary General of DAP  who says the victory of Barisan Nasional, which won only 55% popular votes but could garner more than 77% ofthe total seats, as a mockery of democracy in complete defiance of theprinciple of one man one-vote.

He describes the commentas naïve and idiotic and suggests that LimGuan Eng should study the practices of other democracies in other parts of theworld, especially in Commonwealth Countries and USA.  To start with, he can draw lessons from theresults of the recently concluded Singapore elections where the ruling party garnered 60% of the votesand got 80% of the seats.

Datu Len, who spent more than 32 years ofhis life as a civil servant, says theForest and Forest industry have contributedimmensely to Sarawak's development to what itis today. The industry is a key contributor to socio-economicdevelopment and a major revenue earner for the State's GDP. All the Stateassemblymen, those from the opposition shouldbrowse through the literature on the timberindustry and be acquainted with the facts and figures that underscored the growth and contributions of theindustry.

Heregrets, in spite of Sarawak's SustainableForest Management Policy, which is acknowledgedby ITTO and a host of credible and reputable international organizations and NGO's as a model worthy of emulation by tropicaltimber producers, some foreign NGOs still try to malign the local timberindustry abroad.

He thetimber industry has been able to produce many successful operators, who are bringing back theirinvestments to help develop the future of Sarawak.They have made money and reinvestedthem in tree plantation and oil palm, which is a major contributor to the development of the state’s economy,properties, infrastructure, education, social facilities and publicamenities. They are playing their role as partners of progress in facilitatingthe socio-economic growth and developmentin Sarawak.

He recalls his days as a teenager working inmangrove and peat swamp forests, sawmills and woodchip and plywood mills duringhis school holidays. He rose to become the controller of Sarawak Forest Corporation (SFC) and dealt with Forestsand Forest industry in the State before hisretirement from the service.

benuasains

 *Photos Source:

google.com.my

Sarawakians a humane lot

Money collected to help Penans being used to finance life of little white Rajah

ToMalaysians in Sarawak, Bruno Manser, wasnothing more than Mat Salleh sesat, a lost Mat Salleh, which is the localreference to a Caucasian and sesat literally means lost thoughthe usage here connotes an odd or weird Caucasian.

It is sobecause 99.9% of the local people do not fancy staying in a makeshift hut beingsurrounded by young girls, the life that had been romanticized and led by Brunoduring his sojourn to the remote region of Ulu Limbang/ Ulu Baram in theNorthern region of Sarawak. 

Most ofthe Europeans, who come to Sarawak nowadays,generally appear unkempt and dirty, much to the surprise of the local peoplewho have been used to seeing smart looking expatriate officers during thepre-Independent era.  Generally, theState Government allows foreigners, mostly Europeans, free access to the localpeople under the program of CAN or Challenge, Adventure and Nature, the State’sunique program to promote tourism. 

BrunoManser, who claimed to be an archeologist, was allowed like anybody else toenter Sarawak as the State believes in sharingthe local ambiance and nature with the rest of the world.

Hisadventure into the interiors of Sarawak mainly in Ulu Baram/Ulu Limbang area,which covers world renowned places like Bario (Kelabit highlands), Mulucomplex, the world nature heritage and Long Semado and Ba’kelalan (the MurutHighlands) obviously exposed him to the simple way of life of the Penan community,who comprises of about 5,000 people out of which about 500 still choose to livetheir traditional nomadic way of life. They wander over a wide forest area, which they perceive as their own,for their games and sources of food. 

Bruno Manser believed that he was King of the Penan tribe

Obviously,Bruno Manser took fancy to their way of life. Generally, they are simple andgood natured people. They are innocent of the intention of visitors towardsthem. The  girls as young as 12 years oldcan be very friendly and are prepared to stay awake with visitors throughoutthe night.  

Ofcourse, Bruno Manser, who came in with a lot of money in US dollars, wasinitially looked upon as a modern white Rajah (king) among them.  Stories were abound that he would keep younggirls as companies in his makeshift hut, which used to be 100 times better thanthose of his wandering band of Penans, who he considered as followers. To thePenans, for the white Rajah to stay with girls as young as 12 years, is not asin.  

Sarawak inherits the common law thatmakes it an offence for a man to stay with minors as temporary wives, thearrangement is still being allowed by a section of the tribe, from the Britishcolonial administration. Bruno Manser, who is the product of hippy age, makeshis indulgences with young Penan girls cannot be anything else but sexualabuses or statutory rapes.  The generalview of the local people on Bruno Manser is that he was philanderer.  He took full advantage on the ignorant of thecommunity, most of who were of inferior human beings than him, to impose hiswishes on them.  

