Monday Corner : Books on Sarawak's Development

Readinglist on Sarawak's development and economicprogress:

1) Empowering People To Work For Change - Jameson Ahip Nawie (Publisher : Jabatan Penerangan)

2) Inside Sarawak 2011 - Inside Invester (Publisher : Inside Invester Ltd)

3) The Report Sarawak2011 : Politics Overview - Capitalising On Strenghts (Publisher: Oxford Business Group)

An interview with SarawakChief Minister, YAB Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud of his plan to take thelead to materialise the objectives of SCORE and his views about future ofSarawak and his attempt to share his development thoughts and ideas with thepeople to prepare them to march forward, shoulder to shoulder, with othercommunities towards the year 2020 and beyond.

People Development :A Leader's Journey In The Transformation Of Sarawak : Taib Mahmud  - R.Palan and Sabariah Putit (Publisher:SMR HR Group Sdn Bhd)

This book by Palan andSabariah is a unique attempt to highlight the unwavering commitment to humancapital development of a transformational Malaysian leader, YAB Pehin Sri HajiAbdul Taib Mahmud and his journey of commitment to public service.

benuasains

 

 *Source:

http://chiefministertaib.sarawak.gov.my/en/perspectives/literature

High polluting values, determined by developed world, make future changes, challenges tougher for developing countries

Sarawak has reached a levelof development when it can push to the level of massive industrial developmentthat plunges it into the world economic system. But for Sarawak to be in the world’spull of modernization, the civil service must understand the working of worldeconomy.  

Obviously, the civil service, as the precursor of anydevelopment, must understand the working of the global economy and be able to lookat NGOs, some may be friendly and some very unfriendly, with differenteyes.  The friendly ones can becomeallies while the unfriendly ones that tend to become big nuisance in whateverthe State has to do to bring development to the people, has to be dealt withdifferently. 

In this respect, the Civil service must be able to developan independent assessment in dealing with NGOs and in determining the standardsthat are relevant for the progress and development of the State and country.  Basically, politicians, who provide theleadership and the public and private sectors, must understand what the worldexpects from the State. 

Generally, the requirements, being determined by developedworld, which dominates global trade and market, are very stringent and relativeefforts must comply with such standards.  Hence, both the public and private sectorsmust endeavor to meet the global requirements and work within suchcontext.   

Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud officiating at the Public Service Assembly Day 2011 and awards presentation at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) last year.

Basically, the State has to deal with the world market, whichis exacting in judgment in trying to get the players to conform with therequirements, which developed countries have evolved at least over 200 yearsstarting from the industrial revolution.   

However, the developed world expects developing countries tocomply with the requirements in lesser time or take much shorter time to workout the transformation.   As aconsequence, the application of the so-called values or benchmarks in the localsituation or even in the national setting brings a lot of challenges.  

For example, high polluting values whether in the area ofenvironment, human rights, freedom and democracy, challenges of climate change,slowing down of the degradation of the environment and others may be sound ideaswith  valuable aims but do not spell themechanism on how they can be achieved within the situation and limitation ofrespective countries.  

Obviously, the high polluting values, being outlined bydeveloped nations, make future changes and challenges tougher for developingcountries like ours.  Therefore, the jobsas part of change, of the Civil Service are to make the transformation morepractical and the process of adaptation, successful.  In this respect, the Civil Service mayconsider amending some of the exacting demands   in order to make them to become more practicalto the local limitations and setting.

Obviously, Sarawak has tofollow the economics system that has been developed by the developed countriesfor a long time since World War Two.  However,the changes are escalating and not changing in a steady manner.

Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in hiskeynote speech during a gathering to launch the High Performance team buildingprogram of Sarawak Civil Service in Santubong, says the opportunity for Sarawakto become more prosperous, is to develop competitive energy.  Both oil and gas, which hitherto has providedthe sources of income for Sarawak are depleting. 

More importantly, the world is in a situation where it couldonly discover one barrel to replace two barrels of oil that it has to use  In other words, there is a growing deficit ofoil in the world.  The prices have goneup almost to the breaking point of other people’s economy.  Now they are coming up to US110 and somequarters are predicting that they will go up all the way to US200.  

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says the State has to find a source ofenergy as the basis for the economy to become competitive and guaranteed in theworld.   Therefore, the State governmentdecided on the development of the renewable energy as the basis for attractingnew investments to Sarawak in the developmentof heavy industries.  Besides, the world technologyis being developed in such a way that knowledge to manage it can be used bothin developed and developing countries.  