Obviously,he preferred to make the community to remain backward, so that he, with hislayer of superiority in terms of knowledge and money over the members, couldcontinue to put them into full enslavement. It was the only way for him to continue with his fantasy of being awhite Rajah among a primitive community.  

Bruno wanted the Penans to be preserved like human museum

Hebrought a lot of money in cash in US dollars when he first came to Sarawak. He would make frequent trips across the borderto Kalimantan to change them either in Rupiah or Brunei dollar, before he convertedthem into Ringgit. He did so to evade detection of his huge cash.

Hestarted to be on the run with his small band of nomadic Penan families to evadearrests once his visit pass expired.  Inthe meantime, he had to use his network with other Penan groups to organizeblockades to disrupt operations in some timber areas as a way to tell theworld, his sponsors in particular, that he was in the interior of Sarawak tofight against the so-called excessive loggings being carried out by MalaysianGovernment, the State government in particular that could displace the Penansof their traditional nomadic way of life.  

Obviously,he had to create a facade of his modern white Rajah style of living among thecommunity. He did so by instigating them, how innocent and ignorant they mightbe, to organize blockades against timber operations in Ulu Limbang/ Ulu Baramarea in the name of saving the world environment, which has no relevance to Sarawak.

As hecould not find substantial flaws in the State’s forests policies, which havebeen endorsed by ITTO based on sustainable management of the resources, hedecided to take the fate of the Penans to the world.  Of course, some people in Europe, without knowing that the Penans onlyconstitute less than 5,000 people and only 500 of them are still wandering inthe forests fall preys to his line of campaign.  

Hemanaged to blow out to the world the fate of the nomadic Penans to portray Sarawak as neglecting one portion of the populationin development.  Some of the criticswould say that the Penans should be preserved like human museums.  The Human Rights group, on the other hand,would say Penans should not be left in isolation in development, which is beingenjoyed by the rest of the society. 

Both areright of course, depending on how one looks at it. These are the classic examplesof conflict of views, which sometimes are hard for the people toreconcile.  Obviously, Bruno Manserbelieves that he does not owe to us to tell the truth or to expose a balancedview between ours, who are affected by his campaign and his, who has beencampaigning against us. 

When thelaw eventually caught up with him, he was escorted out of the State in early1999. However, he came back under a different name, which was allowed in Switzerland. He entered Sarawak via Bruneiand went up Makam river right to Bario to join a countryman, who had alreadymarried a young Penan girl. 

By then,he already believed that he was a revered King of the Penan tribe, regardlessof what Malaysians in Sarawak think ofhim. To the outside world, to his sponsors in particular, he was the championof a tribe that had been getting ill treatments from the government, the Stategovernment in particular. 

Some young Penan women resting in their makeshift hut

TheState Assemblyman for Batu Danau, Paulus Palu Gumbang, whose area bore thebrunt of activities being carried by Bruno Manser in organizing the Penans tohold blockades against timber operations, says Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) has beenmeddling in the internal affairs of Sarawak by spreading lies and makingbaseless allegations with the evil intention to disrupt its existing economicand political stability. 

He says Bruno Manser as the little white Rajah of thePenans never did anything to assist them to integrate into the society and uplift their socio - economicprogress.  It was obvious that he wantedthe Penans to preserve their traditional way of life so that they would remainsubservient to his whims and fancies. His disappearance remains a mystery.

He saysit is ironical that Bruno disappeared in the thick jungles of the rainforests,which he had lied to the world to have been completely destroyed. Perhaps, therainforests apparently had destroyed him when he reportedly entered the dense,natural forests near Batu Lawi and failed tore-emerge.   Generally, the peoplebelieve that he disappeared in the deep forests between Samerang and Batu Lawiin Ulu Baram. 

Paulus Gumbang, a former Director of InformationDepartment Sarawak, believes Bruno Manser could also have staged his owndisappearance as he would not be able to return to Europeto face his sponsors, without doing anything to help the Penans.  More importantly, more and more elders of thePenans began to know his true colors and intention to become the revered Kingof the tribe.  

Besides, he was always accompanied by people on bothsides of the border to change a huge sum of money from US dollars to localcurrencies like Rupiah and Brunei and Singapore dollars. It was unavoidable, his presencealso attracted attention of the people on both sides of the border. Whatever itis his disappearance remains a mystery. 

An aerial view of Batu Lawi

Paulus questions the legality of the setting up ofBruno Manser Fund, which carries the name of a person, who mysteriously disappearedmany years ago in the dense rainforests in the interior of Sarawak.Obviously, those behind the setting up and operations of the fund are ignorantof his notoriety to live as the modern white Rajah among the primitivetribe.  Generally, they are very ignorantof the local situation and do not believe in fair and factual reporting. Theiractivities, if left unchecked, can injure the reputation of Sarawak andundermine its existing political stability and racial harmony.  

Paulus,says the campaign being carried out by BrunoManser Fund fund deserves strongcondemnation by Malaysians in Sarawak, the elected the representatives of thepeople in particular.  

A book entitled"Bruno Manser: The Inside Story" by James Ritchie, a veteranjournalist, describes Bruno Manser as a self -styledenvironmentalist and the product of the "hippy age" of free sex and drug. He was known to be disillusioned with therapid changes in his own homeland and fanaticizing the life of a modern whiteRajab among the primitive natives of Borneo. 

Officially,he entered Sarawak on the pretext of carrying out research as an anthropologistafter spending much of his youth in the Swiss Mountains where he turned to "Yoga" as a means toescape from the realities of life and find "Nirvana" in life.

 benuasains

 *Photos Source:

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Sarawakians working with foreigners to discredit own country are traitors

By and large,Malaysians in Sarawak do not really bother the website and the online radio,which are very critical of  BarisanNasional-led State government of Sarawak run by Clare Rewcastle Brown, whoclaims to be an investigate journalist. 

Generally, thearticles in the website are full of half-truths or outright lies that contain insinuationsand innuendoes against the state government or leaders in the government. Thewebsite, which does not believe in objectivity in reporting, is a classicexample of the abuse of the cyberspace. Obviously, they can mislead foreignersand give very negative image of Sarawak, butthey have no impact on the local population. 

Initially, theonline radio, once being operated clandestinely like those being operated bythe Communists in 50s and 60s, created a bit of stir but the people no longertalk about it the moment identities of those behind it are unmasked. Papa OrangUtan started his career in radio as a DJ in a small shopping mall. 

Mulu Pinnacles and Mulu Complex

The fact that theState Barisan Nasional was returned with more than a two-third majority in theApril 2011 was a sharp rebuff to Clare’s efforts to discredit Barisan Nasionaland the leadership. But she is doing it again in anticipation of the Generalelections, the Parliamentary elections for Sarawak.She will be rebuffed again because her works have no credibility. Her recentposting in the website alleges that the Chief Minister is not used tocriticisms and stamps like an angry child in the face of them” is a typicalexample of her lies.

Her insertion andcredibility as a journalist, who is obliged to give fair and just reports tothe reading public, is questionable by the fact that the Chief Minister has beentolerant of her sharp criticisms that smack lies and falsehood being spread byher website against him. 

Obviously, she isnot a fair minded person but more inclined toward bias and viciousness; she isincapable of giving fair and correct reports on Sarawak.  For example, she alleges that Sarawak has been deforested and that it is left with 3%of forests land only. That is a total lie. The fact remains, according to theofficial record of Forests Department,  forests cover  9.24 million hectares (92,400 km sq) or 74.2%of Sarawak, with a total area 12.4million hectares (124,000 km sq).

Orang Utan at Sememggoh Wildlife Centre

US Ambassador to Malaysia Paul W. Jones (fifth right) takes a group photo with the SFC team during his visit to Sememggoh Wildlife Centre near Kuching on February, 2011 (http://www.theborneopost.com)

Out of the total 500,000 hectares(5,000 km sq) are primary forests and   3 million hectares (30,000 km sq) or 24% of Sarawak, Secondaryforests. Sarawak’s environment is stillquite clean and healthy.  This isattributable to the decision of the State government to adopt the policy of sustainablemanagement of forests that provides a clear guideline for Sarawakto move towards a clean and friendly environment. In this regard, thedevelopment of industries, the gigantic ones in particular should be developedwith greater usage of research findings and employment of better qualifiedpeople.

The State has gazette a total of six million hectares ofland as permanent Forest Estates comprising of five million hectares as naturalrainforests or sustainable timber production areas. The State has also gazetteone million hectares of land as totally protected areas inclusive of 206,344 hawater bodies. The remaining 5.4 million hectares are for agricultural and otherland uses.

Besides, the Statehas converted about 53% of permanent forests to be planted with quick growingspecies of trees that will make the natural resources to be permanent andsustainable in nature. The trees will be able to yield five times more logsthan those from the indigenous forests. In other words, the outputs from thepermanent forests will not only be more but rich in verities of trees for thefuture timber industry.  

Clare’s credibilityas journalist is seriously being impaired with total reliance on her sidekick,Peter Jaban, a junior school dropout, a semi-illiterate with huge ego. Rightly,he claims himself to be Apai Orang Utan ( Father of Apes) with a childhooddream to stay in England.He is doing so right now, not on his own accord but being employed bymercenaries to discredit his own country, his own state in particular. He hasno qualms of leaving a wife and four children, as reported by opposition websites,though most of his friends and former colleagues believe he has more than onewife. 