He believes Sarawak canbecome part of the global system and profit from it.  However both the public and private sectorsmust upgrade the capacity starting with the development of technical workers.  The State needs 100,000 people with degree anddiploma qualifications and more than a quarter million technical workers all inone generation.  Hence, the educationsystem must be transformed to become a strong and viable technical education

He says Sarawak will focus onthe training of people on smelting technology to enable them to serve the industriesthat will come up in Samalaju more efficiently.  Besides, it is faster to train people with somedegree of specialization than those pursuing a wider spectrum of technicaltalents, as being done in Peninsular Malaysia, to cater for various industries.

He says as technical training will be more focused in Sarawak, it  has abetter chance to succeed in the development of industries in SCORE developmentarea, in Samalaju in particular. The smelter technology has to be acquired as amatter of priority to produce or process aluminum.  The State will not go all the way to steeljust yet until the aluminum smelting industry can be proven to be successful.The State cannot afford the industry to fail as there is no room for failure. 

He says the State will stick to the processing of aluminum,manganese and felon silicon that will bring it to an intermediate position forindustrialization towards the year 2020 and beyond.  The State will import manganese from South Africa and Australiaand bauxite mainly from Australiato be processed locally.  They will beexported as semi-finished products to world class industries, which be veryexacting in their requirements.  

Samalaju Industrial Park

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says the success of the first phase of thedevelopment of heavy industries will depend on the State’s ability to satisfythe steel makers and aluminum consumers of the world.  All of them require a very high standard ofproducts, which can be done through partnerships, trading and teamwork.   There is no room to do anything less than worldclass jobs.

He says as the State has decided to plunge into the globaleconomy, it is not a gradual entry, both the public and private sectors must dotheir level best in dealing  with the hubof the industries of the world. Basically, the development of heavy industries inSCORE forces the State to become nothing less than the developed country innature.

For example, Halal hub comes from the fact that Sarawak has been successful in estates development toenable it to process large amount of agricultural produce into food and pharmaceuticalproducts.  The agricultural produce willbe processed using advanced technology for the purpose.  

He says the third component of SCORE is eco-tourism. Itsdevelopment and promotion will be made easier with the construction of roads tohydro dam sites deep in the interior of Ulu Kapit and Ulu Baram. Thedevelopment will entail modernizing the Penans and other ethnic groups toensure that they will not be bypassed by the new development.  

He anticipates the emergence of big human questions thatmust be handled carefully by both the public and private sector in thedevelopment of eco-tourism.  With all thechanges and challenges ahead, the basic functions of the administration tomaintain peace and harmony and look after the welfare of the people have to bereadjusted to the changing time. Basically, the civil service must do the jobsof the new Sarawak to be technologicallyentrenched in one generation.

He says the drive for tertiary education during the past 10years experience has enabled the State to escalate the training for the people.  However, conscientious efforts must be madeto preserve the standard that is accepted all over the world.  Generally, there is much more that can beachieved in the next phase of development in education and training. More importantly,preparations must be made to involve the people in the new momentum ofdevelopment towards the year 2020 and beyond.

benuasains

 *Photos Source:

google.com.my

 

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

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.

   

 benuasains

 *Photos Source:

http://www.theborneopost.com

 google.com.my
sarawakmonitor.blogspot.vom

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

google.com

  

Development of Hydro project will expose tourism potentials of Baram to the world

Obviously, the people must appreciate that development and progress does not only having wealth and comfort in life but enhancing and sustaining their strong cultural identity and determination to live in peace and harmony among them.

Hence, conscientious efforts must be made to instil good values like promoting good relationship, preserving good moral values and promoting feeling of humanity and appreciation of values of customs and traditions among the people, the young people in particular.

The people on their part must be ready to assume the responsibility to preserve all good values that can contribute toward strengthening peace and harmony in the State and country. They must appreciate that economic development can only raise their standard of living if they can preserve goodwill and harmonious relationship among them and work together in the common pursuit for greater progress and prosperity.

Baram Regatta

In other words, the people, in spite of their diverse ethnic and religious background must continue to work together to enjoy the benefits of development as the state moves forward in a migration from the medium income to high income economy towards the year 2020 and beyond.

In this respect, the people whether they are Ibans, Malays, Chinese, Bidayuhs or Orang Ulus must remain able to come together in the spirit of harmony and cooperation in the common pursuit for greater progress and prosperity. Besides, they must share the common desire to relive the rich local customs and traditions and make them to become richer through confluence and not absorption. The rich local customs and traditions manifest very attractive elements in the lives of the people whether they are Chinese, Malays, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulus or any others.