Nobody will preventhim from coming back but it is entirely his own decision to stay in England tofulfill his childhood dream to drink beer, whisky or brandy in the company of whiteladies. Of course, the people, even those in his former longhouse in Betong,rightly consider him a pariah, an outcast of his community. 

Clare’s support forthe Opposition does not help her in projecting herself as a credible writer. Generally,Malaysians in Sarawak do not trust AnwarIbrahim and PKR. He has made many promises which he has no qualm to break orforget. He has made numerous promises that until today remain promisesunfulfilled. 

The State Assemblyman (lawmaker) for Tarat, Roland Sagah Wee Inn, in hisrecent speech during the sittings of the State Legislative Assembly, condemnsattemptsby foreigners to interfere with the internal affairs of Sarawak with the evilintention to destabilize the State governmentand undermine the leadership that have been duly elected through the democraticprocess in accordance with theFederal Constitution and election laws. 

Batang Ai Hydro Dam and its lake

Herefers in particular to foreign bodies like the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) and aBritish Reporter, Ms Claire Rewcastle.  Thesepeople are not Sarawakians and neither do they have the mandate to speak forthe people of Sarawak. They are self-appointedpersons whose agenda is to disrupt the prevailing peace, stability and progressin Sarawak. Obviously, they are envious of the State’s development andeconomic progress, which have changed by leaps and bounds as compared with the100 years of rule by British colonialists.  They have persisted in making outrageousand false allegations against the State and government leaders. Actually, theiractivities are tantamount to foreign interferences and attacks on the State’s sovereignty.They are mercenaries out to belittle the capabilities of State leaders to conductand manage our own affairs as an independent state.

Roland, now DatoRoland Sagah, Deputy Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly, says some Sarawakians,who are actively collaborating with the mercenaries are doing do so without any mandate from the people.They are enjoying themselves on the hospitality and comfort being offered byforeigners merely to become their mouth-pieces and stooges in their evilcampaign to destabilize the State, which is renowned for the unity and harmonyof the people in spite of vast ethnic and religious differences.

Hecalls on his colleagues to join him in condemning some Sarawakians,who are working with foreigners to discredit their own country, the State of Sarawak in particular for their treacherous activities; these people are traitors to Malaysia, Sarawakin particular.

Roland says their motive to remain active in working as stooges and mouth-pieces of foreigners, who have neverdone anything beneficial for Sarawak, isdespicable. They are serving foreigners who have evil intention towards Sarawak either to destroy or perhaps to re-colonize it. Thepeople must stand up strongly against all interferences including those byopposition politicians from Peninsular Malaysia in the affairs of Sarawak. The authorities must take action against allthose who collaborate with foreigners in smearing the reputation of Sarawak, the State government and the democraticallyelected leadership. Their activities are detrimental to the peace, harmony and progress of Sarawak.

He says the victory of BarisanNasional in having won more than two thirds majority of seats in theState Legislative Assembly is remarkable with determined efforts by theopposite to discredit it. To be exact the victory is 77% but it can be over 80%with the independents known to be BarisanNasional friendly. Despite the opposition'sbig guns and spin doctors from Semenanjung Malaysia campaigning with alltricks of their trade they were not able to win even one third of the seats in theState Legislative Assembly, let alone to form the state government, which theyhave been dreaming of. 

Oil Palm Plantation (Sarawak Oil Palms Berhad - http://www.sop.com.my)

Personally,he feels honored with Anwar Ibrahim and several SelangorChinese Assemblywomen and men taking a lot of their time to campaign againsthim in his State Constituency of Tarat.  Besides, the Indians from Semenanjung Malaysia faroutnumbered the local ones in putting up the opposition banners and posters in his constituency in the run up to the elections.But the Rakyat reigned supreme.

He claims theopposition uses very dirty tactics to swayvoters by sending misleading messages through SMS. Some polling stations closed by mid day others at 5 pm. But beforemid day there were already many SMS received with the message thatseveral Barisan Nasional leaders had already lost their seats. Obviously, thiswas done to sway voters to vote for the opposition with the belief that it would form the next State Government.

Hecalls on the Election Commission to study these phenomena and find ways toprevent recurrences in future elections. Obviously,the Opposition was prepared to go at extra length to mislead the people to votefor its candidates in the April 2011 elections. Hence, the people must be awareof such dirty tricks in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

   

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 *Photos Source:

http://www.theborneopost.com

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sarawakmonitor.blogspot.vom

http://www.lubokantudo.sarawak.gov.my/ekonomi.html

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