Regrettably, in the last State elections, Sarawak witnessed the emergence of a new culture in politics that was quite alien to the local way of life. The people from outside tried to introduce a new culture in politics that was detrimental to the traditional harmony and goodwill of the local people.

Undoubtedly, the new culture was completely strange to the local way of doing politics. Hence, the local people must assume the responsibility to curb the spread of the negative influences of the new culture in order to preserve their traditional goodwill and harmony. Otherwise, the new culture may bring a new kind of politics, which bring a lot of sadness to the people.

Rightly, the State has been preserving the legacy of Baram that could be traced back to the event that happened about 100 years ago. Then efforts were made to hold the first meeting between leaders of the various warring tribes or sub-ethnic groups in the Orang Ulu community in Baram region, with the objective to seek peace and harmony among them. All leaders whether they were inside Sarawak or those in Kalimantan, Indonesia, were invited to attend.  In the meeting, all leaders agreed to have a big race using fast paddling boats. 

Their decision to hold a big race heralded a new era of peace and harmony among the people, who had been fighting tribal wars among them; the big race is now world renowned as Baram Regatta. They decided not to continue with the leadership which did not have a clear direction for the people. Obviously, the Baram Regatta sparked a new kind of leadership that motivated the people to concentrate their efforts towards the attainment of greater prosperity, joy and happiness in their life.

They decided to discard the belief of showing bravery and courage among them. The spirit of competition to preserve peace and enrich their way of life is the best way to move forward and not the spirit of showing who is stronger.  For this reason, the people in Baram have been able to enjoy peace and tranquillity in their life. Besides, they have been able to preserve their rich customs and traditions; even Sape has become very popular world wide.

Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech to launch the recent Baram Regatta, believes that the objective to popularise the rich and colourful local customs and traditions of the people can be realised through Baram Regatta, which has been held regularly with the enthusiastic support of the local people.  

Undoubtedly, Baram Regatta has roles to play in promoting the economic potentials of Baram to the world.   For example, the rich and diverse customs and traditions of the local people should be able to attract more visitors to the region in the development of local tourism.  Now Baram is being connected by roads, which have been repaired, and can boast of huge tracts of lands that have been developed as estates and better facilities for communication.  

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says works are in progress to construct roads to Ulu Baram, which is being earmarked as the site for the third hydroelectricity project in Sarawak. The proposed Ulu Baram hydroelectricity project has the capacity to generate 1,000MW. The cost is not finalised yet but it is expected to be very high.

He says the development of Baram hydroelectricity project will develop the potentials of Baram, which is still considered as under-developed region, to become more prosperous and progressive in future.  However, the people must appreciate that economic development can only raise their standard of living if they can preserve goodwill and harmonious relationship among them. Obviously, they must assume the responsibility to preserve all the good values that can contribute toward strengthening development and peace and harmony in the State and country. 

The good values like promoting good relationship among members, preserving good moral values and promoting feeling of humanity and the appreciation of values of local customs  and traditions. Our daily life can become very lonely even in the midst of a growing population if it is devoid of good social values.

He praises efforts of leaders of the Orang Ulu community that reflect strong commitment to preserve the customs and traditions of the community so that the members will not lose their identity. Undoubtedly, efforts to revive the spirit of Baram Regatta help to ensure that development does not only give wealth to the people but enhance and sustain their strong cultural identity.  

Baram Idol 2011

Generally, the people whether they are Ibans, Malays, Chinese, Bidayuhs or Orang Ulus share the common desire to come together in the spirit of harmony and cooperate among them in the common pursuit of greater progress and prosperity. Besides, they share the common desire to revive culture to become richer through confluence and not absorption. They manifest very precious and attractive elements in the lives of the local people.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib believes Baram Regatta can be considered as the best forum to show the determination of the local people to preserve their way of life to move forward.  The Baram Regatta, which exudes exemplary spirit of joy and happiness, must also serve as the occasion to renew strong commitment of the people to preserve all the good values that can make life becoming more meaningful even in the growing population of the future.

benuasains

 *Photos Source:  

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Bruno Manser takes advantage of simplicity, good nature of Penans

A lot of questions are being asked on the legal status of the so-called Bruno Manser Fund based in Switzerland that has been hogging news mainly in the Internet and social media. It carries the name of a person, who vanished many years ago in the dense rainforests in the interior of Sarawak namely the region of Batu Lawi in Ulu Baram. 

Obviously, Bruno Manser Fund was set up merely to capitalize on his notoriety to damage the reputation of Sarawak and undermine the political stability and harmony of the state. Hence, its activities deserve a strong condemnation by the State Legislative Assembly

Regardless of its legal status, Bruno Manser Fund has sinister motives and agenda against Sarawak. It has been making relentless efforts in spreading falsehood, baseless allegations against the State Government with the primary objective to undermine the prevailing economic and politic stability in the State. In short, BMF has been interfering in the internal affairs of the State.

The irony was Bruno Manser had been telling the world that the rainforests in Sarawak were in the process of being destroyed. He reportedly entered the dense, natural forests near Batu Lawi to evade Police arrests for overstaying and instigating the local people to hold blockages in timber areas, and never re-emerge from the area. Presumably, the rainforests, which he had claimed to be on the verge of being destroyed, destroyed him instead. Or he could totally be transformed into an Orang Utan. 

Bruno Manser was a product of the "hippy age" of drugs and free sex. Limited literature available about him details the fact that he was disillusioned with the rapid changes in his own homeland of Switzerland. He spent much of his youth in the Swiss Mountains where he turned to "Yoga" as a means to escape from the realities of life and in an endeavor to find "Nirvana".

Bruno Manser entered Sarawak on the pretext of carrying out research as an anthropologist. Obviously, he took full advantage of the simplicity and good nature of the Penans. Stories were abounding that he often took some young Penan girls to stay with him in the local resorts.  There were also stories of him fathering illegitimate children through trial marriages being practiced by the community. He overstayed in Sarawak in breach of his visit pass.

Bruno Manser did not tell the world that he had been staying illegally in Ulu Baram and Ulu Limbang. Instead, he tried to project himself as the champion of the neglected Penan community. He made himself globally known by creating stories about the negative effects of the so-called excessive loggings on the traditional way of life of the Penans.  

Obviously, he was exaggerating the so-called effects of logging on the Penans in his propaganda campaigns against loggings in Ulu Baram and Limbang in order to get international attention and support.  He did not tell the world that Sarawak has been practicing selective loggings in strict adherence to Sustainable Forests Management policy as recommended by International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO).

The State Assemblyman for Batu Danau, Paulus Palu Gumbang, in his speech during the debate on the opening speech of the Yang diPertua Negeri, says Bruno Manser during his stay with the Penans did nothing to assist them in their socio- economic progress as well as their integration with society.

He overstayed in Sarawak in breach of his visit pass. He did not tell the world that he had been over staying illegally in Ulu Baram and Ulu Limbang. Instead, he tried to project himself as the Champion of the neglected Penan community.

He made himself globally known by creating stories about the negative effects of the so-called excessive logging on the traditional way of life of the Penans.  Obviously, he exaggerated his stories on the effects of loggings on the Penans in his propaganda campaigns against the activities in Ulu Baram and Ulu Limbang in order to get international attention and support.  

The Assemblyman, who was a former director of Information, called on the Government to take necessary steps to monitor and curb the unhealthy activities of unscrupulous people by using the Internet to spread lies and falsehood against individuals, mainly politicians to bring them down.

He says their activities can be considered as a menace to the society as they are using the bogs and social network, which are particularly popular among young people, to spread lies and baseless allegations against the government, the leaders in particular. 

The Member for Lambir, Ripin bin Lamat says there is no reason for local NGOs to consider holding illegal demonstrations to press for their demands just like the behaviors of the Red and Blue shirt groups in Thailand. Such activities are alien to the local customs and traditions with the characteristics of being peaceful and friendly.  

Instead, the groups must respect the decisions of the people, who have given a mandate of more than a 2/3 majority in the just-concluded 10th State elections, to the State Barisan Nasional being by the Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud to lead and govern the State towards realizing the objectives of vision 2020 and Sarawak Maju 2030

He accuses DAP, with its slogan “Let Change” of being blind to the reality of tremendous changes taking place in the State since September 16, 1963, more so since the mid 80s.  Obviously, DAP cannot accept the success of the previous leaders of Barisan Nasional and the current Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, who has been making conscientious efforts to bring about development and positive changes to Sarawak with his development philosophy of the Politics of Development.

Ripin bin Lamat reminds the unfriendly NGOs that freedom in the democratic system of government has its limit.  It should not exceed the limit to touch on sensitive issues that relate to race or religion or make unfounded allegations that can disrupt the harmony, unity and stability of the country.

He concludes with the following pantun:

MOCS is like a dog barking at a hill

Bruno Manser Fund missing in action;

The opposition must accept and respect,

A mandate of more than 2/3 majority given by the Rakyat to Barisan Nasional 

benuasains

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